Focus article for February 2012

News from the Lions Den...

As I sit here writing this report in early January, it is hard to believe that by the time you are reading this report in February, the Lions Club of Eaton Bray and Edlesborough will be 6 months old! On the one hand, I am thinking “where did the time go?” but on the other hand, haven’t we achieved a lot!

Following on from our press releases early last summer, we held an information evening in Eaton Bray where several of you came along to meet existing Lions from other clubs to find out more about the work that we do. We were present at the carnival in July and our club officially “formed” in August. Since then we have gone from strength to strength holding first, a presentation evening for Medical Detection dogs, a local charity, where we handed over £300 that we raised during the carnival. Following this we assisted with marshalling an equestrian event for disabled horse riders, we held our own race night and just last month we held a Christmas, crafts and second hand book sale in Dagnall. In between all of this we have taken a group of local special needs teenagers to their first football match at StadiumMK to watch the MK Dons, we have helped Santa in his grotto on numerous occasions and have donated books and jigsaw puzzles to local age concern groups.

We will be running the bar at the Eaton Bray panto at the end of January and hope we get the opportunity to meet with a lot of you during the three nights.

We have raised almost £1,800 since our formation - every penny of these funds gets distributed to local causes so you can be sure that any donations you make or support you offer to your local Lions club will be well spent. Our members have donated a combined 320 man hours to the community with our events in the last 6 months and all of this has been done with a common goal - to support those less fortunate than ourselves.

However, it isn’t just about raising money (although this is vital to our existence). We are also keen to make a difference to our community in other ways, this might be by reading a newspaper to someone loosing their sight, collecting litter from the streets, repainting a sports hut or simply taking the time to talk to someone who hasn’t had a visitor for days. These are all activities that Lions relish and you can be sure your local club is no different.

So, six months on, are we making a difference? We certainly hope we are and we look forward to serving this community for many years to come. As always, we are looking for more members so if any of you have a couple of hours to spare, please do get in touch. We are a young (ish) diverse group of male and female members who have already formed some great friendships through their involvement with this organisation - we ask for no more than you are prepared or able to give and we guarantee you satisfaction and friendship in return.

Ordinary people doing amazing things