DISTRICT GOVERNOR’S Newsletter – May 2015

Spotlight on 105NE

Nepal. As you are all aware there has been a major disaster in Nepal. I’m sure I don’t have the say but it would be great if all clubs could support this appeal in whatever way they think appropriate. As an organisation this is what we are good at and prompt action has already been taken across the District and at International level. As well as immediate issues there will be a long term need for support and clubs should be proactive in gathering information and thinking about way they can serve to meet the need. Thank you to all the clubs who have already donated to the appeal and begun fundraising.

Membership. This is the time of Lions year, as we go about fundraising and attending events, to promote membership of Lions Clubs International. As the weather gets better and we are more visible in the local community we can turn this to our advantage. We should be looking for any opportunity to Strengthen the Pride by using print and social media to its best advantage. Ask people to come to our meetings, attend our events and create a buzz. Websites and Facebook pages come into their own at this time, to publicise events. This will promote Lions Awareness in a way that would not have been possible in the past and help spread the word about our service in local communities and across the District to a much wider audience. It is an immediate and exciting way to get the word out there and to potential new members. Remember Just Ask1.

Leadership. I know that some clubs have already started to think about office bearers for the new Lions year. It is very important for continuity that any transition happens in a planned and thoughtful way. We want to continue the very positive enthusiasm that has already moved the District forward this year. Clubs and Zones are all working together more closely to get our message across and as a result, members are beginning to sell themselves and their clubs to a wider audience. We are now engaging with the wider public in a more positive way than we were a year ago. In the long term this will increase our membership cross the District and maybe even create new clubs. We can keep the momentum going by being open to new ideas. It is an exciting time to be a Lion! We are very lucky as an organisation to have information and development opportunities for members available on the LCI website at the click of a mouse. Go and look at the material available and one day you could be a Cabinet member, a Club President, a Zone Chair or even a District Governor! We need more leaders and enthusiastic office bearers across the District and the support is in place for you to achieve this. Just Ask and Click.

Just Ask1 is a campaign by Lions to increase membership. We have taken up the We Care about Every Penny Campaign across the District and it is beginning to show great results. It is designed as a conversation starter when meeting members of the public or potential supporters. Check it out!

Go for it! Just Ask1! Strengthen the Pride! A big thank you to all the members for all their hard work and service across the District.

Keep up the good work! Just Ask1!

Lion Andrew District Governor 105NE

We Serve

We can make a difference as a team

Welcome

Aberdeen Lions Club Westhill Branch Lion David Baker Lion Marjorie Baker

Aberdeen Bon Accord Lions Club Lion Alexander Muir sponsored by Lion Malcolm Hogg Pictured in March Spotlight

Ayr & Prestwick Lions Club Lion Andrew Holdsworth sponsored by Lion Phiroze Mehta

Dalbeattie & District Lions Club Lion Gillian Struthers sponsored by Lion Christine Neilson

Dumfries Lions Club Lion Christopher Sherwin sponsored by Lion John MacColl

Lion Diana Thorburn sponsored by Lion William Walker Both pictured in April Spotlight

Filey Lions Club Lion Paul Duley sponsored by Lion Paul Tyndall

Garioch Lions Club Lion Neil Henderson sponsored by Lion James Souter

Kirkcaldy & District Lions Club Lion Mark Taylor Pictured in April Spotlight

Morpeth Lions Club Lion Leslie Jenkinson sponsored by Lion Geoff Bushell

Ryedale Lions Club Lion Geoff Bogg sponsored by Lion Robert Peirson

Lion Geoffrey Sherwin sponsored by Lion Brian Johnson

Scarborough Lions Club Lion David Haigh sponsored by Lion Robert Hunter

Don’t forget to keep adding to the Lion’s Pride as we look forward to welcoming

new Lions at any time throughout the year so please continue to Just Ask and

Sad news from Yarm

Yarm Lions, founded in 1992, has recently lost one of its Charter Members.

Lion Tim Carless collapsed at his home on Friday 20 March and was rushed into hospital. He unexpectedly passed away the next day. He had been scheduled to join a number of Lions on Yarm High Street that Saturday collecting on behalf of Marie Curie Cancer Care.

The photograph shows him doing his bit for Marie Curie Cancer Care in 2014. Condolences to his wife, Jean, and family.

Lions fellowship shines bright

Darlington Lions Club President Pat De Martino with several Darlington Lions attended the 26th Charter Anniversary of Northallerton & District Lioness Club towards the end of April.

Darlington Lions with their President, Lion Pat De Martino, centre and Northallerton Lioness President Christine Carr, left and Lions District Governor 105NE, Andrew Kerr Sutherland. Following the meal and formal speeches the guests were entertained by Dennis

Green with recollections of his happy memories of the Royal Family while he served aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia during the 1950's and 1960's.

Darlington Lions Club members are currently organising their annual charity concert when French singer Flossie Malavialle will perform at the Liddiard Theatre, Polam Hall School. Proceeds from the concert are to be donated to the Education Centre for Children with Down Syndrome (ECCDS) based at Newton Aycliffe serving Darlington & District and the northern counties.

Tickets for the concert on Friday 22 May are £8 to include a glass of wine, available from club members. On the Friday morning the Darlington Lions will be visiting the centre when Flossie will be entertaining the children with her music and singing.

Northallerton Lionesses 26 years of

service

Northallerton & District Lioness Club celebrated 26 years of community service and fund raising. The club was formed in 1989, sponsored by Thirsk Lions Club and are part of the worldwide service organisation Lions Club International.

April was Lioness Awareness Month and the window in the VSA Office on Northallerton’s South Parade had a

display showing some of the work carried out by the club.

Over the 25 years the club has raised nearly £110,000, with money going to many local causes, charity groups and individuals. A small percentage goes abroad but is channelled to local Lions clubs and Lions projects. All money collected from the public is given back to charity with admin expenses paid by members themselves. There are 23 Lionesses in the club at present and they are always looking for new members aged 20 to 70. There is no age limit but it does require a certain amount of fitness to carry out events. A great social life is also offered which bonds the members together.

District 105NE Past District

Governors’ Reunion

Past District Governors don’t just fade away they do lunch, talk over old times and they put the district to rights “pity we didn’t know it all when we were in the job”.

A first for NE when I sent out the invitation to all the Past District Governors from NE to attend an informal lunch, it was uncharted territory and I was unsure what response I would get. But they came by train, bus and car from all corners of the district to converge on the Royal Station Hotel in Newcastle. It was good to meet up with both PDG’s and partners along with our current District Governor Andrew, who will soon be one of us.

Following on from this first year success I will be arranging a similar lunch next March, so if you are a PDG and missed out this time around mark your diary for the provisional date of March 23 2016.

PDG Lion John Sutherland

40 glorious years

Alnwick Lions Club celebrated its 40th Anniversary in the great Hall at Alnwick Castle, courtesy of the Duke of Northumberland

Lion President Malcolm Pringle, with Lion District Governor 105NE Andrew Kerr Sutherland and Alnwick Lion’s members with Sponsor Club members of Morpeth Lions Club.

Charter President Lion Adrian Ions, left, Lion President Malcolm Pringle, and charter member Lion Len Reece with the Alnwick Lions Club Charter.

Top table guests, Lion President Malcolm Pringle, with 105 NE District Governor Lion Andrew Kerr Sutherland and guests President of Alnwick Rotary Club and Alnwick Round Table with husbands, wives and partners

Guests enjoying the night

District Governor Lion Andrew Kerr Sutherland presents Lion Len and Margaret Reece an award in recognition of 40 years continuous service to Lions Clubs International Well done Alnwick. Also celebrating their 40th Anniversary was Kirkcaldy & District Lions, who unusually for Scotland, were quiet in their celebrations though no doubt a few good malts helped the celebration.

Youth Matters

Zone Chairmen It is that time of year again when you are busy planning your programme for next year. I would like a member of the Youth Team to visit each Zone as soon as possible. Would you please contact me on lionsashburner-105ne@talktalk.net before the end of this Lions’ year in June. Book early before “freebies” run out

Lions Clubs Clubs who have borrowed the District Banners (Pull Ups) are so impressed with them that many are wanting to buy their own. I can help you purchase them at the MD rate which is the cheapest.

Young Ambassador Competition Now is the time to go into schools, clubs etc. to book a young person to represent themselves and your Club in the District Finals.

Peace Poster Competition – Share

Peace Remember that entry packs are available via both District and MD websites.

We are attending MD Convention in early May and we hope to have some wonderful

news to bring back.

Lion Corinne

It was a great pleasure to meet up with the Sunderland Academy Leo Club last week. Very active in serving their local community. Keep up the good work and I look forward to meeting up with Leos again soon.

We did it

“75 members, 20 clubs represented and all got something from the day. Even the food was good”. That’s the official feedback from members about the information day.

The day started with George Bennett from District 'C' rousing the members to a crescendo of “make things happen “ and they certainly did.

Chris Southworth’s group were soon discussing membership issues while Nigel Ware’s was looking closely at the needs of Vice Presidents and Alan Ashburner’s were considering communication and secretarial needs.

In another room David Wells was soon up to his ears in post it notes containing pointers on where the district should be going and while all this was going on trainee facebookers were coming and going from Richard Lukey’s IT workshop armed with phones and tablets to record the day.

So was it a success? Definitely, it’s already clear that there is a lot of new activity in the clubs that attended.

What did we learn? The biggest single thing was the need for a lot more one to one tuition. It was clear that a lot of members really appreciated the opportunity to be shown complicated items individually.

The teams will fully review what worked and what did not over the next few weeks.

Will we do another? Next year’s GLT team is already on the case looking at venues in central Scotland, so watch this space. Global Leadership Team, GLT leader Lion Dave Wheeler

Easter eggs roll Morpeth Lions were busy can rattling and collecting Easter eggs in recent weeks.

Firstly, the Lions were out in force helping with the Marie Curie collection and managed to raise a grand total of £802 for the charity.

Following this the Lions teamed up with Asda in Ashington to collect Easter eggs. Happily 86 eggs were collected and these were taken to the County Council’s Children’s Support Team for distribution to give an Easter surprise to children who would otherwise miss out on such a treat.

The weekend after Easter was the Morpeth Gathering. The Gathering is a celebration of the traditions and culture of Northumberland. There were exhibitions, displays, street theatre, music, craft, art workshops and battle re-enactments. The weather was not kind this year and attendances were well down on previous years. Nevertheless Morpeth Lions can rattle raised £313 towards the costs of

staging the Gathering and the Lions made this up to a £500 donation to the Gathering Committee.

Lion President Stuart Lewis said “The Lions are keen to see these traditions being kept alive and are looking forward to next year’s Gathering.”

Lions Nigel Wright (with dog) and Den Gray out on the streets collecting with Roman soldier on guard!

Nepal Earthquake Disaster

Much has happened since we first learnt of the earthquake in Nepal. Our understanding of the scale of the disaster is continuing to grow, and as Lions we are anxious to respond speedily and effectively.

At last year’s Multiple District Convention your Council was charged with developing a disaster response programme, specifically related to emergency water supplies.

Council has agreed and intended to announce at the forthcoming Multiple District Convention this month the following approach:

Water purification tablets which are each capable of purifying 10 litres of water

Life saver water filtration units which enable users to process 15,000 litres of clean sterile drinking water.

Council believes this approach should be adopted in responding to the Disaster in Nepal, taking into account the direct request from Past International President Lion Barry Palmer on behalf of Lions Clubs International Foundation for water treatment materials.

The Multiple District is therefore launching an appeal for donations to the Multiple District International Disaster Fund.

In order to provide an immediate response, Council has sanctioned the use of existing funds to obtain the following:

56 cartons each containing 16,000 tablets capable of purifying nine million litres of water

280 Lifesaver water filtration units capable of treating 4.2 million litres of contaminated water.

These items were airfreighted to Nepal on Friday 1 May. The Multiple District Disaster Appeal is to build funds to purchase further supplies and restore the MD International Disaster Funds ready to respond to future emergencies.

As District LCIF officer Lion Roy Chambers reminds us there are currently two ways to get monies to the area of a disaster.

‘Via LCIF where monies are collected for the four recognised areas of support. By regular donations, money is available immediately and the greatest impact can be made for the people in need.

There are also the donations made to the MD 105 disaster appeal. As you have seen above these monies have been used to buy water purifying cans and water sterilisation tablets.

Whichever way you donate, your money will impact on someone's life.’

As Immediate Past International President Lion Barry Palmer, Chair of LCIF has also reminded us all ‘since October 2010, LCIF in general has not opened separate accounts for specific disaster appeals. This is because monies for specific appeals have to be ring fenced and cannot be spent on any other cause. This was

leading to a situation that there was money left unspent/under-utilised because there were insufficient grant applications to use it up. It was decided that because the general disaster fund provided support for Emergency grants and Major Catastrophe grants then this fund should also provide grants for medium and long term projects.

As such, when there has been a disaster appeal, for example for the Typhoon Haiyan (Philippines flooding), Cyclone Pam (Vanuatu) or now for Nepal, then those monies received by the Foundation go into the Disaster Fund for immediate and future needs such as long term rebuilding projects adopted and administered by Lions Clubs.

It should be remembered that donations to the Foundation for the general areas of Disaster Relief, Humanitarian Needs (includes Measles Rubella), Sight and Youth are all eligible for recognition. Donations for the Area of Greatest Need (AOGN) can be used for any of the four main areas.

Nepal Lions in action

Donations should be sent to District Treasurer Peter Milburn saying on the back where you want the money to go.

What do you do with your redundant

spectacles?

Lion Yomi Sobo, Ponteland Lions Club sorts out spectacles collected from local opticians.

Instead of pushing them to the back of a drawer, Ponteland residents are encouraged to get them out and take them to the local opticians.

They are then collected by local Lion Yomi Sobo, cases thrown away, then packed up and sent to Chichester Lions Club to be processed by local volunteers and recycled for use in Africa, India and Eastern Europe.

Quite a sophisticated operation depending on help from various carriers and expert volunteers! Lion Yomi has been involved for the last 20 years in these collections.

When Ponteland Lions visited HM Prison Frankland a few years ago they saw another part of the operation, where prisoners used a machine to grade the lenses in spectacles, the first stage of recycling. It was distinctly strange watching a murderer measure the lenses and then assign them to their allotted boxes, an essential part of the service to support others. More choice from MedicAlert, a Lions

Partnership project

In line with keeping up with fashions MedicAlert recently launched a black leather prestige bracelet in their new Leathercraft collection and were pleased to see how popular it has quickly become.

Now we can announce the launch of its handsome brother, the new brown leather prestige bracelet.

The Prestige sports a large, shield-style, polished, stainless steel disc on a genuine leather strap. Designed with an uncompromising, rugged look, the

Prestige now comes with a black or brown leather option to suit all tastes and is a further increase in the options available for all ages.

Further information see Medic Alert

Book Now and don’t miss the event

of the year

District Convention 2015 20 – 22 November Scotch Corner Holiday Inn

The booking forms have started to arrive, and we are getting into “Convention Mode”.

Here is a reminder of what’s on offer this year.

FRIDAY EVENING – Join us for the Teesdale Welcome Night. The meal is a hot buffet and desert.

Entertaining us will be Five Pearls and a Piano – 5 ladies from Swaledale who sing everything from Swing to Pop

Lion Bob Garton, our resident quizmaster, will provide a brain teasing Quiz, together with some other little gimmicks and tricks.

The Partners’ Outing this year visits the beautiful Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, where we have arranged a tour and also a chance to see the famous clockwork Swan in action. There will also be time for lunch and that all important “retail therapy” which goes so well with Conventions

Saturday evening – is the District Governor’s Dinner Dance with a 3 course

meal, coffee/tea and the chance to dance the night way to a fantastic local combo

Booking forms and the menu choice for Saturday evening are on the District website – on the right of the home page. Have you completed your form yet?

The Committee is working hard to make sure that you have an enjoyable weekend with us, and hope that you can join us this year. Oh......on Saturday there is also the business meeting in the morning and some useful seminars in the afternoon which will give you a few insights into making your clubs run even more smoothly.

Teesdale & District Lions Club Convention Committee

Your communications for members ,

friends and potential Lions

Remember to visit your District website and keep up to date with Lions news District 105NE Lions website is increasing its readership from a large number of Lions and prospective Lions. Send your club, zone, team and news blogs to Richard Lukey to continue to Strengthen the Pride in 105NE and beyond. With the hashtag #lionsnews your news could be picked up and sent round the world so don’t forget this useful tool to communicate and spread your message, share your story and feed other Lions with ideas as well as encouraging more to come and join us in strengthening the pride.

Whale of a time in N Yorkshire

A splendid afternoon was spent in early April with Easingwold District Lions defending their Challenge Cup against Filey Lions and Malton Lions, with Malton claiming the Cup by a narrow margin.

Easingwold Lions President John Sutherland presents the cup to Lion Jack of Malton Lions and a surprise Man of the Match medallion to Easingwold Lion David Shields.

The afternoon was rounded off with fish'n'chips and optional mushy peas at the local Wetherby Whaler. Easingwold Lions are already planning a new challenge for next year. We'll be back !

Filey Lions Easter trolley dash

Filey Lions Easter Trolley dash took place in Tesco's Filey store on Easter Monday.

The winning ticket was purchased by local lady Mrs.Jenny Sharpe, and the dash carried out by her husband Gordon, as she was holidaying in Normandy at the time.

Ticket sales raised in excess of £500 for charitable funds, to help local groups and organisations.

Mr. Sharpe at the start of the dash, alongside Lion President David Wilson, and Filey Lions’ mascot.

Durham darts continue

On 27 March a Charity Darts Challenge Match, organised by Durham Lions, took place in Durham, The two adversaries were teams from Ustinov College and Ushaw Moor Catholic Club ladies team. After a very competitive match the team from Ustinov College eventually overcame the Ladies team to win by a small margin.

However, the real winner was the nominated charity for the evening, St Cuthbert’s Hospice, with the amount raised by the raffle being £256.30, which will be augmented by the Lions from their charity account. Lion George O’Donnell organised the event in conjunction with Andrew Titchmarsh of Ustinov College and the evening, which was attended by several other Lions, was very successful and enjoyable. Lion George is hoping to expand on the success of this event for future.

Showing thanks

Thank you to Greggs for their kind donation of various food products for Durham Lions Table Top Sale in mid April at Langley Park Miners Institute Hall. Greggs displayed this poster in their Jarrow shop, as the donation was collected from there.

Durham Lions table top sale

45 years celebrated

On Saturday 18 April Durham Lions Club held their 45th Charter Anniversary Dinner and Dance at the Chester Le Street Masonic Hall. The evening was attended by 63 people made up of fellow Lions, members from other clubs, retired Lions, guests and supporters from the local community.

The top table guests of Lion President Alvan Bailey and his wife Val were Lion District Governor Andrew Kerr Sutherland, Consett Lion President Mike Rogers and his wife Ann, who were all warmly welcomed by Durham Lions.

After an enjoyable meal came the various toasts and a quote from the Lions Code of Ethics. District Governor Lion Andrew started by proposing the toast to Lions International. Lion President Alvan then had the pleasure of leaving the sanctuary of the top table and visiting each table in turn to thank the Lions from other clubs, guests and retired Lions for helping to celebrate Durham’s anniversary. Special mention was made of the various

community supporters stressing their importance to the success of Durham Lions projects. Lion Mike Rogers rounded the speeches off with his jokes ending with his response on behalf of the guests and supporters.

The band for the evening 'Cats Night Out' opened their first session with 'Congratulations' played to mark the golden wedding anniversary of Durham Lion Bill Foster and his wife Sue, which had been on the day before. After about an hour’s dancing the band took a break to allow the raffle to be drawn and then on with more dancing until midnight. An evening enjoyed by all.

DG Team travels for May 2015 May 7 - 8 Council of Governors DG Andrew 8 - 10 MD105 Convention DG Andrew Birmingham DGE Dave IPDG Chris 17 Cabinet meeting DG Team Seaton Burn 23 Scarborough Lions DG Andrew Charter 28 Mull Lions visit DG Andrew

Consett Lions Club has sponsored a Spring Variety Concert in memory of Lion Eric James MJF, a member of Consett Lions for half a century. The proceeds of the concert on Friday 7 May will be donated to Willow Burn Hospice, Lanchester where Eric spent his final days. Tickets are available from Consett Empire Theatre or by email from Lion President Mike Rogers

Your May 2015 Spotlight

Thank you for all your news that keeps rolling in. Please continue to send in your news for all the different communications channels available.

If you have a story to tell please send this to Lachlan and to Richard for the

website/Twitter/ Facebook sites.

Copy deadline for May 2015 Spotlight on 105NE is Friday 22 May to allow for compilation. This will hopefully allow for distribution at the start of June.