Suffolk Freemasons donate over £40,000 to support early years education for children growing up in deprived parts of Ipswich

Young children growing up in deprived parts of Ipswich will continue to get the best start to life thanks to the support of Suffolk Freemasons.

Suffolk Provincial Charity (SPC), the charity arm of Suffolk Freemasons, donated £42,500 to Ipswich-based Bows and Arrows through Masonic Charities Foundation (MCF), run by the Freemasons’ England lodge.

Bows and Arrows specialises in outdoor learning and social development and operates seven nurseries in the town.

These cater for children aged five and under, who often come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Bows and Arrows had been approached by SPC boss Jon Neill, who wanted to recruit a family support practitioner.

SPC’s funding was matched by MCF, who presented a cheque to Bows and Arrows chief executive Anne Denny earlier this month at its Hogarth Road site in Ipswich.

Anne said she originally received the donation at the Freemasons’ Almoners and Charity Steward’s Conference in October.

The funding will be put to use providing early years care for children at the site.

Mr Neil, alongside assistant provincial grand master Ralph Robertson, were given a tour of the facilities and the chance to interact with some of the children whose lives they’d impacted.

Activities at the site include them being asked to make a face out of clay, which would represent how they felt.

A child, who recently suffered a bereavement, said this helped them open up about their emotions.

Bows and Arrows said that about 1,400 children attend its nurseries throughout the year.

Children that attend its nurseries benefitted from improvements in skills, understanding and emotional capacity which could stop issued ‘becoming entrenched where risks escalate to the point of crisis’, the organisation said.

All its maintain Outstanding ratings by Ofsted.