My Life as a Lion

Well, I seem to have let a few weeks go by without a blog post. Note to self; Must try Harder!

The various meetings mentioned in my last post have all taken place and a few more besides. These were interesting meetings which filled me with optimism that we are moving forward on the membership , communication and planning fronts as a district. For this blog however I want to concentrate on some different activities.

Firstly I have been investigating donation and fund-raising websites. My Club already use JustTextGiving which is free but cannot use JustGiving.com as it’s admin charges breach our principles as Lions that every penny we raise, after direct expenses, goes to charity. The two sites I have found and signed up for are BT MyDonate and MyCharityPage. The former is free and funded by BT while the latter does charge the donator an admin fee but this is charged over and above the amount donated with all of the donation going to the charity. So for example if you wanted to donate £10 to Marston Green Lions it would cost you £10.28 and the club would get £10.

Last weekend included Remembrance Day and as usual Marston Green Lions were laying wreaths in Chelmsley Wood and Marston Green. We were also helping to man the barriers in Marston Green while the local scouts and guides paraded to and from the remembrance services. The following weekend found us back in Marston Green for the St Leonard’s Christmas Craft Fair. We were selling home made candles and sequin patches on one stall and face painting on another. I was face painting and did two tigers, one lion, a snow queen and a butterfly.

Yesterday I was helping Sandwell Lions Club with a community tree planting in Sandwell Valley Country Park. The picture on the right shows me at the end of the event but there are more pictures below that will better show the efforts over over 60 people in planting over 900 trees in a 189m hedgerow. This was a really well organised event and I was particularly please to see the club making use of QR codes in their advertising.

Coming up this week I have a Host Night committee meeting, a club social meeting, a charter dinner and a cabinet meeting. Hopefully I’ll be a little prompter with my blog update.

Lion Simon Moss

@simonhmoss @MarstonGnLions @lions105m @lionsclubsorg

530 miles travelled so far as 2nd VDG

164 hours since 1 July 2011 on Lions’ business