SPECTACLE RECYCLING
LITTER PICKING
A small group of members were out litter-picking in Glastonbury recently.
We were in the B&Q roundabout area and in a short period of time amassed half a dozen bags of litter. Some might say not a lot but as the expression goes "every little helps".
We will be out again next month in the same area at 10.00 on Thursday 16th March meeting in B&Q’s car-park.
We would love to have some help – you only need to make sure you wear some stout shoes or boots and have a pair of gloves. The Lions will provide “grabbers”, and bags as well as plan for the litter to be collected.
If you want more information or have any questions please either call 0345 833 6714 or e-mail gandslionsclub@btinternet.com
WORLD SIGHT DAY
To mark World Sight Day on Thursday 13th October members of the club visited St Benedict's School in Glastonbury to give year 6 pupils the opportunity to experience a little how one lives with blindness.
Nearly fifty pupils from the Peacocks and Leopards classes took part in various activities during the afternoon including leading each other around the playground, using a white cane (a garden cane with a table tennis ball on the end!) and playing with footballs with small bells in them. Whilst tackling all these activities the youngsters were wearing blackout goggles.
At the end of the afternoon the children were asked to use words to describe their experience, examples of which were weird, scary, noisy, unfortunate, fun. Many showed empathy with those who have little or no sight.
The club would like to thank headteacher Piers Ranger and his staff for inviting us in to their school and we hope that the youngsters appreciated the experience of blindness.
One of our memebrs, Ian Burt, even took part!
LITTER PICKING
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GLASTONBURY ROAD RUN
GIVE A LAPTOP
Lion David Atkins and his wife Catherine delivering laptops to Cheddar Vale Lions Club
Cheddar Vale Lions Club have taken the initiative to set up a project to recycle laptops and tablets to pass on to families who are unable to provide one for their children to undertake online learning at home.
Our club has decided to support them in this great project and if you have an old laptop or tablet lying in the cupboard at home please just contact us on 0345 833 6714 and we will arrange its collection.
Once passed on to Cheddar Vale Lions procedures are in place for a qualified and experienced IT technician to check and wipe clean all data, install any necessary software and PAT test the devices before being delivered to the new user..
If any families have need of a device for home learning please contact our club on 0345 833 6714 and we will endeavour to access a device from Cheddar Vale. Any request will be treated with utmost confidentially.
CLUB RECOGNISES LOCAL GROUPS SUPPORTING THE COMMUNITY DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
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A number of local groups and individuals have been recognised for their exceptional response to the coronavirus pandemic in their communities.
Glastonbury and Street Lions Club (CIO) has recently presented seven Certificates of Appreciation to the Food Banks in both Street and Glastonbury, the local Coronavirus Community Support Groups in Street and Glastonbury, Street Baptist Church, Millfield School and Ashcott Village Shop.
The certificates said “In recognition of how you have volunteered and supported the local community at a time of crisis. When caring people join together, roll up their sleeves and take action to make their community better, it’s an incredible feeling for everyone involved.”
In the opinion of the club’s members all recipients had gone the “extra mile” in providing support during the pandemic. Whether that was the food banks helping with emergency food support to those who need it the most or the Support Groups signposting residents to services or doing simple practical things like undertaking food shopping, delivering food boxes or collecting prescriptions more than ably helped by Millfield School staff and some of their local students. Street Baptist Church continues to supply a “Meals on Wheels” service principally on a Friday providing a full lunch to well over 100 residents each week. Sammi Linham at Ashcott Village Shop was both surprised and delighted to receive her certificate saying “We have loved being able to help our community when they needed it”.
A spokesperson for the Lions said “These Certificates of Appreciation are but a small token of thanks to the many tens of volunteers who have given hundreds of hours of their time in difficult and trying times. Whilst none did so to be rewarded, their contribution to local communities has to be acknowledged. The recipients only represent some of those who have helped the vulnerable over the past months but they are groups known to our members. We say thank you to everyone who has and continues to help those in need at these difficult times.”
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WHAT IS THE CLUB DOING TO SUPPORT OUR LOCAL COMMUNITY IN THE CURRENT PANDEMIC?
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The club has made three donations to local groups who are providing support to our local communities in these exceptional times. The club applied for and received a share of £100,000 from the Lions Clubs Foundation of the British Isles, a special fund launched to support local communities during the COVID-19 crisis. In its application the club said it would match-fund any grant so £600 very quickly became £1200.
The local groups who have each received £400 are the Glastonbury Foodbank, the Street Foodbank and Street Baptist Church Meals on Wheels service.
Our President Lion Brenda Wood said: “This is a significant sum of money that we are putting to good use straightaway. This Coronavirus pandemic is hurting lots of local people in lots of different ways - just because we are all social distancing doesn’t stop us from caring and providing support to those helping our community”.
Like many clubs, associations, groups and organisations we have ceased any activities directly interfacing with other residents. We are supporting our immediate families, many of whom are vulnerable as are some of our own members, but we are open to requests for help.
We can still be contacted via either 0345 833 6714 or via e-mail liondatkins@btinternet.com.
Our Message in a Bottle and Message in a Wallet project is still very much to the forefront of providing help and support to the vulnerable in our community – see projects page.
CENTENNIAL TREE
The club has planted a tree in Merriman Park, Street together with two other organisations and a local resident. The tree is a "Prunus Cerasifera Nigra", commonly known as a Black Cherry Plum.
It has been planted to commemorate the centennial of Lions Clubs International that was celebrated in 2017-18.
We will also be planting some apple trees on the slopes of Glastonbury Tor in the near future.
PROSTATE CANCER AWARENESS DAY
At the instigation of Lion Peter Hopwood the club undertook a service event promoting awareness of Prostate Cancer with a stall in Street High Street on Saturday 16th June.
Information was given out and men of a "certain" age were encouraged to find out about Prostate Cancer and to get tested.
We received a varied response to our approaches but the vast majority were positive and a number of those who had already undergone the test with varying results appreciated our efforts to highlight this cancer.
There is also a display in Street Library on the subject and it is also highlighting a screening day being organised by Cheddar Vale Lions Club on Saturday 30th June morning in Cheddar Village Hall.
VISIT TO TOR FAIR
The location might have changed this year but once again Henry Chipperfield and his team at Tor Fair opened up the rides for service users from Future 4 in Glastonbury one afternoon during the fair’s stay in Glastonbury.
The visit was organised by Glastonbury and Street Lions Club with support from members of the Leo Club at Millfield School who came along to accompany some of the guests on the rides.
The visit to the fair is now well established in Future 4’s calendar of events and the service users really look forward to the visit weeks in advance. For many it is the opportunity to experience activities that they would not normally be able to and the fact that the speed of the rides is controlled creates a safe environment for all the visitors.
A spokesman for the Lions, Rod Speed, said “We are most grateful for the continued support of Henry Chipperfield and his team that enables us to bring along our friends from Future 4. It is an afternoon that the Lions look forward to and it is just great to see so many smiling faces enjoying themselves in a special place”.
LIONS WORLD SIGHT DAY
Dozens of youngsters at two local schools were able to experience the sensations of being blind whilst marking Lions Clubs International World Sight Day.
Members of Glastonbury and Street Lions Club recently visited Elmhurst and Millfield Schools armed with blindfold goggles and footballs with ball bearings inside.
The pupils spent time walking around the school whilst unsighted and guided by a fellow pupil. This included climbing stairs and manoeuvring around corners and other obstructions. They also undertook simple group exercises like getting themselves in to age order and following someone’s voice directions as a group. There was also time spent in the sports hall playing various simple games with footballs culminating in a game of football.
Lions Clubs International has had a great interest and affinity with sight related projects since 1925 including two programmes that raised tens of millions of pounds in the last 25 years to help fight the major causes of preventable and reversible blindness and to provide services to persons who are blind or have a visual impairment.
Lion’s spokesman Rod Speed said “The objective of the visits were to help youngsters understand some of the challenges and difficulties that unsighted people live with every day of their lives. We are grateful to the two schools for inviting us in to work with their pupils. In total we met over 100 pupils and they had varying reactions to the experience at the end. Words like scary, hard, weird, strange and vulnerable were used by the pupils to describe the sensations felt.”
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