Lions Christmas Float Appeal Results

Warminster Lions Club are saying a big "Thank You" to the people of the Town and surrounding area for their generous donations to the Lions' 2001 Christmas Float appeal.



Over £4000 was collected during the 16 trips the Club's Float - complete with Father Christmas - made over the two-week period in the middle of December. This represents an increase of over 10% compared to last years' result. In addition to the trips around the Town and through Crockerton, Heytsbury, Sutton Veny and Tytherington, the Lions arranged for Santa to visit local Residential Homes and the Hospital and to hand out presents at a party they organised for the children at Hillside.



Lions President Alec Bain has praised local people for their generosity in supporting the Lions: "The Christmas Float appeal is our second largest source of funds for our Charitable Trust" he said "and it is therefore critical to our ability to continue our work for good causes that we get a good result. This year has been excellent, not only because of the generosity of local people but also because the weather was so good - we didn't have one wet night!". He also expressed the Club's gratitude to the representatives of other organisations who helped collect donations alongside the Lions and their families.

WARMINSTER LIONS SUPPORT WILTSHIRE AIR AMBULANCE

LIONS CONTRIBUTE TO YOUTH AND COMMUNITY CENTRE FILM PROJECT

DONATION TO 1st WARMINSTER BROWNIES

Warminster Lions Club has presented a cheque for £400 to The 1st Warminster Brownies in recognition of the good showing of one of their Young Leaders, Ashleigh Price, in the District Final of the Lions' Youth Award Scheme 2002 held recently in Bournemouth. The aims of the scheme, which is sponsored by the Lions Clubs of Great Britain and Ireland, are to promote interest by young people in Community activities; and to recognise and encourage young people who are already actively involved in serving their local Communities.

Ashleigh's project is helping the 1st Warminster Brownies to benefit from the opportunities available to them to learn about the environment and develop life skills through participating in outdoor activities including Brownie Camps. She began helping the Brownies when working for her Guide's Service Flash but has continued to assist the pack leader voluntarily over the past two years, including giving up her time to help on four Pack holidays. The Warminster Lions Club, who sponsored Ashleigh's attendance at the District Finals, awarded her a bursary of £400 towards her project which she plans to spend by purchasing tents and sleeping bags for the Brownies.

Ashleigh, who at 15 is at the younger end of the 15-19 years age range for Youth Award candidates and a Frome College student, earlier received £100 from the Lions on being joint winner of the Youth Award Regional Final against strong competition from candidates sponsored by Eastleigh, Ringwood, and Westbury Lions Clubs. Ashleigh spent the money on a laminator for the Brownies to use. One of Ashleigh's aims is to become a Brownie Adult Leader - she is currently on the Young Leader programme

The presentation of the cheque took place at the Pratten Hut on 19th February 2002.

Easter Egg Raffle 2002

The Warminster Lions Club has raised well over £700 in this year's Easter Egg Raffles. Seven giant eggs, provided by the Club, were raffled at various establishments in and around the Town. The proceeds will be used by the Lions to help them continue their long record of support for good causes within the local community.

The Lions' Easter Eggs were ‘hosted’ at the following establishments: The John Barleycorn; The Cock Inn; The Conservative Club; The Farmers Hotel; The George Inn, Longbridge Deverill and The Wessex Club. In addition the Safeway supermarket allowed the Lions to sell raffle tickets in the store. In this case the Egg was accompanied by an Easter Bunny as an alternative prize which was chosen by draw winner Mrs Sparey of Warminster for her grandson Jacob. The Egg went to Mrs Douglas of Westbury. The enclosed picture shows the winners receiving their prizes from Warminster Lions Vice President George Witts who said "We are very pleased with the results which are nearly double last year's and extremely grateful for the support and assistance from those who kindly agreed to raffle the Easter Eggs for us and, of course, to all who entered the raffles".

Warminster Lions Club Charter Night April 20th 2002

Warminster Lions Club recently celebrated the 38th anniversary of its formation. Since Spring 1964, it has been serving the community through making donations to individuals and organisations as well as actively supporting a wide range of local enterprises including the Beckford Centre, the Peter Gough Award and the Twinning Association. Like all Lions Clubs it takes a particular interest in Sight-related issues but is also active in collaboration with the Dentaid and Diabetes UK Charities.



In his speech at the Charter Night Dinner at the Standerwick centre, District Governor Mike McCreanor from the Isle of Wight congratulated the Club on their long record of service. He drew attention to the fact that the Club continues to improve upon its fundraising totals year-on-year and is very active on Youth-related issues, running peace Poster and Youth Award competitions, supporting the local Youth & Community centre and funding Drug and Alcohol Awareness training in schools.



In response, Lion President Alec Bain confirmed that whilst the Club remained committed to its original aims, it was active not only in ensuring both established fundraising and service activities continued to be relevant but also in introducing new ones. This ability, he thought, reflected both the Club's 'can do' attitude and the bouyant position with regard to membership, six people having been badged as new Lions over the last 18 months.



Lion President Alec Bain, his wife Trisha and guests are shown in the photograph taken at the Charter Dinner. Guests included the Mayor, Councillor Chris March with the Town Crier Phil Seddon kindly undertaking the duties of Master of Ceremonies.



Forthcoming Lions activities include organising the Raft Race and other activities in the Park on 3rd June as part of the Queen's Jubilee celebrations; supporting local fetes with their Candy Floss caravan; and, in September, presenting another Young Musician's Concert at the Athenaeum.

LIONS ORGANISE JUBILEE RAFT RACE - JUNE 3RD 2002

Warminster Lions Club is keen to hear from teams interested in taking part in a Raft Race as part of the festivities planned to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee.

The Race will be held in Warminster's Lake Pleasure Grounds on the afternoon of Monday 3rd June and is expected to comprise a series of heats in Junior and Senior classes culminating in four-raft finals for which prizes will be awarded. It is one of a number of activities to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee being planned by the Mayor's Jubilee Committee with the aim of providing a variety of entertainment for the whole family. Explaining the idea, Lions President Alec Bain said " We've started to sound out local organisations who we think might be interested and the indications are that there will be sufficient support for the event. As formal invitations will be going out shortly it's important we hear from anyone who believes they could produce a raft and a team of four to race it so we can make sure they're included. We are setting April 30th as the deadline for entries to reach us as we need to know where we stand in time to allow the arrangements for the race to be finalised in co-ordination with all the other planned activities".

Requests for further information and expressions of interest - including from anyone willing to help with the organisation of the event - should be made as soon as possible through the Lions Club's Jubilee Committee representative (Alan Chapman) or its PRO (Digby Barker) .

LOCAL COMPANY MAKES DONATION TO LIONS

After making a number of donations to good causes recently, Warminster Lions Club has found itself on the receiving end.

Nick Croker, proprietor of 'Stationery Plus' in Warminster's Cornmarket precinct, presented Lions President Alec Bain with a cheque for over £200. The sum represented the latest proceeds from Nick's printer cartridge recycling initiative. Said Nick " My shop acts as a collection point for empty cartridges which I periodically send off to an organisation which recycles them. The more people and businesses which bring me their used cartridges the more money we can raise for Charity from that organisation. And as we're talking here about cartridges of the sort which are used in ordinary home and office computer printers virtually everyone with a computer can help."

Asked why he'd selected the Lions on this occasion, Nick said "I've become more and more aware of the range of Lions activities in and around the Town over recent years, in particular from the coverage in the local press and latterly on 3trfm, and was therefore confident that they would be able to use the money to good effect."

Accepting the cheque on behalf of the Club, Lions President Alec Bain thanked Nick and added "Whilst donations are always welcome, it's particularly satisfying to know that this money has resulted from a re-cycling initiative and that ultimately, therefore, the environment is also benefiting."

For more details of the recycling scheme please contact Nick on 01985 847987.

CHRISTMAS FLOAT 2003

Once again Warminster Lions Club are saying a big "Thank You" to the people of the Town and surrounding area for their generous donations to the Lions' Christmas Float appeal and to the representatives of other organisations who helped collect donations alongside the Lions and their families.



The Club reports a record total of £4121 collected during the 16 trips the Float made over the two-week period in the middle of December. After the Bookshop in George Street, the Christmas Float appeal is the next largest source of funds for the Lions Charitable Trust.



In addition to conveying Father Christmas around the Town and through Crockerton, Longbridge Deverill, Heytsbury, Sutton Veny and Tytherington, the Lions arranged for Santa to visit Woodmead Residential Home and the Hospital and to hand out presents at a party organised by Lions Ladies for the children at Hillside.



Prior to the Float collections, the Lions had in mind that early recipients of the proceeds should include Wiltshire Air Ambulance. Last Saturday, by arrangement with the Mayor, Councillor Andrew Davis, the Lions took the opportunity of his coffee morning in support of the Air Ambulance charity to present a cheque for £500 to their Westbury Charity Shop manager Mrs Dot Whitehead who was running one of the stalls at the Dewey House event. Mrs Whitehead was evidently very pleased with the donation as she offered to display the large 'presentation' cheque in the window of the Charity Shop. The Warminster Lions are waiting to see what sort of reaction this 'incursion' draws from their fellow Lions in the Westbury Club !!

LIONS CLUB DONATION TO COT DEATH SOCIETY - Nov 02

Warminster Lions Club has made a donation of over £300 to the Cot Death Society.

Lion President Bob Boothroyd presented a cheque for £325 to Owen Jeffery, a Trustee of the Society at the Lions Club's Dinner Night on Tuesday.

Thanking the Lions for their donation, Owen Jeffery said that the money will go towards the servicing and re-calibration of monitoring equipment, the use of which has lead to a significant reduction in the number of cases of Sudden Infants Death Syndrome (SIDS). The Society loans the equipment for 6 months to a year at a time free of charge to families where there is a child at risk.

He explained that although much research has been done, the cause has not been identified - that is why the monitors are such an important element in reducing the incidence of the syndrome. Some 10 years ago, cot deaths of children under the age of one had been in excess of 1000 per year in the UK. Now, due to the Society's family monitoring programme, the rate is between 350 & 400 per year but in striving to reduce the level further are still relying solely on donations.

Owen Jeffrey then presented a certificate of appreciation to the Lions Club recognising that this was not the first donation the Club had made to the Society.

LIONS CLUB DONATES WHEELCHAIR TO WARMINSTER SHOPMOBILITY

Oct 02: Warminster Lions Club has provided Warminster Shopmobility with a new lightweight, folding wheelchair complete with all accessories including all-weather protective covers.

Warminster Shopmobility - the Charity which loans powered scooters and wheelchairs and, where necessary, volunteers to push them - now has over 40 members and the numbers are rising steadily every week. The demand for hiring manual chairs for outings with friends and relatives or to be pushed by volunteers has been growing so fast that there are now times when they are unable to meet all the requests for bookings due to lack of equipment. However, the Lions Club donation will make a big difference according to Sue McKerrow the local Shopmobility manager. Thanking Warminster Lions at the presentation ceremony on Monday, she added "now that we have this extra equipment our next priority is to recruit more Volunteers to push some of the wheelchair users."

Lion President Bob Boothroyd who formally presented the wheelchair to the Charity urged potential volunteers to visit the Shopmobility office in the Library and see how easily they could help. " You only need to give an hour of your time to make a tremendous difference to people who would otherwise be unable to get around the town to do their shopping - unlike many other ways in which one can help the local community, this offers immediate feedback on the value of the contribution you are making" he said.

The event was also attended by the Mayor of Warminster, Councillor Andrew Davis - a keen supporter of Shopmobility - and Freda Hewish and Eileen Gutsole two of the people who have benefitted from the Shopmobility service.

Volunteers for the Warminster Shopmobility service should contact Sue McKerrow at the Library or on Tel: 01985 217438.

LIONS CLUB DONATION TO COT DEATH SOCIETY

Warminster Lions Club has made a donation of over £300 to the Cot Death Society.

Lion President Bob Boothroyd presented a cheque for £325 to Owen Jeffery, a Trustee of the Society at the Lions Club's Dinner Night on Tuesday 5 Nov 03.

Thanking the Lions for their donation, Owen Jeffery said that the money will go towards the servicing and re-calibration of monitoring equipment, the use of which has lead to a significant reduction in the number of cases of Sudden Infants Death Syndrome (SIDS). The Society loans the equipment for 6 months to a year at a time free of charge to families where there is a child at risk.

He explained that although much research has been done, the cause has not been identified - that is why the monitors are such an important element in reducing the incidence of the syndrome. Some 10 years ago, cot deaths of children under the age of one had been in excess of 1000 per year in the UK. Now, due to the Society's family monitoring programme, the rate is between 350 & 400 per year but in striving to reduce the level further are still relying solely on donations.

Owen Jeffrey then presented a certificate of appreciation to the Lions Club recognising that this was not the first donation the Club had made to the Society.

WARMINSTER LIONS CLUB CHRISTMAS FLOAT APPEAL 2002

DONATION TO WARMINSTER COMMUNITY RADIO

Warminster Lions Club has presented a cheque for £400 to Warminster Community Radio (WCR) in recognition of the good showing of one of their presenters, Simon Quick, in the District Final of the Lions' Youth Award Scheme 2002/3 held in Bournemouth. Simon, who was sponsored in the competition by the Lions Club, was one of eight young people in this Lions District - which stretches from Berkshire to Wiltshire & includes the Channel Islands - who were chosen to contest a place in the Great Britain and Ireland Final of the annual Youth Award Scheme.

The aims of the Lions Youth Award Scheme are to promote interest by young people in Community activities; and to recognise and encourage young people who are already actively involved in serving their local Communities.

Simon's Youth Award project covers the services supplied by WCR to local Residential Homes and Hospitals. He himself is a volunteer presenter and is helping the station in its campaign for money to replace existing but obsolescent receivers so that people can continue to enjoy the WCR service.

In the District Final, Simon, who at 15 was at the younger end of the 15-19 years age range for Youth Award candidates and attends Kingdown School, was a very close second to Luke Bennett of Bournemouth whose project is promoting Ark Youth Clubs. Having received £100 from the Warminster Lions Club on being selected to attend the Youth Award District Final, Simon picked up a further £20 from the District Final judges in recognition of his achievements.

The presentation of the £400 cheque took place at the Warminster Community Radio premises next to the Assembly Hall

Local Lions Clubs Arrange Teacher Training

The Lions Clubs of Bradford-on-Avon, Melksham, Trowbridge, Warminster, and Westbury have teamed up to facilitate the provision of Alcohol & Drug awareness education in Schools across the WWDC area. They have arranged for the provision of TACADE (Teachers' Advisory Council for Alcohol & Drug Education) classroom materials and the necessary teacher training to go with it.




48 out of the 68 Primary, Secondary, and Independent schools in the area accepted the offer of the package which is being supported by the West Wilts Drug & Alcohol Working Group and West Wilts Community Safety Partnership and funded through the CAD (Communities Against Drugs) programme and the new 'Building a Safer Britain Fund'.






58 teachers from 48 Schools in the WWDC area are attending the TACADE training programme taking place on 23rd and 24th June 2003 at The Longfield Community Centre, Weavers Drive, Trowbridge. The funding obtained by the Lions Clubs - in excess of £20,000 - also covers the cost of Supply teacher cover for those schools who need it to allow their teachers to attend the course. The training is being delivered by TACADE Chief Executive Martin Buczkiewicz.






The project, which has taken 6 months to put together, has been co-ordinated by Lion Alan Chapman of the Warminster Lions Club. Other Lions involved include:



Lions Jack Roddis and Clifford Terrell of Melksham

Lion Chris Penny from Bradford on Avon

Lions Bill Cooke and John Greenaway from Trowbridge

Lion Terry Clements from Westbury

Zone Chairman Lion Les Wood from the Warminster Lions Club.



Said Alan Chapman, Lions District Youth Committee Chairman: "Many Lions Clubs have previously funded TACADE materials & training for their local schools. As these efforts have been well received by Teachers, Governors and Students, we felt confident enough to launch and seek funding for this larger, co-ordinated programme which has allowed us to help far more schools more efficiently than would have been the case if the Clubs had continued to act independently and had to rely on their own Charitable trusts for the money required".

Lions Young Leaders in Service Award

Two local young people have been selected by the Warminster and Westbury Lions Clubs to receive the LIONS YOUNG LEADERS IN SERVICE AWARD. The presentations were made by Lion Andrew Murrison MP, who is himself a member of the Westbury Lions Club, at the Baden Powell Scout Hall near Warminster Station on Friday 6th June 2003.



The awards are designed to recognise and encourage young people (12-18) who complete a significant number of hours of service in their community in a period of 12-months. The Gold Seal Award if for those who contribute 100 or more hours and the Silver for those contributing over 50 hours.



The local recipients of the Lions Young Leaders in Service award had both reached the Gold standard. They are:



Kimberley Ferguson of Warminster (17 and a Ranger Guide who is also a Young Leader with both the 1st & 3rd Warminster Brownies)



and



Joanna Hazell of Chapmanslade, Westbury (16 and a Young Leader with the 1st Chapmanslade Guides)



Each recipient received a letter and a Certificate from Lions Clubs International and a cheque for £50 from their local Lions Club.



Lions believe it is important for young people to experience the rewards of helping their community. Young people who volunteer become adults who serve, and service is the prime focus of the Lions Clubs movement. In fact, "WE SERVE" is the Lions motto.



Warminster Ranger Guiders Lynn Ferguson and Hazel Bell together with Chapmanslade Guide Guider Janet Aylesbury, supported by Division Commissioner Pauline Hodder, worked with Lion President Terry Clements from Westbury Lions Club and Lion Alan Chapman from Warminster Lions Club to encourage participants in the Young leaders in Service Award scheme and to co-ordinate the award application process.



The Warminster and Westbury Lions Clubs are part of the world's largest service club association. Founded in 1917, Lions Clubs International has 1.4 Million members in more than 44,500 clubs throughout 185 countries and geographical areas. China is one of the most recent countries in which Lions Clubs have been established following the Chinese government's recognition of the benefits of the movement by the success of Lions Club International Eye care work there over the past 5 years.

WARMINSTER LIONS CLUB AT HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT

Members of Warminster Lions Club were amongst Lions Club members from across Great Britain and Ireland invited to attend the recent United Nations Day at the Houses of Parliament. The leader of Lions Clubs International, the world's largest voluntary service organisation, International President Kay K. Fukushima met with MPs, United Nations Agency representatives of UNICEF and WHO and Lions Club members to discuss international humanitarian aid projects in one of the historic Committee Rooms of the Palace of Westminster.



Further details of the event and its background are attached. (NB: Multiple District 105 (MD 105) is the Lions Clubs International designation for the Lions Clubs within Great Britain and (the island of) Ireland. Oak Brook, USA is the location of the HQ of Lions Clubs International).



The event was sponsored by local MP Andrew Murrison, who is himself a member of the Westbury Lions Club.





During his visit to the UK, the International President presented the Lions' Medal of Distinction, the highest honour the Association can award to someone other than a Head of State, to HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, in recognition of the work His Royal Highness has done over the years for a very large number of voluntary organisations and notably the World Wildlife Fund for Nature.

WARMINSTER LIONS CLUB REINFORCES GUIDES SUCCESS

In another show of support for the youth of the area, The Warminster Lions Club has made a donation of £200 to a local Guide Group to help ensure they can build on their recent success in increasing their membership.

The 6th Warminster Girl Guides saw membership tail-off in the last years to as low as 6, but thanks to the determination of the Group, their Guide Leader Angela Beer and the local Guides Division Commissioner Pauline Hodder, membership has now risen to 27. In fact, there is now a waiting list of girls wishing to join the group.

Much of the dramatic reversal in fortunes is attributed to the effort put in to organise an open evening where parents and children were able to see just what guiding is all about. Angela Beer said "I think this is a valuable lesson for other clubs facing similar problems: don't just assume that people know what benefits membership can bring, create the opportunities to tell them".

As the Group began to grow again, the Guides approached the Warminster Lions Club to help secure their success by funding Welcome Packs for all the new recruits and Folders - known as G-files - to hold their individual records of achievement and activities through their guiding life. The Club agreed to help and Lion President Bob Boothroyd was pleased to hand over a cheque for £200 at a recent Guides meeting. Praising the Club and its leaders for not giving up when things looked bad, Bob Boothroyd said "It's nice to know that people feel able to turn to us for assistance like this, but of course we're only the intermediaries: the money comes from the local people who generously support our fundraising efforts, although Lions and their families donate a great deal of their time to the cause."

Lions Donate 2nd Wheelchair to Shopmobility

Warminster Shopmobility - the Charity which loans powered scooters and wheelchairs and, where necessary, volunteers to push them - now has over 60 members and the numbers are rising steadily every week. In fact the demand for manual wheelchairs has been so great that at times we have been unable to meet all the requests for bookings due to lack of equipment.

However, thanks to a donation from the Warminster Lions Club from the money they raised with their Christmas Float, they have now been able to purchase another new lightweight-folding wheelchair. This is the second chair that Warminster Lions have financed in the last six months. The first chair purchased for Shopmobility last October has been on loan to a local man for the last two months providing an invaluable stopgap while he awaits a chair to be provided by the Health Authority. According to his wife, having use of the wheelchair has transformed the quality of their life enabling them to get out and about again.

Warminster Shopmobility is continually looking for more volunteers who would be able to push elderly local residents around town. Demand for this service is increasing and it is very rewarding seeing what a huge difference it can make to someone just to get out into the fresh air once a week.

Remember you do not have to be registered disabled to use Shopmobility, just unable to walk the distances you would like. If you want to find out more about hiring a powered scooter or a wheelchair for just £1 per day, or wish to become a volunteer, please get in touch: the Shopmobility office, which is manned every Monday and Friday, is in Warminster's Central Car Park next to the Tourist Information Office and can be contacted on Tel: 01985 217438 (an answerphone will record your message outside opening hours.)

WARMINSTER LIONS LAUNCH 'MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE' SCHEME