Meetings
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December 23

As I reported last month 10 of my Lion friends and family went on a coach holiday to Scotland where we enjoyed the most wonderful weather with hardly any rain compared with what everyone in Norfolk were experiencing. The Autumnal colours were at their best and we wondered why anyone would go to abroad when such beauty exists in our United Kingdom. Here’s a photograph I took of one wonderful view.

December is upon us and our Lion members have dusted off their red suits to help collect donations for our President’s chosen charities this year. These are Norwich Foodbank and Meningitis Research Trust. We plan to be at Roy’s Bowthorpe on various dates along with Co-op Norwich Road on Friday 1st, Saturday 16th and Friday 22nd. We have dates for B&M at Mile Cross on 1st, 2nd, 3rd plus 22nd and 23rd December, Neatmarket or Riverside on 9th and 10th, plus 16th and 17th. Finally, we will be at Barron’s Chip Shop on Norwich Road at various dates too. As you can see it’s a very busy time for us but thank goodness we can have a rest (really?) on the 25th and concentrate on the real reason for Christmas. Please see attached picture of one of our collections from last year, which saw us ultimately donate £3800 from the December collections alone to Food Bank and Stroke Association.

Within this last month we have also been busy with two charitable Race Nights. These take the form of placing bets on what number between 1 and 8 will win, then the video of a horse race is randomly selected by an audience member and the film is played. The successful ticket holders collect their winnings and we start all over again completing 8 races in total. The event is planned and organised by the Fund Raiser, providing a supper for all included in the entrance ticket, then usually a tombola or raffle is added for extra fund raising. West Norwich Lions bring all the necessary equipment, sound system and staff for the event and a fun evening is usually achieved for all. On both evenings we were happy to then make a donation of £500 to both MS Therapy and Door to Door. By the time you read this we will also have been at Waters Edge, Woods End whose Race Night is in aid of Miracle Magnets for Hearts. We hope to make them very proud with a successful and fun evening.

Patricia MooreSecretary West Norwich Lions

Febuary 24

On a bone chilling winter afternoon I am typing this as quickly as possible, so that I can move into a cosy and more comfortable chair elsewhere. Nonetheless, welcome everyone to another snippet of life in the West Norwich Lions.

I am delighted to share with you the grand total of donations collected during December. At our local Co-op on Norwich Road, we collected on 3 different occasions which amounted to £686.06. At Barron’s Chip shop nearby we collected on 3 evenings with a total of £316.05. Over at Roy’s in Bowthorpe our total over 4 days was £1155.05. We also collected at B&M’s in Riverside and Mile Cross on 8 occasions with a total of £2192.14. That is an amazing grand total of £4349.30. Gift aid can be claimed on these donations after April, all of which means we have a generous pot to be shared between our President’s chosen charities plus surplus for other good causes.

Just prior to Christmas West Norwich Lions donated £1500.00 to Norwich Food Bank and £500.00 to Future Projects based in Knowland Grove, who distributed Christmas hampers to local deserving families. £250.00 has just been sent to aid the Japanese earthquake disaster fund via Lion’s Internation.

At our most recent meeting we were pleased to welcome John Paul, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Charity Director. It was our pleasure to present a cheque for £1100.00 to him to pay for a special bed and mattress to be used for family members of patients in hospital. This is as a result of donations made specifically in memory of our good friend and Lion Margaret Drake. Although Margaret lived in Bowthorpe she was friend to many while a member of a local WI.

Stay warm good people while enjoying the company of good friends in the sunshine however briefly we see it this month. Don’t forget our next meeting is Wednesday 24th January at 7pm at Clover Hill Community Centre, if you want to come along and find out more about us. We were delighted that Frances did just that. She had read some of these articles and assures us she will be back again to find out more.

Patricia Moore

Secretary West Norwich Lions

Contact 07868724266

 

West Norwich Lions

Meet at Clover Hill Community Centre 2nd & 4th Wednesday of each month at 7 pm

As I write this, we have just had our first meeting back after Christmas, and what a busy meeting it was. Not only did we discuss how we got on with our Christmas collections, but we also had several visitors.

We had John Paul from the Norfolk & Norwich Hospital charities to receive a cheque for £1100. Sadly, last year, we lost Margaret, a dear member and friend to all. At her funeral, a collection was held, and that money, plus a donation from West Norwich Lions, was presented to John Paul for the charity. This money is to be used to purchase a bed, which can be used by family members staying at the bedside of the sick patient. Her husband, Lion Martin and their children were also at the presentation.

Then we had Chris Speed, 2nd Vice District Governor for our district. He passed on some very useful information and also made presentations to some of our members for the service they had given. One of these was for Lion Adrian who has served 45 years as a Lion, he was with the City of Norwich Club and then joined West Norwich as a charter member (a member who has joined the club at the very beginning).

We also welcomed Frances who, as a result of reading our articles in this magazine, thought she would like to come and find out more. We could not have been too bad as she hopes to come again.

Then, we got on to the results of our Christmas collecting. We are happy to announce that our weekend collections at Roy's, Co-op Norwich Road, Barrons Norwich Road and the B&M stores at Mile Cross and Riverside raised £4,335.53.

We want to say a BIG thank you to all of you who donated to make this possible. The Charities to receive this are The Norwich Foodbank and Meningitis Research, as we had on our collecting buckets.

June Sheldrake ( Welfare) email  junesheldrake@hotmail.co.uk

FEBRUARY 2024

West Norwich Lions

Meet at Clover Hill Community Centre on the 2nd & 4th on Wednesday.

each Month at 7 pm

 

As I write this, it is a wet and dull day after yesterday's lovely sunshine, but it is a great pleasure to see the bulbs begin to show their heads.

So what do the Lions get up to when we have no charity events planned for the near future (watch this space for things coming up in a few months’ time)

Match Day Car Parking

Well, we have our car parking service at a printer on Europa Way.  We park cars here at every Norwich City home game and charge £5 a car.  This provides us with a good income which we then use to fund our fundraising causes.

 

Lions Recycle for Sight

Regularly once a fortnight we do our spectacle collections. You may have seen a black waste bin with our logo on it as you leave Roy's or in the Opticians.  These bins, either black, blue or grey, can also be found in and around Norwich at the many opticians who support us.

If you have new glasses, what do you do with your old ones?

If you put them in one of these bins, we collect them and sort them, separating the glasses from the cases. The cases are disposed of, but the glasses are counted and boxed up. In the last Lions year, July 22/June 23, we collected 21,976 pairs.

These boxes are then transported to The Recycling Centre at Birmingham, which is the Lions National Headquarters, for sorting. The volunteers there select those that are suitable for recycling. None of them are sent to landfill, all are reused. Next, they go to Lions Medico France for washing and re-grading and then on to many countries throughout the world.

As a club, we also like to meet up socially, and recently, some of us went for a meal at the Red Lion at Drayton. We had a good evening and are now planning our next trip.

So, if you are interested in what the Lions do, come and join us. We love the company of like-minded men and women who want to do good for their community and have a bit of fun, too.

For further information please contact Lion Patricia Moore at 07868724266 or patmoorelion@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

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