Despite the Government's pledge to supply all schoolchildren in England and Wales with the necessary technology to partake in remote lessons during the national lockdown, their delayed response has meant that members of the public have instead intervened.

Kenneth Archer of the Freemasons is the latest benefactor to organise the donation of laptops to schoolchildren lacking the means of accessing their online lessons during this period.

A total of 52 laptops were delivered to Beacon Hill School, Wigton this week on behalf of the local branch of the Freemasons organisation.

"I feel compelled to help all the time," he explains.

"Everybody in the country is doing their best to help in very difficult time. We are no different.

"I approached Mark Fryer of Cumbria Recycling CRL to see if he could obtain any refurbished computers for the children and he's obtained around 115 computers in all. The first 52 were in their depot waiting to be donated."

He has received £25,000 from a national fund as part of the organisation's Worthy Causes committee, which will be donated to schools in various guises to help with the region's response. Apart from the donation, the local branch of Freemasons have also pledged to donate a further £5,000.

This is added to other kind donations from the organisation in the area during the pandemic, which includes the gifting of PPE in the form of 200 perspex face-guards to Eden Valley Hospice, West Cumbria Hospice at Home, a medical practice in Workington, West Cumbria Carers and more.

Further to this, the organisation has also pledged donations to a number of charities and trusts including CFM Cash for Kids campaign, North Lakes Foodbank and Eden Valley Friends of Dementia over the past year, Mr Archer reveals.

He also added his hope that the generosity of his organisation is recognised more readily in the future.

"I feel Freemasonry still has a stigma attached to it in some people's eyes but it is just a force for good," he stated.