An island Masonic lodge donated a total of $15,000 to six charities to mark its 200th anniversary.

Lodge of Loyalty, based in Freemasons’ Hall in Hamilton, handed out $2,500 cheques to six good causes.

Worshipful Master Nicholas Lewis said: “Charity is hugely important — it’s a defining characteristic of Freemasons. It’s the lodge’s way to make good men better and charity is a very big part of that and always has been.”

Cheques were handed out to the Salvation Army, St John Ambulance, cancer care charity Pals, Meals on Wheels, drug counselling service Focus and the Bermuda Sloop Foundation.”

Mr Lewis, 34, a probation officer, said there was a central charity fund all Masonic lodges on the island donated to — but Lodge of Loyalty wanted to mark its anniversary with an individual effort.

He added: “We have a general purpose committee and through the committee we discussed which charities we would like to present to and the six we chose were a pretty unanimous choice.”

Gareth Adderley, Commissioner of St John Ambulance, said the charity had lost its Government grant eight years ago and relied on donations to fund its service.

He added a total of 13 volunteers were stationed at the America’s Cup Village on race days, including foot patrols, two ambulances and a clinic attached to the nearby nerve centre .

Mr Adderley added: “Without donations like this, we couldn’t provide the level of service we do.”

Colleen English DeGrilla, executive director of Pals, said: “Donations are how we survive — it also spreads the word and tells us people are remembering us and our patients.”