Annual Report

The Annual General Meeting was held at the Masonic Centre, Tovil, Maidstone on Monday 24th September 2007, at which the Annual Accounts for the year ended 31st March 2007 were approved and adopted.

Growth in the use of the EKPCA continued in 2006/07 and during the year the income from all sources exceeded £239,000 - an increase of 40% over the previous year. Gift Aid tax recovery amounted to £5,877 - an increase of 87% over the previous year.

The Brethren of the Province, both directly and through their Lodges, continued their very generous support to those in need, both masonic and non-masonic. After discounting the effect of two very large special payments in 2006, donations for charitable causes through the EKPCA in 2007 increased by more than 22% over the previous year.

At the end of the year the charitable funds placed with the EKPCA amounted to more than £835,000.

The Chairman reviewed the year as follows:-

At the AGM in 2006 a new team was put in place to run the EKPCA. A number of new Trustees were appointed and a new Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer took office. The time since then has been a period of review and regeneration and many changes have resulted which culminated in the re-launch of the EKPCA in September 2007.

The decision was taken to develop the EKPCA to provide much greater support to the Provincial Charity Stewards and to the Provincial Almoner. All three Brethren were recruited to the Management Committee of the EKPCA to ensure a closer working relationship, and communication channels were developed to provide any Brother with an immediate link to either of the Charity Stewards or the Almoner.

An EKPCA web-site has been developed and launched. This had two purposes. The first was to provide information to all about the EKPCA and its services. The second was to help Brethren and Charity Stewards maximise the money raised for charitable purposes. The web-site will be an on-gong source of information on charitable activities throughout the Province and an immediate link to those best able to help on matters of charity, fund raising, and help for those in need.

A further development has been the creation of an Investment Advisory sub-committee which has reviewed investment practices and as a result has enabled changes which have led to a more competitive rate being offered to the Lodges, Chapters etc who place their money with the EKPCA.
The work of the EKPCA will be subject to regular review and further changes can be expected in the future.

This has been a very busy year and all the officers were thanked for their outstanding efforts and achievements. Particular mention was made of the dedication of W. Bro Barrie Harber who manages the office on a day-today basis.

P. J. Thomas
Chairman



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