Club Formation

Months of activity by the Lions Club of Adelaide Light culminated with a meeting being held at the RSL Hall Nuriootpa on the 13 April 1967 when it was decided to hold a typical Dinner Meeting in the Valley. This meeting was held at the Vine Inn Nuriootpa on the 15th June 1967,  the then President of Adelaide Light, Harry Conley presided,  Deputy District Governor Arthur Mitchell gave an address on the general need for Service Clubs and in particular, the workings of a Lions Club.

At this meeting, George Jones, who later became President of Adelaide Light, was inducted into the Lions Club of Adelaide Light and thus became the first person inducted into Lionism in the Barossa Valley.

It was resolved at this meeting that a Lions Club be formed in the Barossa Valley and that a Formation Meeting be held on the 26th June, 1967. The building of numbers from the 12 members inducted on the 26th June, to the 20 required for Charter, took a lot of activity and resulted in one of the Adelaide Light Lions wagering $10 that the Club would not get off the ground. He was very happy to pay up the wager, which became the nucleus of the Barossa Valley Activity Account. Tribute is paid to the main work force of Harry Conley, Alan Martin, Tom McFarlane, Frank Rogers and Don Thyler.

Quote from Barossa and Light Herald on the 9th November 1967 .

“If the organisational and social success of last Saturday’s “Charter Presentation Night” is any criterion, then the Lions Club of Barossa Valley appears certain to become a highly successful addition to the ranks of service organisations in the area. Some 320 Lions, their wives and other guests attended the happy function – it was described by District Governor Brin Clarke as probably the biggest attended Charter Night to have been held in District 201J”

During the evening the then Chairman of District Council of Angaston, Mr C.F. Angus, responded on behalf of the guests and Senator Condor Laucke proposed the Toast to Lions International.

A Lions Ladies Auxiliary was formed on the 3rd August 1967. With Joan Gargett as first president and Elizabeth Michelmore as secretary. This decision had the most far reaching benefit to the Club. The most popular fundraiser was the Chicken and Chablis evenings which ran for 24 consecutive years.

Charter Members      

Officers                                                                Members

President:                           Colin Gargett                        John Basedow

Secretary:                           Dennis Reimann                   Keith Davis

Treasurer:                           Ray Hoffman                        Stanley Fulton

First Vice-President:           Hugh Bartholomaeus           Harold Gilding

Second Vice-President:      Clarence Leibig                    Max Loader

Third Vice-President:          Peter Steggall                       Allen Loffler

Director:                              Mervyn Gramp                      Ross Mattner

Director:                              Mervyn Harms                      Clarence Maywald

Director:                              Andrew Michelmore              Douglas Miller

Director:                              Hedley Zerk                          John Vourmard

                                                                                         Francis Waterhouse