My Life as a Lion

Since I last wrote I’ve been out and about on Lions’ activities. These have been a mixture of business and social activities and perhaps highlights the range of things you get involved in as a Lion.

I started with my own club’s business meeting at which, among other things, we agreed to sponsor youth cricket at Marston Green Cricket Club again. We are shortly going to begin planning for a Fun Day with them to take place on 29 July. After that it was out on the road for me starting with a meeting of the MD Convention Host Night committee where plans are coming together for a smashing night of entertainment.

Our candidate Liam on the right

On 19th February I went with Christine to Dudley for the Multiple District Finals of the Young Ambassador of the 21st Century Award. We were there supporting our club’s candidate, Liam, who had won the district final. It truly is an inspirational day with thirteen candidates from Great Britain and Ireland showing why they are special in terms of the service that they give to others.

For me it was slightly spoilt by the over formal ceremony surrounding the presentations. I’m not against tradition and ceremony in its proper place but here we had a group of future leaders and their parents and friends who were subjected to speeches preceded by the full formal protocol. If we are serious about using our activities to attract members we need to make ourselves attractive. Certainly Liam’s parents who were with us found the speechifying boring.  

Perhaps part of the reason for the formality was the presence of the International First Vice President of Lions Clubs International, Wayne Madden. In July of this year he will become the leader of over 1.3 million Lions worldwide. My only real contact with him was to assist with moving his and his wife’s 8 large suitcases and a set of golf clubs to the cars that were taking him to the airport after the event.

The following Tuesday was a club visit to Birmingham Exhibition Lions Club who were formed around the time that the NEC was opened as the Birmingham Exhibition Centre. The main thrust of my visit was to encourage them to have a website and I’m pleased to say that they now have one (www.e-clubhouse.org/sites/exhibition/).

The 22nd of February was my club’s Christmas meal. We always postpone it into the New Year because we are so busy around Christmas itself. Friday 24th saw me and four other members of my club in the regional final of the district’s skittles competition. This is a competition aimed to get clubs to meet each other and isn’t taken too seriously. We were up against Kenilworth and Malvern Hills Lions Clubs and, although it was neck-a-neck after two rounds, we went to pieces in the final round and ended up last behind Kenilworth and Malvern Hills.

The victorius quiz team

The following Monday we got our own back in the district Masterteam quiz organised each year by Knowle and Dorridge Lions. At the half way stage we were in third, four points behind Kenilworth, but managed to win by one point. Over the years Kenilworth and Marston Green have now won the quiz four times each and come second in most of the other years. Congratulations to me, Christine, Jonathan and Sara.

Tree planting in Dudley

In between these two events I went to Dudley to help the local Lions with their tree planting. This time the trees were fairly mature rhododendron bushes. Around 20 Lions turned up and the job was finished in a couple of hours.

On 29th February I chaired a meeting of the MD Convention committee in Andy’s absence due to illness. And so into March which started with a club visit to Corby. When I asked them if I could come to their meeting they did not have a website but by the time I arrived they had created one (www.e-clubhouse.org/sites/corby/) so, apart from some advice on its maintenance, my main thrust this time was the signature projects. 

Last night I visited Handsworth Lions Club who hosted a lively if cold meeting due to no heating in their venue. Again I focussed on websites as they don’t have one although they do have a Facebook account which is kept up to date. By the end of today I will have registered an E-Clubhouse site for them.

That’s all for this post though with three more club visits and two race nights in the next seven days there should be plenty to tell you next time.

Lion Simon Moss

@simonhmoss @MarstonGnLions @lions105m @lionsclubsorg

1050 miles travelled so far as 2nd VDG

330 hours since 1 July 2011 on Lions’ activities