St John Cadet Wins Trip to the West Bank

Durham’s Zoe Howe to visit Hospital

As part of their Freemasonry in the Community programme, The Provincial Priory of Durham, in conjunction with Durham Freemasonry (non Masonic Grants) has sponsored a triennial bursary to send St John Ambulance Cadets to the Eye Hospital in Jerusalem. 

The inaugural bursary was open to those aged 18 to 25, and enrolled as members of the Cadet Section of the St John Ambulance in Durham, with the winner attending the Hospital and West Bank Satellite Clinics to work as a volunteer for a week in May 2011.

To enter, each Cadet was required to explain how the visit would benefit them and others in a minimum of 1,500 words along with a brief summary of their work as a Cadet.  The finalists consisted of Matthew Craig Todd from the Willington Division and Zoe Howe of the Darlington Division. Both entries were of the highest standard with the panel taking a considerable time to reach their choice.

After much deliberation, 19 year old Zoe was chosen as the first recipient of the award. Zoe has been involved with the cadets for many years, becoming a cadet Corporal at the age of 14.  She has recently been accepted to study at Bradford University before completing her training as a Medical Doctor. Whilst Zoe has not committed herself to any particular field at present, both ophthalmology and cardiology are of great interest.

One opportunity Zoe is keen to make the most of from her trip is to try to understand why there is such a discrepancy between the degree of blindness among the Palestinians in the West Bank and that in Israel or the UK.  She is also keen to look at the problems of conditions such as diabetes, which is a major cause of visual impairment in the region.

Following her trip, Zoe will make a presentation to the Durham Priory, encapsulating her responses to the West Bank.  She will be happy to make further presentations within the St John Organisation upon request.   

Richard Tucker

Knight Templar and Durham Provincial Priory Member