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Step into a typical day with Kath Betts, an MCF Adviser, and see how she provides vital support to Freemasons and their families. From responding to urgent needs to offering ongoing guidance, Kath’s work shows the real impact of connections and conversations.

Kath is an experienced Adviser who has worked with us at the MCF for over six years. Seeing the impact she has made on people’s lives, whether large or small, is what makes her passionate about her job. We asked Kath to tell us about her routine and what working in the Advice and Support Team (AST) means to her.

My alarm goes off at…

6am, just before my husband leaves for work. Every morning he makes me a cuppa before leaving home.

I start my day by…

Switching on my computer and mobile phone, I scan through emails, messages, and voicemails and start prioritising the incoming tasks for the day or week. These can change several times throughout the day. If I am visiting applicants and beneficiaries, I check traffic and weather reports and call or text them to confirm before setting out for the day.

How I spend my days…

Organising, adapting, and responding to the needs of Freemasons and their families, I interact with Provincial Grand Almoners, Lodge Almoners, Visiting Volunteers, and the wider Freemasonry community within my three Provinces: Hampshire and Isle of Wight, Dorset, and Wiltshire. When I am out of the office visiting applicants and beneficiaries, I navigate roadworks, road closures, and diversions that often lead nowhere.

The best part of my role is…

Being able to make a personal connection so that people feel understood and, more importantly, listened to attentively. I know from years of experience when it is the right moment to just be quiet and listen and when to respond with information, support, guidance. I have condensed my working hours into a four-day week so I can play with my grandchildren every Friday. It’s so much fun, and it also enables me to support my daughters by reducing their childcare costs.

The hardest part of my role is…

When we lose someone that we’ve been supporting for a long time. You build really positive relationships, sometimes with other family members, and you see the impact of the pain and grief on their wider family. I have a couple of ways of coping with loss within my role. First, I pull a memory of the person and listen and share in the family’s grief by letting them know we cared and took time to get to know some part of who they were. Secondly, I always take the day to remember that person when they were alive, recalling the stories they shared with me, and then I am able to say a personal “goodbye.” This enables me to be resilient and move forward in helping others.

When I am not working…

I am spending time with my beautiful family. I am married to Garry, and we have five grandchildren who keep us very busy, as do my three daughters. Since becoming a Nana to three girls, Eviee, Molly, and Sena, and two boys, Myles and Ronnie, we spend time playing, laughing, and having fun. My youngest daughter lives in Japan with her husband and my granddaughter Sena. I have not held Sena for eight months, but we spend lots of time together on video calls. We have a great time, she is just like her mummy was when she was little.