My Life as a Lion

In just over a year, all things being equal, my fellow 1st Vice District Governors will be making our final preparations to attend Lions Clubs International’s International Convention in Hamburg. While there we will attend four days of training before being sworn in as District Governors for 2013/2014. As part of the lead up to this we attended our second training weekend at St John’s Hotel in Solihull.

This time around all thirteen of us were there being joined by Liam Lyons from Ireland, Chris Southworth from Scotland and Sarbjit Assi from London. We had all been asked to prepare a three-minute PowerPoint presentation on a nominated subject and the value of last year’s training showed in the improved quality of the presentations. We also brought examples of conflict for a session on conflict resolution and some initial thoughts on our aims and objectives for our year as DGs for a session on vision. This latter session showed that many of us are thinking along the same lines with a general theme of returning to more service and less fund-raising for other charities.

We also had sessions on teamwork, LCI HQ, Finances, Insurance and constitutions as well as plenty of opportunities to share ideas and opinions both inside and outside the classroom. This year parallel training was being held for next year’s second vice district governors so there was also an opportunity to meet some of them. Once again this was a well run weekend full of relevant information which will help us through the coming two years or so.

Part of our time in Hamburg will be spent in the parade that always takes place at international convention. As a group the majority do not want to be dressed in the traditional blue blazers and grey trousers worn by the GB and Ireland contingent (“I don’t want to look like a geriatric bowling team” as one of my colleagues put it”). There was some discussion of an alternative which will be a bit more flamboyant. Watch this space for details of the battle that is bound to ensue with some of the older Lions in the Multiple District.

I’ll be taking some personal time over the next couple of weeks before returning re-energised and refreshed to face the challenges of being 1st Vice District Governor. I have 15 official club visits to do this coming year as well as chairing the Finance and Administration team and being a member of the long-range planning, membership and leadership teams. Our monthly DG team meetings will be held at my house as the most central location for the three of us and the first one will be a meal for us and our partners. Later, but not too much later, in the year I will have to start putting together my cabinet and to put some more flesh on the bones of my theme for the year.

Lion Simon Moss

@simonhmoss @MarstonGnLions @lions105m @lionsclubsorg

1820 miles travelled so far as 2nd VDG

490 hours since 1 July 2011 on Lions’ activities