The Masonic Festival System
Added 12th March 2008
A Festival is the culmination of six or seven years of fund raising by a Province which hosts the festival dinner. The Province will have been raising money and donating exclusively to the Festival throughout all this period
This is sometimes misunderstood by 'younger' Brethren. The question is often asked: "why are we discouraged from giving money to the other Masonic charities, or to local charities ?"
It is not always known that every year there are four Masonic Festivals, each being in favour of one of the four Masonic charities. The Festival system spreads the load evenly over the 47 Masonic Provinces in England and Wales. This ensures an annual income for each of the Masonic charities but also allows those Provinces not currently in a Festival period to donate to other causes of their own choice.
The following shows the Provinces hosting each Festival for the next few years.
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | |
| Grand Charity | Yorkshire, West Riding | Herefordshire | Hertfordshire | South Wales, Eastern Division | Essex |
| RMBI | Somerset | Bristol | Middlesex | ||
| RMTGB | Cumberland & Westmoreland |
Surrey | Northumberland | Buckinghamshire | Worcestershire |
| MSF | Nottinghamshire | Shropshire | Suffolk | West Lancashire | Oxfordshire |
As you can see, while Hertfordshire is concentrating on the Grand Charity the other charities are also being well looked after !