Club Activities

Our club activities are broken into three sections:

 Many projects have an image related to the activity embedded in the text. These images provide a link to the photo album for that activity which is stored on Picassa Web Albums. Further detail of club activities may be found in our club newsletters.

Community Projects

These are projects which are still supported by the club. Many have been part of our club for many years whilst others a 'one off' but all provide a benefit to our community. All ongoing projects are reviewed on a regular basis and if they no longer provide the intended benefit they are updated or retired. 

Relay for Life: The club has fielded a team in this event which raises funds for Cancer research for a number of years now. Members camp overnight and have a great time. Members of the club are also on the committee which organizes the relay in southern Tasmania.

 Youth of the Year: It took a long while for the club to become involved in this great project, however it is now firmly fixed in the club calendar. As well as Club finals, the club has also hosted Region and State finals and has also hosted state winners on their Australian tour.

Give Me 5 for Kids: This is a program run by Hobart radio station Heart 107.3. Money is raised the Royal Hobart Hospital to buy specialized equipment for its neo natal unit. The club makes a significant donation to this appeal and has the Brett Marley program broadcast from New Norfolk to gain publicity for the town and the club. Club members were accepting donations from the public and running a sausage sizzle from 5am on a winter's morning. It is a very successful event with nearly $4,000 (including the Lions Club contribution) being raised.

Carols by Candlelight: The Club has for many years produced and paid for the annual Derwent Valley Carols by Candlelight and it has become a major event on the community's calendar. This event was originally sponsored by Royal Derwent Hospital and for many years was held in the natural amphitheatre of Turriff Lodge. Over the years this event has grown from a little community event to a full production using professional light and sound.

Australia Day: The club is involved in the New Norfolk Australia Day celebrations where the club operates the sausage sizzle. At the same time other members are involved running the train in the Australia Day celebrations at Orford which is run by the Lions Club of Spring Day.

Christmas Parade: Each year the club has a float in the Annual Christmas Parade in New Norfolk. This event has become a major activity for the Lions Club as we now have two floats in the parade, our normal float and the Lions Train. Other members are involved in selling raffle tickets and running the sausage sizzle. We have also been asked to participate with the Lions Train in the Hobart Christmas Parade to promote Lions in Southern Tasmania.

Letters to Santa: This project is a great success with all the primary schools in the Derwent Valley participating. Each child receives a personal reply from Santa. The comments from parents and children will ensure that this project remains on our club calendar.

LEO Club of New Norfolk: The club formed a LEO Club. The charter dinner was held on December 14th, 2007. Details of the club may be found on the club's own website. This is the second LEO club which the Lions Club has sponsored. The first was in 1973 and it served the community for a number of years. More information may be obtained from the LEO Club's own website.

Tynwald Park: Over the years the Lions Club of New Norfolk in conjunction with the Derwent Valley Council has developed this park for the community. The latest project involved the construction of a Liberty Swing in Tynwald Park. The swing was provided by the Variety Club, Norske Skog, Derwent Valley Council and other groups.

Kids Triathalon: This was a program run during the school holidays coordinated by Life Be In It. Participants competed in swimming (in the New Norfolk Pool), bike ride (on the Esplanade Road) and running (around the Esplanade), the distance of each leg determined by participant's age. Members of the Lions Club were required to set up the course, control traffic and man checkpoints. Members of the Hawthorn Football Club were in attendance.

Gretna War Memorial: The club received a request to assist with restoration of the war memorial at Gretna. The memorial which was unveiled in 1918 was last used for an ANZAC Day service some 57 years ago. Access to the memorial had fallen into disrepair. The Central Highlands Council paid for the pavers and club members installed stairs and path to the memorial. About 100 people attended the ANZAC Day Dawn Service following completeion of the steps.

Seniors Week: Each year as part of Seniors Week the Mayor of the Derwent Valley hosts an afternoon tea. The Lions Club of New Norfolk set up the room, prepare the food and serve those in attendance.

 Lions Train: The Lions Train as well as being a fundraiser for the club is used at many events as a community activity where no fee is charged. These events include:

• Kidsfest (Launceston): This is a major event for the club and involves a great deal of travel. This event is run to benefit St Giles.
• Kids with Cancer: This event was run at Kensington Park, New Norfolk to raise funds for research into childhood cancer.
• New Norfolk High School Fair: This is run to raise funds for the school.
• Communities for Children: This event is run at the New Norfolk Sports Centre during the school holidays and provides a variety of activities for children.
• NEXUS: This event was an Easter party for people with disabilities. These people really enjoyed being able to ride on the train and utilize the Liberty Swing.

Chocolate Wheel: The chocolate wheel operates at a number of events as a community project to help raise funds for these organizations. As well as operating the wheel the club also donates some prizes.

• Corumbene Home for the Aged
• New Norfolk High School

Drought Relief: This project was organized in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Evandale. Barley was supplied in bulk to the Derwent Valley and was bagged by members of the Lions Club. The club then sold this barley, at a nominal fee, to farmers who needed stock feed and used the money to pay for bags, transport costs etc. equipment. The club has since purchased, transported and bagged a further 3 tonnes of barley tocontinue the relief effort.

Launceston-New Norfolk Bike Race: The club was asked to set up and man road blocks for this event. The weather was terrible and only a few riders managed to make it to the finish.

Fundraising

As with all clubs we have found fund raising is becoming more and more difficult. The club is continually looking for new ways to raise funds so that we may continue our work in the community. Our regular fundraising activities include:

Chocolate Wheel: Our chocolate wheel has been operating since the formation of the club and has been our biggest fundraiser each year. We operate it as a fundraising tool at five shows and fairs each year throughout the district. We also operate chocolate wheels to assist other organizations with their fundraising (school, nursing home etc).
The chocolate wheel originally operated from the back of one of our member's (Charlie Cawthorn) trucks. In 1977 the purpose built caravan was completed for the chocolate wheel for a cost of $640. This comprised a display area, office, storage area as well as a public address system and an integrated wheel.
In 2007 the caravan underwent its first major overhaul and was repainted. In 2009 the wheel was modified so it could be operated without the caravan which allows to operate at smaller venues.

Raffles: We run two major raffles each year, both these are well supported by the local community. We would like to take this opportunity to publicly express our thanks to those members of the community who support our cause by the generous donation of prizes. Since we established our printshop we have printed our own raffle tickets and this has significantly reduced our costs.

Beer Tickets:These provide us with a regular income throughout the year. The club owns the machine and it is installed at the Star & Garter Bottle shop with all profit going to the club's activities account.

Christmas Cakes and Lions Mints: The Club has also been involved in selling Lions Christmas Cakes and Mints since the inception of these programs. We have not become involved in selling Christmas Puddings as these products are traditionally sold by Legacy and the local Catholic Church in our area.

Lions Train: This is our newest fundraising venture. The money to purchase the train was donated to the club by a member of the local community. A goverment grant permitted us to buy a truck with which we can tow the train to events. The train is proving very popular with many events being booked from year to year.

Sausage Sizzles: Sausage sizzles have long been a traditional way of fundraising for the club.

Donations

The club makes many donations each year. No donation is automatically approved, each is reviewed by the board before it is approved.

Donations each year include:

• Give Me 5 for Kids: (NeoNatal unit at Royal Hobart Hospital) Direct donation from club and funds raised from sausage sizzle and other activities.
• Relay for Life: (Cancer Support) The club runs an All Day Morning Tea to raise funds to be donated to this cause. The club also makes a direct donation and participates in the event as well as being on the organizing committee. 
   
• Prostate Cancer Research: (Lions MD201 Project)
• Operation Noah: (Lions MD201 Project)
• Citizenship Awards: Each year the club presents an award at each of the High Schools within the District (3 schools). The recepient is chosen by the school. This project is being reviewed to determine if it is practical to present a larger prize if the recepient goes on to further study.
• Derwent Valley Concert Band: The club has been a regular supporter of the band since its inception.

The club tries to avoid providing cash to individuals (naturally there are exceptions to this) and will provide funds to the organization involved (eg school band where an individual is trying to raise funds to participate in band trip etc) or in the case of needy individuals and arrangement is made with local merchants who will provide goods to the agreed value and then invoice the club.

Most of our donations include funding our community projects, providing equipment to local hospitals and other community groups.

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