Lions Clubs International District 105EA

Lions Roar - March 2010

DG’s  8th Newsletter

We are fast approaching our 31st Annual District Convention at Norwich.  There are still places available for those who haven’t booked yet, even if you are just coming for the business session on Saturday please book in so that the Convention Pack will be available for you.  Our International guest will be Lion Per Christensen, a Past Chairman of Council and member of Gug Lions Club in Denmark; Per is well known to many British Lions as he is a member of the team of trainers on the Senior Lions Leadership courses, and was in fact one of the tutors on the course I attended in Bournemouth.   We have arranged the day to incorporate an Open Forum session before lunch, this will enable Lions who are only attending the business session to have the opportunity to raise points and/or question myself and the International Guest.  Please don’t waste this opportunity, bring along your questions and queries, don’t be shy.

Six weeks after our District Convention we have the 60th MD Convention at Leeds.  We have a good contingent attending this year, but we need to get as many club delegates there, even if only for the day, to support PID Phil Nathan’s endorsement as candidate for 2nd Vice President.  I have had information from MD Sergeant at Arms that the Conference committee have teamed up with East Coast to offer a discount of up to 20% off the published off-line price for train journeys to and from Leeds for the Lions Conference.  To take advantage of this use the following link – http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/lions.  Tickets bookings will be live 12 weeks prior to the event.  Also regrettably the Indian Cookery demonstration and the Fashion show have both had to be cancelled, but extra boat trip has been arranged.

At Council of Governors in January we were asked to bring back to our clubs a request that the annual donation to the Youth Projects be raised to £60 – this is a voluntary donation made by clubs. I would like to say a big thank you for the support of the clubs in our District for the Haiti disaster appeal, which at Cabinet on 31st January stood at £14,500 – the devastation of this earthquake and the plight of so many people has touched everyone’s heart.

Please Welcome

and keep

“Talking and serving together with Love and Understanding”

DG DEREK

The boys have their ties now the girls can strut their stuff with a silky splash of colour in Leeds or even on the prom at Leigh..

Wide boy George from down that way has a lorry load - don’t ask the Essex boy where from, he might tell you;  then he would have to shoot you, but not until after you had parted company with folding stuff.     £12:00  by cheque or postal order and if you want a discount for cash, tough.  Why not keep on the right side of him and give him 24 quid so he can declare it’s a BOGOF just like Tesco and as they also say  “Every little counts” and will  help show them our Phil  is the man that can, the man that will.

To buy silk scarves for the ladies in your life contact     Immediate Past District Governor Lion George Harris

Lion George will also have Scarves, Ties and Handbag Clips on sale at Convention in Norwich.....

South Woodham Ferrers  Lions Club did a spectacle and cuddly toy collection on the town's bandstand. Over 30 pairs of spectacles were collected on the day and 140 cuddly toys were donated by towns folk. One little girl and her mum rode on their bikes from the other side of the town to bring two of her toys to be donated! The toys are to assist in a future fundraising event

Over the Christmas period SWF Lions were out on the prowl judging the best dressed house competition, the house with the best Christmas Lights. It was won this year by Miriam  and Stephen Owen of Green Lane  Photo shows Lion President Katrina Laurence presenting the trophy

Lion President Katrina Laurence

78 Competitors took part from all over the country including Cheshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk. Down on previous years - Maybe Swimability instead of Disabled put some clubs off? Lowestoft Lions were once again heavily involved in running the  event, and are so proud to have sponsored it for the 5th year running. The Lions gave Gold Medals to EVERY competitor plus a parchment certificate courtesy of Lion David Pye who was busy on his PC from the word "GO".

Lion President Glyn Page was on hand to present the Medals and Trophies to the competitors after the evening session.

The 3 Lions Trophies went to Scarlett Morrell - Girls, Robert Nesbitt - Boys, and the "Outstanding Achievement Trophy", for courage and determination was awarded to Peter Edwards from the Cheshire Penguins Swimming Club.

Lions coordinator PDG Dave Woodruff, wishes to thank Jill, Andy, Kim and all the officials poolside, the carers, mums & dads of the competitors, and especially his Lions team of Margaret, Susan, Michael, Mark, Paul, Robin, Geoff and David, who have attended the last 5 competitions and make life so easy on the day!

In the words of Lion President Glyn, "The joy and smiles on the faces of the children make this event ever worthwhile. Thank you everyone, especially the swimmers, we will see you all again next year!"

PDG Dave Woodruff

Club members, Wendy Baumann, Ron & Barbara Smith, attended Aylsham Greens to receive a cheque for £500 as our part of the distribution of the proceeds of the Aylsham Show at which the Club had a stall. This was our first attendance at the show for some years. The Club are extremely grateful to all those who supported us on the day & to those who generously donated items to the stall.  Without such generosity the club would not be able to carry out such activities which raise funds to help those in our locality where there is a need.

We recently supplied a freezer & a printer to the Worstead Day Care Centre who had applied to us for assistance. This is typical of the sort of assistance which the Lions provide as a one-off but we have an on-going project each year to raise £1000 for the Presidents nominated charity. This year that charity is Big C & since July last year we have so far raised £640 for this cause.  These funds are generally obtained from street collections &, thanks to the generosity of certain shops, from their precincts.

Finally, for those who do not know, the Club hold a bingo evening at the North Walsham Community Centre every Wednesday at 8 p.m.  This is quite an entertaining evening with cash prizes & a raffle is held - all for the maximum outlay of £6 - as cheap an evening out as you are likely to find anywhere.  Come along - there's a very friendly atmosphere.  Further details may be had from Derek Crane on 01692 405617.

Lion Ron Smith

Lions from Leigh on Sea and Southend were happy to answer a call for help from the Southend & District Riding Club for the Disabled.  The Riding Club was very grateful for the volunteers’ help and also for the financial assistance provided by the Lions Clubs of Castle Point and Leigh on sea. Preparatory work was required before a new floor could be laid in their indoor riding school, and it was certainly a case of “many hands make light work” as wood preservative was painted on in record time.

Lion Kay Large

The Testicle Tour was invited to Clacton Lions Presentation Evening to collect a cheque on behalf of The Everyman Male Cancer Campaign. Darren Couchman and Richard Miller were joined by Carol and John Green and their daughter Jeanette, all whom work tirelessly to raise funds for Everyman.

It was a great honour to be asked to attend and the lads were over the moon when The Lions presented a cheque for a whopping £2000. This huge sum was the result of a quiz night staged by the Lions and also a quiz sheet that was sold throughout the year. Brightlingsea Lions, a branch of Clacton Lions also contributed a substantial amount from their recent Trolley Dash.  Many thanks to Clacton Lions. The above is adapted from a web site called www.onelumportwo.org.uk along with a slightly better photo.  Darren Couchman suffered from Testicular Cancer and has devoted his spare time to promoting the case of Testicular Cancer ever since – he appears in the current Cancer Research advert on TV – hence The Testicular Tour which has gone all around the country.  John and Carol Green are long time friends of myself and Nicky and they lost their  son to Testicular Cancer about 8 years ago due to a missed diagnosis. Everyman and Breast Cancer charities are our Presidents charities this year.

Lion Adrian Robinson

Mildenhall Lions President Ian McFetridge is seen here presenting a  cheque to Mark Fox on behalf of the East Anglian Children Hospice (EACH) which was the proceeds from the 2009 Christmas Santa collection amounting to £3750.00.

President Ian also thanked all the residents in the Mildenhall and Rows areas for their great support.

 

A special thank you to all our volunteer collectors and Lions Club members for their hard work during very adverse weather conditions last December

Lion Secretary Brian Harvey

Billericay & Leigh on Sea were hot shots at the Region Quiz and now go forward to Stowmarket for the big fight.. Will they be shot down by those clever b’s from up North?  We shall soon see!

Final Convention Call -Don’t Delay!

If you are planning to be there and haven’t booked a room or the social events, contact Barry Sheldrake TODAY.  Barry is on 01603 474364; barrysheldrake@hotmail.co.uk.

Should you need stall space contact Martin Langdon on 01603 491934 in case there has been a cancellation - he is fully booked at the time of going to press; conventionhost@lions105ea.com.

Friday the 19th will see the great golf competition (the 105EA Open?) at Bawburgh golf course

NOT BOOKED YET: Contact Lion George Watt – 01362 692908; ohgeorge@tiscali.co.uk at the time of going to press there were still places to fill it is a super golf course, the convention team have worked damn hard to put on a good show let’s and fill the sots - they don’t have to be Lion Golfers, bring a friend or two or three.......