FREEMASONS have stepped in to provide a financial boost for Keighley charity Pass On Preloved Items.

The charity, known as POPI, provides previously-owned equipment and clothing for babies along with products and clothing for women before and after their pregnancies.

To meet that need they rely on donations of clothing and equipment from families whose children have outgrown them.

Freemasons from the Three Graces Lodge in Haworth secured a grant of £1,770 for POPI from the West Riding Masonic Charities’ Provincial Grand Master’s Fund, in order to buy much-needed equipment for mothers and babies from financially-impoverished families.

POPI organiser Samantha Craven said many families did not know what to do with the push chairs, cots and babywear once their children had grown older.

She said: "We make sure that it is up-cycled by making it available to agencies such as the Social Services Departments of local authorities who are trying to help the desperate families who don’t have money to buy their own.

“Thanks to the Masons we will now be able to buy a range of equipment such as cot mattresses, nappies, toiletries and safety gates to support the generous donations other families make available to us.”

POPI is currently based in the former Peter Black building in Keighley but it will soon have to find a new home as the building is scheduled for demolition.

Phil Hudson, the Worshipful Master of the Lodge of Three Graces, said members were very impressed with the work and dedication of Samantha and her team at POPI.

She added: “They provide assistance to some of the weakest and needy in our society and part of our remit as Freemasons is provide support to the parts of society most in need.

“We’re delighted that our grant application was accepted so that we could provide much needed help for the POPI team to carry on their vital work.”

The Lodge of the Three Graces was formed in 1792. West Riding Masonic Charities was formed in 1989 and is the charitable arm of the Masonic Province of Yorkshire West Riding.