Kettering & District Lions Club

Welcome to Kettering & District Lions Home Page

Kettering Lions are a friendly and active club with enthusiastic members. Kettering Lions Club always strives to fulfil the aims and objectives of Lions Clubs worldwide, which is for members to provide comfort and assistance to people less fortunate than themselves.

SANTA'S SLEIGH COMING SOON

ALSO AT BARTON COMMUNITY HALL (REDROW) - THURS 19TH DEC 5.30 to 8pm

BRITISH LEGION POPPY APPEAL

We're looking forward to helping the British Legion with their Poppy Appeal again this year. Kettering Lions are helping this worthy cause by selling poppies and other charity merchandise throughout late October, early November in Tesco Kettering.

CHARTER DINNER

We recently had our annual Charter Dinner at the Ritz Desborough. Kettering Lions welcomed Lions members from friends and neighbouring clubs as well as other distinguished guests. We were honoured to receive former Mayor of Kettering Emily Fedorowycz who gave a fascinating talk on her time as Mayor and ongoing involvement in community service work.

Community Grant Scheme

We recently held our cheque presentation for the grant scheme. It was difficult to make a decision out of all the fantastic applications but we were very happy to be able to support the following causes:

Kettering Girls Brigade (pictured with Lion Mike); Discover craft UK; Kettering U14 Football; Teamwork Trust; Kettering Sea Cadets; Corby & Kettering Read Easy.

It is great to see such fantastic schemes being run by compassionate enthusiastic volunteers and we are proud to support such ventures.

We're very much enjoyed our recent Beetle Drive event where our members, family and friends got together and socialise whilst taking part in a really enjoyable activity. This is just the sort of social activity the club enjoys doing, giving the chance for people to mix, have fun and raise a bit of money for charity via our raffle. We hold this every year. Keep an eye out for next time round!

Lion President George Potter was delighted to welcome new member Julie Gillies to our club. We look forward to Julie helping and joining us in our activities.

QUIZ NIGHT -

Many thanks to The Star Geddington for hosting our Quiz Night and helping us raise over £250 for local causes. Lions had an enjoyable evening, did our best with the quiz but didn't quite have the brainpower to win that one.

Chocolate Easter Egg Raffle

A big thank you to all the venues listed below for taking part in our easter egg raffle. Pop in to one of those establishments to purchase a raffle ticket for £1 and help support local charity causes.

Alexandra Arms, Band Club (Birt Lat), Beeswing, Briars, Buttery Woodford, Charter Inn Rothwell, Conservative Club (Burt Lat), Cordwainer, Dukes Arms (Burt Lat) , The Fox Thrapston, Mason Arms Thrapston, Midland Band Club, Old Forge Tea Room Cranford, Park House, Pig and Waffle Graft Undwd, The Piper, Red Lion Cranfod, Ringstead Post Office, Snooty Fox Lowick, Stirrup Cup, Wayfarers, Woolcomber

A number of Lions recently attended a reception in recognition of help given to the RBL during the Poppy Appeal.

We were pleased to hear about the tremendous work enabled by the generosity of those who gave donations to this worthy cause. Lion President George is shown receiving a certificate of appreciation for our support.

A big thankyou to all the generous people of Kettering who donated to our Santa Sleigh collection. Around £2600 was kindly donated which goes to local and worthy causes. We were pleased to be able to donate £300 to each of the following very worthy causes Irthlingborough Food Bank
St Peter & Pauls Church Kettering - Foood Bank
Kettering Food Bank
Johnny’s Happy Place (providing meals for the local needy)
Kettering Home Start
The Shack Food Project
Kettering Community Unit
The Crescents Community Centre
Kettering Sikh Temple Food Bank
St Edwards Church Food Bank

A big thankyou to all those above providing invaluable assistance to local people in need, we look forward to continuing to support these causes thanks to the generosity of donations from the people of Kettering.

Lion Chris (left) was pleased to be able to present a cheque for £300 to Sylve (right) at Kettering Community Unit (KCU). Invaluable work is undertaken by KCU in helping local people in educational and employment areas as well as providing food bank services.

Nikki Farrar-Hayton from Home-Start Kettering Area receiving a cheque for £300, from Mike Walsh on behalf of Kettering & District Lions Club. This is to help with the support Home-Start gives to families with young children, who are struggling in one way or another at Christmas.

This Photograph shows Mike Walsh, Chair of Kettering & District Lions Club’s Service Team, handing a cheque for £300 to Frank Rogers. Frank, together within his wife Hilary and their team, manage the remarkable feat of providing approximately 130 Christmas lunches at the Eden Centre in Kettering for those in need. Kettering Lions hope that this donation will help with the expenses, (such as hiring an extra oven), involved in this remarkable initiative.

LIons Dave (left) and Andy (below) were pleased to present £300 cheques to Crescents Community Centre and St Peters and Pauls, both providing food charity to the local residents in need

We are looking forward to touring the streets of Kettering with Santa and his sleigh meeting the generous people of Kettering and raising money for local causes. Please come and see us at the Christmas Lights Switch on and say hello to Santa and helpers. We will also be touring with Santa on the dates shown.

We're very much looking forward to our sleigh collections. The generous donations from the people of Kettering allow us to donate to local foodbanks and resources for the less fortunate. On the left Lion Dave was glad to be able to donate a cheque to support the great work at Johnny's Happy Place. Charlotte at JHP was delighted to receive the cheque.

We are always keen to promote our Message In A Bottle scheme, a Lions Club International initiative which provides containers so that key medical information can be kept in an accessible place (fridge) and thus readily accessed by emergency and home care workers. Tesco Kettering were very helpful in allowing us to promote in their store, we also would love to hear from anyone interested in becoming new members and was great to talk to people with interest at Tescos. We also had our Christmas Meal event at Stirrup Cup which was enjotyed by all, a great chance to catch up with all our friends and enjoy high quality food at the venue. Please see Photos area for more pics of the event.

Community Grant Scheme

We were very pleased to be able to hold our Community Grant Scheme presentation evening recently. The scheme invites charitable groups in the area to apply for funding to assist in their endeavours. We had a significant number of worthy applications and the difficult task of allocating to those deemed most appropriate was undertaken with careful consideration. Those who were successful were invited to our presentation evening to receive the cheques. We always enjoy putting this evening on and give like-minded groups the chance to demonstrate their hard work to others as well as get a chance to see what others are doing and develop relationships, including with Lions. The successful causes were: Muddy Boots, (a charity that provides pre-school child care); Harvesters Youth Group, (a voluntary organisation providing activities and summer trips for underprivileged children); Rothwell Corinthian Pirates Walking Football Team (providing opportunity for those less mobile to socialise and gentle exercise); Kettering Stroke Group (providing vital support for stroke patients and their families) ; Picture The Difference, ( a creative arts organisation that works with schools and young adults with additional needs).

We are very grateful to our dear friend Anne who generously donated a table-top football game on behalf of her late husband former Lion John. We were able to pass on to Kettering Highfields Youth Centre and ensure it went to a very appreciative home. Kelly Mercer who runs the Centre expressed deepest thanks to Anne and the Lions. Lion Andy and friend of Lions Simon delivered to Kelly who is sure there will be plenty of tournaments held with the game.

Lions International Spectacles Recycling

We continue to support this vital project in which spectacles, via Lions clubs, are distributed to developing countries and provided to this in need with life changing consequences. Thanks to the local people of Kettering and the opticians for supplying over 7000 spectacles recently. These were taken over to the central depot in Birmingham by Lion's friends John and Simon

Many thanks to all the generous Kettering residents who donated to our recent Christmas Sleigh collections. This helps us support the invaluable efforts of local organisations as shown above who support local people in need of support through difficult times by providing food, advice and other support. We were pleased to support to the tune of £500 a project to support local homeless and struggling people run by the local Sikh community (above left). We also supported St Peters and Paul Church foodback (central) and St Edwards Church Foodback (right) with their important work. Donations also went to Kettering Street Pastors also providing valuable resources at this time of hardship. We look forward to helping support these organisations and similar in 2023 onwards.

Kettering Crescents Community Centre recently held Christmas parties for local pensioers as well as one for local children. We were very pleased to be able to assist with a £200 donation to support this. Lion Dave can be seen (left) presenting the cheque to the Crescents.

Lions were pleased to answer a request for help with the Poppy Appeal collections at local supermarkets. Thanks are due to the customers who were as generous as usual in supporting this worthy cause.

Mike Walsh, Chair of Kettering and District Lions Club Service Team, presenting a cheque for £500 to Nikki Farrar-Hayton from Home Start Kettering Area.
In August 2022 Kettering Town Council hosted a meeting of the various voluntary organisations in Kettering, to find out more about the work they are doing and to facilitate an exchange of information and ideas. Representatives of Kettering and District Lions Club attended this meeting and reported back to a business meeting of the Club. Kettering Lions were particularly impressed by the work being undertaken by Home Start in supporting families in and around Kettering. After discussion the Club voted to donate £500 to this organisation.

We recently held our 50th Charter Dinner at Ritz Desborough. More details to follow but suffice to say that everyone enjoyed a very pleasant social and celebratory event. Local clubs from Corby, Wellingborough, Market Harborough and Northampton helped us celebrate our 50 years as a club and reflect on all the good times spending time with good friends in good causes. The venue was very well prepared and provided a suitable backdrop to a great event.

Following the sad passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II the Club presented a floral tribute at the Royal Proclamation on the Accession of the King Ceremony held at Kettering Market Place on Sunday 11th September.
We offer our sincere thoughts & condolences to all the Royal family

Mike Walsh, Chair of Kettering & District Lions Club Service Team and Beccy Hurrell from BHVA together with a group of children proudly wearing their new “Hi Viz” jackets, funded by Kettering Lions.

Kettering & District Lions Club recently received a request for funding from a local organisation called BHVA - Beccy Hurrell Visual Arts - which is based in The Yards in Kettering town centre. The aim of the organisation is to provide a hub and sanctuary where all members of society have a place to grow and develop, whether that be creatively or socially. This summer Beccy and her colleague Lindsey plan to take a group of children into Kettering to participate in drawing activities and perhaps take them to lunch. In order to do this safely during the day each child will need a high viz jacket. Kettering Lions have funded the purchase of 20 high viz jackets, which carry the club’s logo, in order to facilitate this project.

Johnny's Happy Place Donation

Keen to support local organisations, the club recently made a £1000 donation to Johnny's Happy Place. Kettering Lions appreciate the invaluable work carried out by that particular organisation in providing meals and support to the local homeless and needy. Founder and cornerstone of Johnny's Happy Place, Denise is pictured accepting the cheque from Lion Dave. Keep up the great work Denise.

We recently decided to support Highfields Barnes Community Centre Foodbank who do incredible work in Kettering supporting those in need of support. A donation was made by the club of £1000 as we appreciate these are difficult times for many and are very keen to see such wonderful initiatives supported. Lions Natalie and Chris (from left to right, the ones not in red) presented the cheque at Highfields. We also supported the Grange Primary Academy with a £150 cheque for books. Lion Natalie had the chance to reminisce as a former pupil of Grange.

Many thanks to all the generous people of Kettering who donated to our Santa Sleigh collection. We were pleased to take part in the Christmas Lights switch on as well as spending time outside Tollers Church and touring streets (limited tour this year). Almost £3000 was raised for worthy causes, including local charity. Huge thanks to Kettering Police Cadets who are pictured here with Santa helping on collections.

Lion John Geary presents a cheque for £1000 to First Responders Linda & colleague Chris. We were delighted to support them in their vital work. Our thanks are due to the Arnold Clark Charity for their help in making the donation possible.

Green fingered Kettering Lions!

An appeal from Kelly Bradbury, Activities Co-ordinator at Claremont Parkway Care Home, for help in the formation of a residents’ Garden Club prompted green fingered members to leap into action. In no time at all a forlorn looking raised planting bed was transformed, with a little help from residents, by the addition of healthy flowers and vegetables. Club President Mike Walsh said “We hope that the project will give the residents great pleasure and satisfaction over the coming months.”

Please visit our facebook page for more information about our club

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ketteringlions/

About the Club

The club welcomes men and women from all walks of life and has recently recruited several new members. As well as undertaking fundraising events Kettering Lions organise outings and events for the local community, including the much enjoyed Christmas parties for deserving Adults and Children. Summer events include a summer tea party for the elderly, adult summer disco, raffle collection (partly to raise money for the Air Ambulance), summer Family Fun Day and a fundraising 'race night'.

Please see the Contact Us section (or call 0845 833 5862) for details of how to get in touch, would like to make a donation, and/or would like more information about Kettering Lions and joining our friendly club

Thought for the month:

"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito..."
Eastern Philosophy

Please see our facebook group http://www.facebook.com/groups/ketteringlions/#!/groups/ketteringlions/

Kettering Lions website.

PRIVACY NOTICE: All feasible security measures are in place - the internet is not a secure system.If you are not the intended recipient,please notify the sender and delete all copies.All personal data herein are processed in accordance with UK protection legislation.Further details are available on the website or from the Organisation.

Lions Clubs International is the world's largest service club organization with more than 1.4 million members in approximately 46,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas around the world.