October meeting
The meeting started promptly at 8pm with a close to full house of members, unfortunately President Andrew was unable to attend and his father Peter would run the meeting. The club also welcomed zone chairman Lion Ivan and his wife Lion Janine.
The club received and circulated many pieces of correspondence, including an appeal for Syrian Refugees which was circulated to members.
Under the treadurer report the interesting things were: £60 income from a future event and money from the Dragon Bay event. £200 went out to the Syrian refugee appeal. The club also spent money designing and printing leaflets for the Jingle Bell Jog, renting the community bus to take some elderly to the Stavely opera, £605.50 went to pay the rent for the store and £30 went to buy tickets in the draw for the Air Ambulance.
Incredibly £30.11 was raised from the naughty Lions paying into the fine bank, “Who gave 1p?” asked a concerned Lion, “Everyone” replied Peter.
Under welfare Lion Maggie told the club about a group that operated in the area for people of blind and partial sighted. Their regular meetings are held at the Goodly Dale school and Lion Peter asked if we could get in touch with the organiser to ask them to come to a future meeting. Cancer Care also got in touch regarding a large donation that the club gave. Another letter came from the Lake District Calvert Trust thanking the club for the £3000 raised from the Lakes Classic Car Show. They specifically mentioned how fantastic and professional the event was.
Maggie also told Lions of a fantastic event called The Spirit of Christmas at Low Wood Bay. This event is in assocation with Windermere and Ambleside Lions Club and is on Thursday 17th December at 1pm. This event is aimed at spreading Christmas cheer by inviting older people from our community for Christmas afternoon tea. The event promises to feature home made treats and cakes, lakes gospel choir, a raffle, festive entertainment and free parking. Also in atendence are tintinellas (bell ringers), asked how to spell that Chris said “T, I, N, T… I dunno”. So forgive me if Ive spelt that wrong!
Peter discussed that half the money raised from the Dragons bay event should go back to Paddlers for Life. Steve highlighted that half was £98.20 which was awkward and we should make it £100. This was passed unanimously.
The club briefly discussed Remembrance Sunday this coming Sunday. Keith will run the PA and a member of the club will lay a wreath. Windermere’s service is 1.45 for 2.30.
Chris brought up Ambleside Lights and the fireworks which the club run. Chris wanted volunteers for running the fireworks. The event is always fantastic and many club members stood up to take part. The event takes place on the 21st November. It was noted that Windermere Lights was the following weekend on 28th November.
The annual Log Delivery will be on 22nd November. A brief discussion happened on who did and did not need logs. The fell brothers politely requested breakfast on the morning of the deliveries after being offered coffee from Anthony.
The Guides are having a presentation at the Guide Hut at 7pm on 25th November about their trip to Vietnam. If you don’t know where the guide hut is ask Anthony, if you don’t know Anthony I’m not sure what you should do.
The club have also been invited to Benrigg Trust to present the cheque with money raised from the Classic Car show.
Anthony gave a briefing on the aforementioned car show, with some missed minutes Anthony said he wasn’t telling anyone anything but its going to happen.
The club is looking forward to the Jingle Bell Jog. Chris Burstow gave an update to the club about entries and changes to the route. There has been a fantastic response on social media and via the website. The date of the event is Sunday 29th November and it happens at Cockshott Point in Bowness-on-Windermere. Lion Philip Fell looked shocked at the time some members will be there setting up, an offer of breakfast did not make it better. Also noted was support from Windermere Rugby Football Club. Lion Peter stressed that whilst the entry fee goes to charity entries can also raise money for other charities on the day. Unfortunately or fortunately there are no flyers left to give out but more are on order.
The search for a Vice President was discussed. Many members hid behind their chairs but a brief discussion ensued on what was involved.
Awards were given by Lion Ivan for long service: Lisa Greasley for 10 years, Maggie Bridge for 10 years, at which point Maggie pointed out Lisa didn’t turn up to the first meeting and so she should have gone first and then Noel for 40 years service. Lion Ivan also mentioned that on July 16th in Morecambe will be a fun day raising money for the Lions.
Lions Chirs told the club about twinning attempts with Limoux. Chris had been corresponding with Peter Rowlands, originally from Wigan and explained that things had moved quite quickly. Two members from Limoux Lions will be joining us at our January meeting. Chris will visit their club in May.
At this point in the meeting my laptop was running out of battery so I asked to sit in the corner and was sent to the naughty step.
I was immediately rewarded by winning the raffle and a bottle of wine. Everyone was very unhappy because I don’t drink. The loser of the raffle was Elsie which was very unlucky as she is our newest member.
Lion Maggie briefed the club on our annual Christmas Lunch which will be on Sunday 24th January at the Carus Green Golf Club. There was confusion about the menu, days of the week and grills, but no doubt it will be fantastic.
In any other business I gave up taking these notes seriously the following items came up: St Johns Hospice on the 19th and 23rd December will be bag packing at Boothes in Windermere to raise funds. A Plaque that was supposed to be on a bench in Bowness was found in Keiths bag. The discussion about the Plaque went on past 10pm with the culmination of a new plaque being requested. That discussion sparked a discussion on another plaque. They are still talking about plaques and its 10.05pm. Oh its A boards now, there is a kickboxing club in Milnthorpe and Heversham called Lakes Lions. Now its a Lion suit and whether we should buy one to use at events. Maggie made it clear that she will never wear a Lion suit. Noel wanted to know what is worn under a Lion suit.
Lion Tamer Chris then told us there are lots of naughty people in the room to fine. President Peter for calling old people “old people”, Chris said Maggie doesn’t like that. Lion Thea for knitting under the table, she protested she did it very quietly. Lion Janine and Lion Ivan for booking a holiday when the Jingle Bell Jog is on. Lion Ronnie and Lion Anthony for having private meetings. Finally me (Lion Ben) for having a flat battery on my laptop.
Lion Chris B proclaimed that he “had got away with it” no one is sure what he was referring to which is worrying.
The meeting closed at 10.12pm