June 2020
BASINGSTOKE LIONS CLUB – JUNE 2020
We’ve been joined by Bill Lenihan. He got talking to Ann Vicars at our World Sight Day stall in the Malls and she persuaded him to join us at a dinner meeting at The Hatch. It was the usual rowdy, good-humored affair and he was pretty much sold on us. Ann finished him off with her usual rack and steam hammer approach and he has just volunteered to take on our most important role, Chairman of Fundraising. Whoopee!!
But life is full of ups and downs and Barry Morgan (Mr. Fixit) has felt obliged to stand down due to ill health after
23 years as a Lion. (The one is not a direct result of the other!!!) At one time or another he has voluntarily taken on nearly every role in the Club, and always delivered. But one of the nice things about our departing members is that they all opt for the umbilical cord of our distribution list. So, when they get the minutes and recognize that we have a problem they often weigh in by helping to organize and take part in activities such as Easter Egg raffles, tinshakes etc. There is an old saying that no good deed goes unpunished. So it actually pays to recruit masochistic members. On which subject I hope to have further good news next month.
The value of the Fleet Club’s IT renovation project cannot be overstated. One of our volunteers had the good fortune to deliver a particularly large screen and keyboard to a family with a disabled child. The reaction was apparently an absolute joy to behold – the sort of outcome that really makes you feel it’s all worthwhile.
We also became aware that one of the charities which we have helped in the past was running into a short-term funding shortfall to operate its foodbank. We stepped in with a loan of £1000 to cover 2 days operating costs.
The Basingstoke Voluntary Association (BVA) organized bunches of flowers to be delivered to carers. They needed drivers to deliver them. Quiz question: “Which member of the Club made the deliveries to a village just outside Basingstoke? Hint: a character once played by Doris Day – no! not Calamity Jane, (however appropriate that might be), the other sharpshooter!” But during the deliveries our one was spotted “loitering” on a corner causing several motorists to slow down in a suggestive manner. (Cop speak!).
Stop Press: We just received a very nice thank you letter from the CEO of our local NHS Trust in respect of the additional hand creams we supplied to the hospital. Isn’t that nice!
You too can help to make a difference to the lives of others by joining us via www.basingstokelions.org.uk
Philip Wilson
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