strength through growth - lions district 201v6 feb roar 15.pdf · 2015-04-24 · santa, christmas...

Strength Through Growth

Greetings to all Lions, Lionesses and Leos of our wonder-ful 201V6 District. Well, Christmas has come and gone and Lions Lady Mary and I trust that you all had a very relaxing and enjoyable time with family and friends, as we did. No doubt you were all involved with the seasonal commu-nity activities that Lions always willingly get involved with – Santa, Christmas Carols, New Year’s Eve celebrations, Australia Day festivities, among many others – and are now gearing up for even more activity in the coming months. With seven months of the year already gone, now is the time to revisit your plans for the year and see what you have achieved and list the things you still want to achieve. I encourage Club leaders to look at the coming months as an opportunity to further stamp their place in their club’s history book before their time in office finishes in just five months. For me, for the remainder of the year I will have only two more Lions clubs and five Leos clubs to visit, and some Cabinet Chairmen and clubs have invited me to other functions. Not unusual for a DG and I am certainly not complaining as I am looking forward to each and every one of these engagements with the anticipation of meeting more of the Lions family and enjoying their company and friendship. What I am also saying is that if you would like me to at-tend any club function or anniversary, I would be delighted to do so, but please notify me early so I can fit you into my schedule. At the January Council of Governor’s Meeting, a number of matters were discussed and, believe it or not, a number of decisions were made. MD Convention Notices of Motion District Governors are putting forward two very important motions at MD Convention and I would ask club delegates attending to listen very closely to the arguments and I en-courage you to support each one. One motion is for the increase in MD dues – not a popular proposition on the face of it but a very important one for the future of our organization. Elsewhere in this edition there is a brief explanation of the reasons for this action and I urge clubs and delegates to read this before making any “knee-jerk” decisions. The other motion is to try to untangle the dilemma of the Category B projects. The proposal is to allow the Council of Governors of the day to issue Licenses to Foundations and entities wishing solely to request funds and have no activity whatsoever attached to their project. There have been five such Foundations identified in the current list of 10 Category B projects and if these were transferred from Category B projects to Licenses then five places would open up for other, more activity based, projects to be accepted as Category B.

Membership Instead of our usual March Membership Month, MD are launching a March to May Membership Campaign during which time clubs will be encouraged to make a concerted effort to publicize Lions activities and show the world that being a Lion is fun as well as a great avenue for communi-ty service. MD will increase Lions exposure on national television and asks clubs to follow up with local radio and newspaper stories of Lions projects and asking for inter-ested, like-minded people to join us. More on this will come from our District Membership team in due course. Lions Family Fun Day Sunday 15th March has been set aside for clubs, either individually or collectively, to have a fun day just relaxing together and enjoying each other’s company. Zones could organize a day in a centrally located park. How about one Club or Zone challenging another Club or Zone to a com-petition (cricket, lawn bowls, ten-pin bowling, golf, to name a few)? Prospective members could be invited to see how we work and interact. On the “home” front, thank you to all clubs who helped/are helping with the bushfire recovery efforts at Thoona - a magnificent response from the clubs in Zones 6, 7, 8, & 9 by providing meals two nights a week, and from clubs making donations for fodder. Thank you to Disaster Re-sponse Chairman Ron, Zone Chairman Ern, IPDG Lynn and the relevant Zone Chairmen for orchestrating our re-sponse. Thanks also to PDG Bea Ahearn for maintaining the meals roster and keeping us all up to date. To all V6 Lions, Lionesses & Leos, thank you for your wonderful work so far this year, we are only lagging in one department – our most important one, membership. Please let’s all work together to improve our membership so that we can continue to serve our communities as we have in the past – we need to induct more members and retain all the members we possibly can. Congratulations to those clubs who have improved their membership numbers this year. It can be done, let’s do it!!! This Lions year still has five months to go – let’s make the most of it. And have fun out there!!

DG Peter Strength through

Growth

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In this Issue

District Governor’s Message Cover

From the Editor’s Desk 1

Dates to remember 1

YOY District Finals Invitation 1Peace Poster contest 2New members 201V6 2Australia Day Awards 3MD Convention 2020 4

Increased fees - why? 5

Rotary alternative schoolies project 6

Youth of the Year journey 7

LCIF projects 8

Leo Tyquin Award 8

Lions Awards available 9

Spinal Cord fellowship 10

Beerwah Lions project 10

Beyond Blue forum invitation 10

District Convention planning 11

MD Convention Newcastle 11

Around the Clubs 12-23

Leo Reports 24-27

Licola Reports 28-29

From the Editor’s Desk I would like to know members thoughts on the Roar, so I have developed a short survey to send out to Clubs.

Please complete the survey and return to me so I can make the Roar more informative and reflect the needs of Clubs in our District.

Thanks, Lee

FEBRUARY

28 February Youth of the Year Club Finals to be completed

MARCH

8 March YOTY Zone/Region finals to be completed

16 March “Lions Family Fun Day”

22nd March YOTY District Final - Nathalia

30th March PU 101 Returned to Cab Sec

INCOMING OFFICERS TRAINING

19th April Corowa

24th May Moama

MD CONVENTION

30th April - 14th May Newcastle

Dates to Remember

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Each year, Lions clubs around the world proudly sponsor the Lions International Peace Poster Contest in local schools and youth groups. This art contest for kids en-courages young people worldwide to express their visions of peace. For more than 25 years, millions of children from nearly 100 countries have participated in the contest.

Each year a different theme incorporating Peace is cho-sen. Peace, Love and Understanding is the theme of the 2014–2015 Peace Poster Contest. Lions Clubs can spon-sor the program in their community for children in local schools or organised youth groups. Students who will be 11, 12 or 13 years of age on Novem-ber 15th 2014 are eligible to participate. Through the con-test students are encouraged to visually depict their interpretation of the contest’s theme. Twenty four international finalists are selected to repre-sent the work of more than 350,000 young participants from around 75 countries worldwide. Since 1988 more than 3.6 million children have participated. 30th January 2015 - 25 members and leaders of youth outreach and the art community came to Loyola University Museum of Art to judge this year’s Annual Lions Interna-tional Peace Poster Contest finalists. There were 132 posters –all created by 11, 12 and 13 year old children from around the world.

Amongst those in attendance were Greg Allen, Founding Director of the Neo-Futurists; Gary Fry, Director of Mid-

west Young Artists Voices Rising; James Lackey, Artist at Horizons for the Blind; Steven Rosengard, Assistant Cura-tor at the Museum of Science and Industry; and many more. The grand prize winner and 23 merit award winners will be announced on Saturday, March 7, 2015 at this year’s Lions Day with the United Nations. The theme of the 2015-16 Peace Poster Contest is "Share Peace." Students, ages 11, 12 or 13 on Novem-ber 15, are eligible to participate. Has your club participated in the International contest?

NEW MEMBERS OF DISTRICT 201 V6The new members inducted into Lions per Membership reports from 1st December 2014 to 31st January 2015 and their sponsors are recorded here. Congratulations and welcome to all the new members and congratulations to the sponsors. Club Secretaries Please Note:- some sponsors of these new members have not been recorded and will therefore not be recognized for Key Member Awards. Please amend your records on MyLCI so these members will be recognized for their efforts to “Strengthen the Pride

NEW MEMBER CLUB SPONSOR

Tammy BarkerBarham-Koondrook

Geoffrey Barker

Gary Lehre Berrigan Inara Fox

Helen Lehre Berrigan Inara Fox

Andrew Rigg CohunaNorm Walkington

Michelle Rigg Cohuna Lee Walkington

Don Crimmins Moama Ian Jenkins

Robert Hardwic Moama Gerry Van Eyk

Coral Snaith Moama Ian Jenkins

Kevin Wilkinson Moama Carmel Simpson

Edward Ackerley

Walla Walla

Ken Pullen Walla Walla

Robert Sanders Yarrawonga

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At the recent Council of Governors meet-ing it was brought to our attention that the financial position of the Multiple District (Lions Australia) is deteriorating. Income is not keeping up with expenses for a num-ber of reasons. The Multiple District is the administrative arm of Lions in Australia and it facilitates and supports the efforts of our members in

the Clubs and Foundations who perform community ser-vice – locally, nationally and internationally. The Multiple District does not raise monies from the public. Membership of the Multiple District is decreasing and has now dropped below 27,000 (down from 31,823 in 1990 and 27,790 in 2010) and this has resulted in a sig-nificant reduction in dues income. Of course, in this time our costs have increased steadily, in fact, real costs have risen faster than CPI. The bottom line is, we are on the bread line. Membership numbers are always under pressure and costs continue to rise. Our National Treasurer presented five year finan-cial projections to the Council of Governors which indi-cate that, unless we can reverse the trend, the position of the Multiple District will become critical in the near fu-ture.

With no central body how long do you think we as Lions Clubs would exist?THE FIX !!! Firstly we must work on INCREASING MEMBERSHIP. If we all make a concerted effort on retaining the mem-bers we have, as well as continuing to find new mem-bers, the increased income from dues will help our bottom line. However, in the short term, A FEE INCREASE IS IMMI-NENT. A Motion is being brought to the 2015 National Convention in Newcastle to increase dues by $4.94 per member per annum. This equates to one cup of coffee per member per year. The following two years will also see increases of $3.00 per member per annum (less than a cup of coffee each year), and then CPI increases each year. Fellow Lions, the projections put together by our Nation-al Treasurer indicate that if we don’t take action NOW our national body is in danger of becoming insolvent – a situation to be avoided at all costs. If this motion fails there may be no Lions in Australia in ten years’ time. What a shame! I urge all delegates attending the Newcastle Convention to support this Motion as the future of our national organisation depends on it.

Australia Computer Terminology Getting ready for Broadband in the bush!! LOGON: Adding wood to make the barbie hotter LOG OFF: Not adding any more wood to the barbieMONITOR: Keeping an eye on the barbieDOWNLOAD: Getting the firewood off the uteHARD DRIVE: Making the trip back home without any cold tinnies. KEYBOARD: Where you hang the ute keysWINDOWS: What you shut when the weather's cold. SCREEN: What you shut in the mozzie seasonBYTE: What mozzies do MEGABYTE: What Townsville mozzies doCHIP: A pub snack. MICROCHIP: What's left in the bag after you've eaten the chipsMODEM: What you did to the lawnsLAPTOP: Where the cat sleepsSOFTWARE: Plastic knives and forks you get at Red RoosterHARDWARE: Stainless steel knives and forks - from K-MartMOUSE: The small rodent that eats the grain in the shed. MAINFRAME: What holds the shed upWEB: What spiders make

WEBSITE: Usually in the shed or under the verandaSEARCH ENGINE: What you do when the ute won't goCURSOR: What you say when the ute won't goYAHOO: What you say when the ute does goUPGRADE: A steep hillSERVER: The person at the pub who brings out the coun-ter lunchMAIL SERVER: The bloke at the pub who brings out the counter lunch USER: The neighbour who keeps borrowing thingsNETWORK: What you do when you need to repair the fishing netINTERNET: Where you want the fish to goNETSCAPE: What the fish do when they discover a hole in the netONLINE: Where you hang the washingOFFLINE: Where the washing ends up when the pegs aren't strong enough

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I was invited by Rotary Kerang to be an Inaugural Lion member to go to Cambodia with Rotary as a leader of their "Alternative Schoolies" project. The project has been going for eight years and Kerang Lions have always given financial assistance to this worthy cause. We spent the first night unto midday the next day travel-ling mostly by plane. Arriving at Siem Reap on the Sunday at midday. The rest of Monday was a of rest or a look around to familiar oneself with the surroundings. On the Monday was a trip to the Military Museum and then to the local market where the students were broken into teams a were given different tasks to purchase health care packs and toys to distribute to needy children the next day. Tuesday and Wednesday we were off into the country side by buses to build a couple of houses that Rotary had paid for the material to donate to worthy locals. These buildings consisted of one room sleeping areas for up to three generations of family to bed down and they were approximately two meters above ground. The frames were partly prebuilt by local people or trades-men before we arrived. Our job, under the direction of monks, was to finish the frames, nail down the floor and cover the walls with very light tin. Nailing down the floors was a challenge in itself as there was only one hammer per house sight so the next best thing was to use the back of tomahawks. Windows were shaped by cutting the tin with scissors and bending the sharp edges over with the tomahawks. The end result turned out ok, and the much welcomed improvement could be seen by the huge grins and appreciation of the recipients. When that job was completed we went and visited an or-phanage school where the group distributed toys, health packs and quality time playing with the young children. The next day was a day at Green Gecko, an Orphanage, where we shared lunch with the Gecko kids . The next day was a day of relaxation until Saturday, when we rose early to see Angkor Wat at sun rise. One of a complex of ancient capital buildings that the Khmer civilization constructed in 850ad to about mid 1200ad. These interracially carved sandstone buildings and temples cover some 50 square Kilometres.

They are on a par with the ancient cities and temples in central and South America. The base of a temple would easily cover a city block and the manmade moats around these temples and grounds appear to be wider than our Murray River. The logistics of people, food and housing, the planning and the construction itself of the huge build-ings by these people is mind boggling. The following day visited more orphanages before rest and the next day we endured a 5 hour boat ride to Phnom Penh and after booting in to our accommodation it was off to the Russian Market. The sombre part of the journey through Cambodia was on Wednesday when we visited the War museum , at a tor-turer building where inhabitants were interrogated and beaten before taken to the country side to be killed. Thus we went to one of these places which they call the Killing fields where you wore a head set and listened to a record-ing of the atrocities committed by fellow mankind, while being directed to places where the encampment sheds were to the actual killing sites and mass burial sites of men, women and children. Some four million people dis-posed of over 30 years, for one man's quest, Pol Pot for total Communist power. We must never lose sight that Australia is a great place and its freedom that we all enjoy as a norm, is worth fight-ing for. The next day were back into the countryside, this time by Tuk tuk to construct seven houses in one day. Easily done after the first experiences and the group broke up into lots of four per house. The following day we visited A Silk fac-tory and were shown the ware house and its workings. The workers here were only too happy to have a job and income which is hard to find in this country. The Last couple of day was visiting the Australian Embas-sy before relaxing or shopping at the Russian Market and preparing for the long flights back home. A very worthy cause and well planned by Rotary. I'd rec-ommend to anyone if invited to go by a Rotarian as a must do on their bucket list. Lion Colin Myers

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HI I’m Ashleigh Rogers, the Lions Youth of the Year 2014/15 National Public Speaking winner, I’d like to share my experi-ence and why I think this program is such a fantastic and in-valuable initiative. For those of you who don’t know the Lions Youth of the Year Quest is composed of both an interview section and a public speaking section. Majority of your points are allocated in the interview stage with only 30 of the 110 points available up for grabs in the public speaking section. Your interview involves elaboration of personal claims as well as a test of general knowledge, while your public speaking section offers up two impromptu question and requires a five minute prepared speech. I began my Lions Youth of the Year Quest in late 2013, when I submitted my application for the 2014/15 competition. With the original intent of this quest being merely a good addition to my resume, I never expected to progress through to the final stage. On the arrival of my first, club level final I was in-credibly nervous! I wasn’t really sure what I was heading into and the prospect of a three on one interview and two impromptu question was less than exciting. However, with the beauty of hindsight I can now see that this initial competition was the beginning of immense self-growth. This quest is so much more than just a battle for a title, if anything it’s by far the least you get out of it. The self-confidence your gain, interview and public speak-ing skills you develop and ability to think quickly on the spot and articulate your opinions are invaluable, especially in your final years of schooling. I took out the club level and progressed to the zone, which turned into the district, state and finally national final! Nationals was certainly a step up. I think it took a while to settle in that I was there representing the entire state of Victoria. Not only was I being billeted out to a host family for the duration of the competition but I was also going to have to present my five minute prepared speech and responses to impromptu questions in front of 1500 people. This large scale stage was the perfect way to round out the competition. Providing an exceptional arena to put into practice the confidence in self I had gained and life skills I had learnt. The nationals really helped to consolidate my communication skills, self-confidence and sense of identity. For that is really what this quest aids in.

The frequent require-ment of elaboration of personal ideas, wants, dreams and opinions certainly helps to cre-ate a clear picture in a young adult’s head of who they are, where they want to go and what they want to do if nothing else. A sense of clarity, which is much appreciated when entering the new world of year 12, further study or the work force. As I mentioned earlier this quest has given me the skills to talk in front of crowds, as well as, to those older and wiser than me, to successfully articulate myself in an interview set-ting and has resulted in life-long friendships. I strongly be-lieve the abilities I refined in this quest are the reason my highest yr. 12 study score was in English and I credit the self-belief I accumulated from the quest for my ATAR and accep-tance into Biomedical Science at Monash this year. As you can see, what you get out of this competition far exceeds that of mere accolades and prizes. In saying that, if anyone needs a little more motivation or incentive to sign up, I can tell you that for making it to the national final I won a free place at a Lions International Youth Camp in New Zealand, as well as, a six day winner’s tour of Fremantle, WA, which I just recently returned from. Secondly as National public speaking winner I have been awarded a $2500 travel voucher. To conclude, I cannot stress enough how great a program this quest is and I highly recommend it to any youth of ages 15-19. Even if you don’t progress past the club level, you learn so much about yourself from just having a go as well as from watching others participate. It is the best forum to put yourself out there with such encouraging and supportive competitors, judges and crowds and if nothing else it’s an awesome addition to your resume. Once again I would like to thank the Cohuna Lions Club for participating in this nation wide quest and for sponsoring and supporting me throughout this journey.

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Often the hardest workers in your Clubs and Districts already have been honoured with a Melvin Jones Fellowship (MJF). Club Presidents and District Gov-ernors are at a loss how to recognise these Lions continuing high standards of service. Honour them with a “Progressive Melvin Jones Fel-lowship”, with a gist to LCIF of US$1,000, current Melvin Jones Fellows can receive a stylish single diamond MJF lapel pin. Additional gifts to LCIF in US$1,000 increments allow further diamonds to be received on a MJF lapel pin; recognising each level of support to LICF. 100% of every donation to the MJF and PMJF Pro-grams goes towards a LCIF Grant. By growing and strengthening the Foundation, LCIF is able to award many more grants - to assist local Lions do more and help lift the profile of Lions in your community. LCIF Grants also assist Lions around the world to help their communities following disas-ters; Preserve Sight; Combat Disabilities; Serve Youth and Promote Health. LCIF Grants are saving children’s lives by Lions part-nering with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Im-munisation (GAVI) to vaccinate millions of children in the world’s poorest countries.

This partnership is really working, with 157 million children to be vaccinated in 2015.Our goal is to raise $30 million by our centenary year, 2017. Every dollar donated by Lions will be matched dollar for dollar by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, or the Department of International Development UK, giving a total of $60 million in the fight against measles and rubella. The One Shot, One Life measles initiative vaccinates a child for less than $1 and gives that child the chance to live a healthy life. At the start of our Lions Measles Initiative, 430 chil-dren died each day from measles, now it stands at 353. Help Lions to reduce the num-ber of children to die from mea-sles and rubella to zero. Please help Lions do more by making a donation to LCIF MDC Nigel Jeny LCIF MD 201 Co-ordinator.

Victorian Lions Foundation Leo Tyquin Award

If you wish to honour a member of your club who has dedicated their time to sight related projects, present them with a Leo Tyquin Award. Past International Director Leo Tyquin Leo Fran-cis Tyquin was born in Werribee on 9th June 1924 and passed away 10th September 2001. He joined Lions as a member of MordiallocMentone in 1968 and held the offices of Club President, Zone Chairman and District Gover-nor. He served as Multiple District Council Chairman and International Director in 1984-86.Leo attended 20 International Conventions and was presenter at the Council Chairman’s Work-shop at the Montreal and Chicago Conventions. He was a keynote speaker at the 10th and 15th Charter Anniversary of Lionism in Indonesia and at Conventions in England, Wales, India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.Leo received many awards including the Inter-national Leadership Award, the Association’s Ambassador of Goodwill Award, the highest honour given by the Association to a member.

He was a Life Member, a Melvin Jones Fellow, a Life Member of the Lloyd Morgan Trust in New Zealand and No 1 Governor of the Victorian Li-ons Foundation. Leo was passionate about the Lion’s Village at Licola as he was one of the ear-ly pioneers of the conversion to a children’s and general purpose camp. Leo’s pride was the Li-on’s Eye Bank, an integral part of Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital’s facilities.He reminded people constantly that the Eye Bank was an initiative of his own MordiallocMentone Club-being personally instrumental in its establishment in 1983. Leo Tyquin was a man who only saw good in people, and who tried to do good for people.Leo will always be remembered for being a truly fine person and also for the excellent and tire-less work he did for so many. Past International Director Leo was a conscien-tious Lions member giving unlimited support to the VICTORIAN LIONS FOUNDATION.

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Have you a member who deserves recognition for their outstanding service, but not sure what is available or where to go to apply for the award? Here is a list of awards available from the Australian Lions Foundation.

IAN STOCKDALE AWARD

This award is named after Past International Director Ian Stockdale - a most popular and respected member of the Lions organisation. Ian was co-founder of the Lions Licola Village. He was a true Chris-tian gentleman who devoted his life to ensuring a bright future for others. The award is obtained through making an undesignated gift of $1,000 to the Australian Lions Foundation, by a Club, Zone, District or other Lions Groups who wishes to honour a Lion, Lioness, Leo or a Non - Lion or Group with this prestigious award. The gift must be denoted as an “Ian M Stockdale Humanitarian Award " contribution at the time it is made. The Ian M Stockdale Humanitarian Award can be paid for in two equal instalments over two years. Each payment must specify this award. Payments may be made for re-cipients yet unnamed. Upon final donation and submis-sion of the Application Form, the Award will be prepared and forwarded. "The nominated recipient honoured with an Ian M Stockdale Humanitarian Award, will receive a large framed and appropriately inscribed coloured certificate together with a lapel badge.

James D Richardson Award This Award is named after James D Richardson, who in 1958 was the first Australian to serve as a Director on the International Board of Directors. The award is achieved through mak-ing an undesignated gift to the Austra-lian Lions Foundation of $500, from a Club, Zone, District or other Lions Group who wishes to honour a Lion, Lioness, Leo or a Non - Lion or Group. The gift must be denoted as a “James D Richardson Honour Award “at the time it is made. The James D Richardson Honour Award can be paid for in two equal payments over two years. Each payment must specify this award. Payments may be made for re-cipients yet unnamed. Upon final donation and submis-sion of the Application Form, the Award will be prepared and forwarded." The nominated recipient will receive a framed and appropriately inscribed certificate and a lapel badge.

William R Tresise Award This award, named after the Founder of Lions in Australia, will be presented to a Lion, Lioness, Leo or Non - Lion where the nominating Club, Zone, District or other Lions Group makes an undesignated gift of $2,000.00 to the Australian Lions Foundation in honour of that person. The gift must be denoted as a “Wil-liam R Tresise Fellow Award " contribution, at the time it is made. The William R Tresise Fellow Award can be paid for in two equal instalments over two years. Each payment must specify this award. Payment may be made for recipients yet unnamed. Upon final donation and submission of the Application Form, the Award will be prepared and forward-ed." The nominated recipient honoured as a William R Tresise Fellow, will receive an appropriately inscribed wall plaque together with a lapel badge.

Community Service Award The Community Service Award has been introduced by the Trustees following many calls and enquiries from Clubs who wanted to acknowl-edge members of the community or organisations that have supported their club or have done activities in their area worthy of recognition. The Award is designed to be pre-sented to Non-Lions or organisa-tions by Clubs. The cost of the Award is $250 and can be ordered using the normal Awards Application Form.

PLEASE NOTE: Australian Lions Foundation Award Ap-plications are to be sent to:

District Foundations Chairman PDG Lion John Beale

145 Moora Road Rushworth VIC 3612

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NOT JUST RING PULLS - ALL METALS. Now that you have had a good clean-out over the Christmas holidays, it’s time to take all your ring pulls and metals [even gold if you have it] to your nearest Sims Recycling Depot, or their subsidiar-ies. The funds will then be credited directly to the LIONS SPINAL CORD FELLOWSHIP… how easy is that ? Clean up the yard [or paddock] and help one of our projects at the same time. If you have a large quantity of bulky items, then Sims will arrange for a bin or truck to come to you. Don’t forget to give them the code for your state - [ Victoria and Tasmania is LION02] [NSW is LION16] [S.A. and Northern Territory are LION 04] [ W.A. is LION03] and [QLD is LION04].Sims will then give you a receipt and if you could send us a copy it would help us to reconcile the deposits and also we would like to acknowledge your donation. Do you know of or work for, a corporate who would be willing to donate a percentage of their indus-trial waste to the cause? Even 1% from a mining group would be a great return…Think outside the square and see what you can come up with so that we can get our friends out of wheelchairs.

David Oakley LASCF District Chairman Liaison / [email protected] / 03 9544 1161

Beerwah Lions Club (QLD) holds an alumini-um cans day each month for this project. At the end of the day on 7th February 2015, the result was a collection of 188kg picked up by Caloun-dra Scrap Metal. What could your Club do to support this Lions Project

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Friday 16, Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 Host Club is Lavington

Main venue is Xavier High School inNorth Albury

Top quality guest presenters are coming Saturday night

Colourful Clothes Dinner Dance with "The Hoffmans" band

Any questions?

Have you booked your accommodation yet?Don’t leave it too late, get onto the website and check

out the many different types of accommodation on offer in the area.

http://www.alburywodongaaustralia.com.au/

A little about the area; Lavington is a suburb of the city of Albury, New South Wales, located north of the Albury Central Business District. At the 2011 census, Lavington had a population of 12,032. Lavington is a mostly flat area near Nail Can Hill to the west, and is bordered by Thurgoona to the east, Hamilton Valley to the west, Springdale Heights to the north, and North Albury to the south. Lavington is mostly residential, but has significant rural areas in the north-west and a commercial area. Features include Centro Lavington Shopping Centre, Lavington Swim Centre, Jelbart Park and five schools (Lavington East Public, Laving-ton Public, Hume Public, Holy Spirit School (Catholic) and Murray High School). Lavington is the second major centre of the City of Albury, with its own commercial CBD. With Australia ’s longest river running through the heart of Albury Wodonga, you would expect to find idyllic river walks and parks.

What you might not expect is an army museum, with a huge collection of military memorabilia and a former migrant reception centre which helped change the face

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At our Club Christmas Dinner, President Bruce Walker pre-senting a Certificate of Appreciation to David and Kim Cam. They provided hours and hours of assistance work at our very successful Antique Fair in October. David slept in the hall with Past President Peter Poels overnight to provide security for the exhibi-tors property. As with all other Clubs December is a very busy time for a "much loved gentleman in a red suit" Santa (club member Lester Watt) besides appearing at the BBQ for Children with Special Needs, he arrived at Woolworths Supermar-ket on Saturday 8th December for our annual Santa Photo Day where he sat for 3 hours ( with his Elf assistant club member Margaret Elliott) and had children of all ages (some young at heart) sit on his knee and he listened to all their wishes and desires, he also answered some quite "interesting" ques-tions. Lion Rose Smith took pho-to's which were mounted in suitable folders and deliv-ered to the families before Christmas. Santa also arrived by an SES vehicle to the Carols by Candlelight, which the Be-nalla Club held on Sunday 21st December. Santa was again a very popular figure for children to sit on his knee and whisper their "hopes and wishes" in his ear. The Carols were a great success with a large crowd in attendance to listen and sing-a-long to Christmas Carols per-formed by the local school band and the Be-nalla Theatre Company Singers, the Benalla Brass Band and Caledonian Pipe Band also performed. We believe that because we had the Carols closer to Christmas the attendance was much better than last

year, with an "endless number of children", which was fantas-tic. The Benalla Lions Club has been "putting on" the Carols by Candlelight for the Community since 1962. For some years now the Benal-la Lions Club has taken part in a Tradies Bowls Night competi-tion which is set up for people who do not play competitive bowls. On these nights four Members make up a team and this year the Lions team were runners - up. Fortunately we defeated the Benalla Rotary Club on both occasions and these games were very enjoyable. Two years ago our team went one better by winning the com-petition, however winning is not everything as enjoying the game and company is more important. Team Members are Peter Poels, Margaret Poels, Mike Stilo and Alex Ad-kins, absent from the photo is Rose Smith and Lester Watt. Peter Poels The Benalla Lions Club has placed and maintained Garden Seats in various locations throughout the town and at present these total 70. The Club received a re-quest for a seat to be placed on the lawn area of the RTA in Bridge Street Benalla. After ne-gotiations by Club Mem-ber Ian Watson with the RTA they gave us per-mission for the seat to be installed. A concrete slab was poured and the seat was fitted the next day with the supervision and tradesmanship of Mem-ber Fred Chapman assisted by "helpful" Club volunteers - Ian Watson, John Hopkins Chris Ryan, Phil Burkinshaw, Steve Kelly and Peter Poels. The end result was fantastic

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The annual Apprentice Encouragement Awards were the key-note of this meeting. These were organised by Lions Club first vice-president Graham Milner and supported by the GoTAFE Commercial Manager Bren-dan Rogash. Apprentices considered for the awards are employed within Be-nalla in the areas of painting, engineering and joining. Money was donated by Delatite Steel and Mitre 10. The awarded vouchers will be used for advanced studies and equipment required to carry this out. The winners were: Alan Polworth is a spray painting apprentice at Dosser Panels. Robert Nicholas is a heavy vehicle apprentice at Benalla Bus and Coach Lines. Rhys Pastuszka is a light vehicle apprentice at J & M Perfor-mance Tuning. Ryan Crothers is employed at Crothers Joinery. Lions President Bruce Walker also presented each winner with a certificate. An awards dinner was attended by the apprentices and their family or their employers. Lion Tricia Veale.

Australia Day 2015 at Beechworth The Beechworth Australia Day Committee comprising represen-tatives of the Lions Club of Beechworth widened this year’s cele-bration into a Family Evening Meal and Children’s Teddy Bear Picnic instead of the usual cooked breakfast in the Town Hall Gardens, Beechworth. On Sunday, members of the Beechworth Lions Club, Beechworth CWA and volunteers prepared for Australia Day, homemade cole-slaw, potato salad and related dressings to accompany the sau-sages and rissoles sourced from the Beechworth Butchery. Beechworth Rotary members set up the venue in the Town Hall Gardens and the Scouts helped distribute the small flags to each attendee and in raising the Australian Flag. Families enjoyed the evening meal as they listened to the Am-bassador, Shaun Cosgrove, of television “Come on down…” fame and more recently of media voice-overs; witnessed two residents become Australian citizens and watched the presentation of the Emma George Junior Sports scholarship. The meal, prepared and cooked by the two volunteer groups, was very well received and commented upon. Catering for the Australia Day Celebration is part of the Beechworth Lions Club’s annual service to the community.

Photo: Australia Day … about to serve up the food… Back Row (L to R): Josie Cornish (President), Sven Mannik, Brian Cornish (Secretary), Daris Olsauskas (Treasurer) Front Row (L to R): Iris Mannik, Pauline Middleton, Christine Luckman.

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Our annual Australia Day started at 6.30pm to set up the tent and BBQ trailer, hot water for tea & coffee, tables ready to serve, bain-marie on, ok, we are ready. New Lion Ann was on duty to help serve, Leos Hanna & Sara there to help out. Father Bob McGuire was the guest speaker, we were all looking forward to listening to him. We were overwhelmed by the numbers, maybe it was be-cause of our guest speaker or the fact that everyone knew that Ashleigh Rogers (State YOTY Winner) had won the Gannawarra Shire Young Citizen Award? This year we served 250 breakfast of sausage, ba-con and eggs in an hour!! What an intro-duction to catering for our new Lion. The Lions Community Service Award was presented to Geoff Dale, for his outstand-ing service over many years. Geoff has been involved with swim-ming, the RSL & His-torical Clubs, Murray to Moyne Bike Ride, and co-ordinator of the Lions Bridge to Bridge for many, many years. In January we welcomed DG Peter and his lovely wife Mary to our Club. It looks like the “Tail Twister” should have had this joke by the reactions of President Allan & Lion Wendy!

During his visit, DG Peter had the pleasure of present-ing Lion Julian Lee his 30 year Monarch Award. Julian has worked tirelessly for the Club over these years, also having a stint on Cabinet on the “Merle Team”. Cabinet members, Lions Norm & Lee Walkington were presented with the Districts Governors’ bannerette during his visit and thanked for the work they are doing.

President Allan, presented DG Peter with a hand-made clock made by Lion Rob Shanahan from red gum timber off his farm. Lions Lady Mary was not forgotten, she was presented with a lovely bouquet of flowers. Our Lions Club Golf Charity Day was held on Sunday 15th February, extreme heat depleted the field for the day. Those who attended had a great day, until the scores were counted, President Allan and his nephew Steve won the day...The stewards havebeen calledin to swabthe pair.

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Over the last few weeks we have been reasonably busy. Firstly, 18 members, wives and partners travelled to Anglesea Caravan Park. It was a great social event, everybody mixed around, lots of laughs, a few lies and plenty of liquor consumed, especially by Billy Williams. He’s a wicked man, thank god, Jean put him to bed early every night, or other members could have been in trouble. Also I found out what stokes Maxie Kosch’s fire fill him up on PORT. These outings should be more reg-ular when you see how everybody enjoys them-selves and how well everybody gets on with one another. Early in December, we had our Christmas party at Rich River. Again the meal was very good and so was the venue. There was plenty of laughter and it was pleasing to see everybody happy and in good spirits and floor show just topped the night off. Well organized Butchie. Then the hard work started.“THE TRAILER RAFFLE”! There was a lot of time and effort gone into this major money raising event, I don’t want to name anybody because I’ll probably miss someone but I would like to thank all members who participated in

this raffle top job fellas.

And thewinner is...Keith Goedheer seen here with the amazing trailer of goods, his family and the Club President.

The other event on our calendar was the Christmas lights on Illawarra Drive. This always give me a buzz, doing this everybody is so happy and giving donations freely, although we were down on money from last year going into the last night but just like St Kilda in 2015 they put in a big last quarter and the total was just over last year This year we stopped to honour two members who left us during the year. Neville Vise and Peter Mitchell, will be forever remembered and their service honoured. Their names now appear on our “Remembrance Wall” at the Den.

National Convention Report The Convention Committee have begun meeting. This is one of the biggest projects we as a club have undertaken. Please note the dates for Echuca in 2016. Commencing Thursday 12th to Monday 16th. we will need to make this a huge success. We will have an information and early registration booth at the Newcastle Convention this year which starts Friday 1st finishes on Monday 4th May with the Ball. The Club will present to the Conventioneers why they should come to Echuca to celebrate the 2016 MD Convention. Echuca Lions will be there for the entire Convention don’t forget to call in say “Hi” while your at the Con-vention. Barry Higgins National Convention Chairman

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Just wonder if this is a record?How many Zone meetings would have the District Governor, also the 1st VDG and 2nd VDG, (2nd DGE), and their partners, along with seven other Cabinet members in attendance? That’s not a bad effort, well done to Zones 1 & 2

Leading up to Christmas, club members were kept busy and I thank you all for a job well done. Santa's are down and safely locked away for another twelve months. Finley Lions Graeme Fisher, Allan Dixon, John Lacy and Bernie Rogers manning the BBQ at Finleys Xmas Xtrav-aganza, A night featuring christmas carols, santa, raf-fles, announcement of the winners of the best christmas lights. A great fun family night. Great to see six Children and two Leaders on their way to Licola, great work Bill and a thank you to those members who cooked the BBQ. Our Club is involved in the upcoming Beyondblue Men-tal Health Forum being held on Sunday February 22 2015, at Berrigan Memorial Hall commencing at 1.30pm. Our club is working in tandem with the Lions Clubs of Berrigan, Deniliquin, Tocumwal, Jerilderie and Oaklands as a joint venture to promote the day as part of the Lions Australia and Beyondblue Joining Hands partner-ship. Guest speakers for the day will be Rebecca Moore from Rutherglen. Rebecca is a Beyond blue Ambassador and John Harper from Cootamundra. PDG Lionel Gillman OAM will be MC for the day. An advertising campaign will begin soon. For the day to be a success, in particular as far as this club is concerned, full support from all members would be appreciated.

Youth of the Year and the Tractor Pull now on the ra-dar. The next couple of months will be busy for the club and its members. Looking back, no different to other years at the same time. How successful we are or will be re-mains in the hands of the members, I remain confident the outcome will be one of success. Final plans for the Tractor Pull have been discussed at Board and I thank Peter, Bernie and Carol for their ef-forts to date in regards to rosters and the ordering of the food. Youth of the Year night organized with 3 con-testants. My thanks to Warwick for all his work in getting the contestants there, not an easy job. The Lions Australia/Beyond Blue mental health forum set down for Sunday 22nd February now all organized, an expec-tation that the members of this club will embrace the day and do their best to attend. A lot of work has gone into presenting this day. Good luck over the next two months, another day trip to be organized for a bit of rest and relaxation. Lion President Allan

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Some Members and families on the bank of the Murray River following the

presentation of the Community Group of the Year Award.

Lavington wins Community Group of the Year for Albury City Lavington Lions Club received further recognition on Australia Day by being awarded "Community Group of the Year" for its ongoing efforts in the community. It was acknowledged from a field of eight nominations and has received the Award on two previous occasions in 2007 and 2011. The Club has 60 members and pro-vided more than 7000 volunteer hours in the previous twelve months. It has worked on projects such as food catering, tree planting, assisting with Vital call and the Women's "Bsafe" domestic violence program, aged care pro-grams and many more. It has provided more than $60000 to community wel-fare organisations, school bursaries, national research institutions and public appeals. The Club's extensive list of recipients includes "Head-space" mental health program, "Hilltop" Carers Accom-modation Centre, bushfire appeals, local and national flood victims appeals and disadvantaged children's holi-day camps. Albury mayor Kevin Mack said it was a special award with so many organisations in the city working tireless-ly every day to help others. "Our community groups are the engine room of our community" he said.

Our Christmas get-together on December 15th at Mystic Park Hotel, was the first function hosted by new owner Lion Bob Flett.

It was a lovely evening and we all enjoyed a beautiful meal and a few laughs over the usual “antics” over who got the chocolates from the Santa sack. (wasn’t the writ-er!)

Our annual Australia Day breakfast was once again very popular with locals and the visitors still in our area.

The weather was ideal and we catered for over 130 peo-ple who enjoyed our beautiful lake setting, which our male members had looking it’s best for the event.

In welcoming everyone along President Brian Helsham mentioned that though a small club, over its 34 years in existence we have given in the vicinity of $154,000 to lo-cal organisations alone.

After the reading of the Affirmation and the playing of the National Anthem, Cr. Neil Gannon introduced Mr. Neil Soullier our ambassador/guest speaker for the morning.

Neil Soullier told how he was a foundation member in 1998 of the Blue Ribbon Foundation which was set up to perpetuate the memory of Victorian Police Officers, of which 157 have been killed in the line of duty.

His talk was very interesting and thought provoking espe-cially in today’s society.

Once again Tim Scriven from Kerang drove his army duck out and gave many excited children (and their parents), rides on the lake.

We are still very busy with our major fundraiser, themaintenance of the picnic areas as the lake is still very busy with boating,picnicking etc.

As we move into thesecond month of the year(already?) I will take thisopportunity to wisheveryone a safe, happyand healthy 2015 onbehalf of our clubmembers and partners.

Ruth Stirling.

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Each year the Lions Clubs of Cohuna & Leitchville have a combined dinner meeting at historic Kow Swamp. (The Kow Swamp site is significant for archaeological excavations by Alan Thorne between 1968 and 1972 which recovered the partial skeletal remains of more than 22 individuals. )

However, this year due to the extreme heat, the meet-ing was changed to the Scout Hall, not all Cohuna Li-ons got the message of the venue change and visited Kow Swamp anyway. It pays to check your mobile phones!Members enjoyed a wonderful meal cooked by the Leitchville Lions with salads and sweets provided by both clubs.

As most clubs, a raffle was held to get a few dollars into the club coffers. Youth of the Year Chairman, Lion Norm Walkington, was excited about winning a bag of fresh vegetables from the garden of the Lions Men’s Shed, three times!

Wander the streets and see why Lockhart is known as the ‘Verandah Town’. Lockhart’s entire main street, with stately buildings, wide awnings and lacework, is classified with the Na-tional Trust as a fine example of early 1900s architec-ture. These very Australian verandahs inspire a relaxing easy-going way of life. Follow the Lockhart Farm Ani-mal Sculpture Trail and step through the town’s history etched into the main street’s pavement. The Doris Golder Gallery is also a must visit to view a unique col-lection of wool portraits. Located about 16km north of Lockhart, Galore Hill rises 215 metres above the surrounding levels. The 510ha nature reserve hosts a wide variety of flora and fauna. Follow the walking tracks to Morgan’s Caves or up to the Summit Tower lookout, where picnic and barbecue facilities are there for you to enjoy. Our club enjoyed a great Christmas Club breakup in idyllic conditions, under a verandah of course.

At our January meeting, we received a request from the Lions District 201V6 to assist people in need who were affected by the bushfires that occurred before Christmas in the Wangaratta and Benalla districts. These fires have destroyed grazing land and fencing. In early January, “Blaze-aid” established a base camp at the Thoona Recreational Reserve, where this group will require catering for the next two months. Fodder is also required for stock. If people in our district are able to donate hay to assist farmers in the disaster area, please contact Dulcie McKenzie or John Irons. The Lockhart Lions Club has donated $500 to the District Disaster Relief Fund. Lockhart Lions have also donated $500 to help Holly Murphy in her quest to travel to Canada and represent Lockhart at Track and Field Competitions in June/July.

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CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHTThe Moama Lions Club holds Carols by Candlelight in December each year at the Kerrabee Soundshell in Moama. This is a fantastic night and what better way to start the Christmas celebrations. Music and enter-tainment is provided during the night, and of course it would not be Carols by Candlelight without a visit from Santa. Bring a chair or a picnic blanket and join in the Carol singing. Light up the night by buying a battery candle and a song program from the Lions. The money raised from the purchases, is donated back into our communi-ty. Three new members were installed on Tues-day 27th January 2015 by PDG Brenda Henderson. We would like to welcome Coral, Don and Kevin

Southern 80 Ski Race We had a busy weekend catering on one of the sites along the River Murray for day visitors and campers who were there to watch the Ski Race. This year we also cooked breakfast on the Saturday morning and that was very well received. Then it was time for the lunch crowd and it started all over again on Sunday, but even busier.

Moyhu Lions Club members have been hosting a breakfast on Australia Day in the Moyhu Lions Park for the past 20 years and it has grown from the initial small gatherings of local residents to the present crowd of around 200 residents and visitors from the whole dis-trict.The crowd enjoy a traditional breakfast of sausages, bacon, eggs, baked beans, toast, damper and juice as well as tea and coffee, cooked and served by Lions members.Following breakfast there is an awards ceremony when two students from each of the five surrounding primary schools are presented with a certificate to recognize their outstanding achievements during the previous school year by a representative from the Wangaratta Rural City Council.Most years a local resident is also recognized for their outstanding service to the local community.

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Australia Day Significant Citizens: from left, Caitlyn Frawley (Alpine Youth Council), Bronwyn Gray and Ian Franzke (Half Marathon, Alpine Event of the Year), Sam Northey (Young Achiever, Kiewa Valley), Councillor Tony Keeble, Bill Sykes (Guest Speaker) and Barbara Pyle (Achiever, Kiewa Valley, and Alpine Citizen of the Year)… and some of the face painting results!

Numurkah Lions Club welcomed our D.G. Peter & Lions Lady Mary to our October Meeting with some interesting stories about the recent District Convention held in Echuca. I must congratulate the Lions of Echuca on a great Convention. Some of the Lions recent activities were manning the gates and a successful Wool Show at the Numurkah Agricultural Show held in October. In December Lions had a busy day at “Show us ya Wheels” show serving many barbeque meals. Our Christmas celebration was a mystery Bus trip to Euroa then on to Tabilk Winery, Nagambie for lunch. Presents and lots of fun enjoyed by all. Australia Day in Numurkah was a special day with a 8am break-fast served in Newman’s Square catered by Lions and Rotary barbeque. Lions served fruit and cereals. The weather was perfect, the entertainment by our Town Band and Fiona and Rob Elliott were excellent. Our Mayor, Lions Lady Marie Martin presented all the awards to some very worthy citizens. Our bi-monthly Broken Creek Markets are still our most suc-cessful fund raisers. The next market is Saturday, 21st Febru-ary. Lions first meeting in January is an annual event combined with Rotary taking turn about to cater. The Numurkah Lions served a great barbeque with sweets on a perfect evening in the Apex Park. The fellowship and fun makes it a great eve-ning enjoyed by all present. The Lions next project is a Charity Bowls Day in February held in Wunghnu where the Lions Lady’s do a wonderful job helping the Lions by serving a delicious afternoon tea. This event is enjoyable and very well supported by many District Bowl.

First off, I hope Christmas and New Year was great for you all, and hope that everyone is in good health and well, and looking forward to the challenges of the year ahead. Our Australia Day Celebrations were once again very, very successful, with some 15 members in attendance, with a special thank you to everyone who helped on the day, and also to Lion May, our Catering Officer, for coordinat-ing the event. Special thank you should also go to Lion Elena for her donation of the beautiful hand crafted good-ies for the raffle. Coming up, we will have an induction of a new mem-ber at the February Dinner Meeting. It’s always great to welcome new members into our Club. Also, Georgia Oak-ley – Peter and Joy Partington’s granddaughter, will be the guest speaker at this meeting – don’t forget the ties fellas. Our next project is the Mt Bogong Conquestathon, when we will be looking for volunteers to help out on the day, for both base camp and for the hill itself. The other project is the Sweet Valley Sounds Festival to be held on Saturday 7 February, on the entry gate. I would also like to thank those members, who at very short notice, answered the call for help to move a Lions Lady from her house, to another house. This was very much appreciated. Also thank you to Anne Cottrell who provided the volunteers with a delicious morning tea.

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The Tocumwal Lions Club celebrated its 40th Anni-versary with a dinner for seventy at the Football/Netball Club. During the evening snippets of the clubs history was told by MC Len Soule. The gathering remembered the members who had passed away and celebrated the clubs successes. A toast to sponsoring Lions Club, Finley, was made by Lion Len Soule. The response was made by Past District Governor Keith Kennedy from Finley Lions Club. A James D Richardson Award was presented to Barbara Bell for all her work in Lions especially the Railway Station Museum and Tearooms and the Garden Walks.

A James D Richardson was also presented to the Tocumwal Fire and Rescue NSW who in the ab-sence of a local Ambulance Station have trained as first responders and now attend many callouts.

Guest Speaker for the evening was Georgina Han-son who spoke about her recent three weeks work experience in Morogoro in Tanzania Africa. President Glennis Pohlner gave a report on the past year which has been very busy as has the past forty years. The evening finished with a lively fine session, the drawing of the raffle prizes and the cutting of a anniversary cake.

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PDG Doug Winterflood Q2 and PDG Tom Little on a recent visit to a Lions Club Of

Wangaratta Dinner meeting.

Club Branch, Glenrowan - Warby Rangers Lions, came along to lend a hand with the cooking. You have to watch the ‘help’ though, check out the fella in the background, hope he’s bringing those sausages in to cook not taking them home to Marjorie!

Wangaratta is a rural city, situated in the north-east of the state of Victoria. The city itself has a population of about 19000, with a further 6000 within the boundary. The region is renowned for it wines, mountains, and riv-ers. The Lions club of Wangaratta was chartered on March 17th 1956, and was the first club in the northeast of Victo-ria and southern NSW. Two of our major projects are the “Apex Road Safety School” which the Club took over in 2013 to keep it open when the Apex Club folded. The facilities is available for community hire to provide a Meeting Room venue, or Secured Grounds for Family Par-ties Bookings and Administration. All booking for both Ed-ucation and Hire are through Edgars Newsagency, Wangaratta, by telephoning 5721 3758. Administra-tion of bookings and hire will be co-ordinated by the Ad-ministration Officer. We warmly welcome you and your schools to our new facilities and trust we will have your continued support.

Our other major fundraising event is held in February an-nually, the Lions Swap Meet, with heaps of ‘stuff’ for ev-eryone including the car enthusiasts. With over 500 sites there is something for everyone. Car truck and motorcycle parts, motor memorabilia and manuals, collectables, displays, tools, bush market, bric-a-brac, craft and a free kids train ride.

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Honour comes in club's 50th year FIFTY years after it formed, the Lions Club of Wodonga has been announced as the city's Community Organisation of the Year 2015. The club, which was recognised at Australia Day celebra-tions at Les Stone Park, was chartered on June 8, 1965 with 18 members. Over the five decades, 68 men and women have volun-teered their time through projects and fundraising activi-ties. Club secretary Harold Cover said members were thrilled to receive the Australia Day honour, especially given the an-niversary celebrations planned in June. "We're quite proud to think that we were considered for the award," he said. "Considering the club's been in operation for 50 years in Wodonga, it is a great recognition of service over those years." One of the Lions club's major fundraisers was the Spirit of Christmas project, which commenced in the 1980s. Club members built, maintained and erected Santa deco-rations which were hired by businesses to decorate their shop fronts. The project raised $150,000 for Christmas hampers for those in need. The club also founded the Border Bike Fest motorbike show and shine, which has raised more than $70,000 for local charities since 2008, and has been involved in the running of the Good Friday Royal Children's Hospital Ap-peal in Wodonga for the past 40 years. Its other community work has included Meals on Wheels, library deliveries to housebound residents, welfare support and an overseas youth ex-change. Today, the club has 34 hard-working members who Mr. Cover said enjoy helping people in all kinds of ways. "Like anybody who is part of any service group, we want to put back into the community," he said.

One of our Community Projects ~ Library Delivery: This project commenced in 1984 whereby members deliv-er to home bound persons library materials and return them to the Wodonga Library every fortnight. Even though this may only be small project it makes a great difference to the lives of so many of our citizens. Currently we are delivering library books to 20 home-bound persons in Wodonga. A roster is published in our monthly Club Bulletin for two members to complete the deliveries each fortnight. The Wodonga Library staff prepare the bags of books for the readers, and the delivery run usually takes about one and half hour. A member of the club coordinates the project by collecting the boxes of books on Friday for pick up from our Lions Shed and returns them on Monday.

Congratulations to the GlenrowanWarby Ranges Club Branch.

Due to lots of hard work by President Craig and the mem-bers, they have nine new members in the pipeline. Six new members were inducted by DG Peter Niall.

A new Club Charter is just around the corner. Also, when you "Ask 1"

don't forget your "Plus 1"

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Lions Australia - We're very proud to announce that MD 201 has once again won the prestigious Lions Clubs International Leo Club Extension Award - awarded to multiple districts who achieve a net gain of at least five new Leo clubs in their district during the year. Special congratulations must go to Marty Peebles for his tireless efforts in promoting Leo clubs in Australia. Great work Marty!Martin Peebles - I have a Great Team and thank you to MD201 Lions Australia and the Lions Family for your ongoing Encouragement and Support of our Inspirational Leos. Proud to be a Lion.

V6 Leo Convention Report Over the past few months a dedi-cated committee have been working on the first V6 Leo Con-vention. Plans are well underway, venue sorted, catering organised, activi-ties, guest speakers arranged, just fine tuning now and we are done. Details you need for your diary; Date – 27th to 29th March 2015 Place – Corowa Rugby Club grounds Cost - $50 registration & all meals Accommodation – tents!Great support has been received from Corowa Lions Club, encouraging their Leos to take on this project, and financial support to each Leo attending to the value of $25 ea. That’s support. Also the Corowa Rugby Club, who have donated the use of their club rooms and grounds for the week-end. They are also cooking breakfast in the morn-ings. The guest speakers chosen for the weekend include; Tim McCurdy MP, who will talk to the conventioneers about the issues of ICE and how they can play a part in helping others. Kyle Cohen, Leo/Lion from Wangaratta, talking about independence and ability (not disability), State YOTY winner Ashleigh Rogers, if her heavy Uni schedule allows. Rochester Leo Annette Walters who is travelling to Gallipoli for the anniversary. The Leos will have some Leadership Experience and Opportunities to develop these skills over the week-end, though these may be disguised in the form of fun. Such as providing entertainment on Friday night, teaming up with Leos from other clubs to design and build a “Flintstone” style car to race against the other teams.

Don’t miss out on the fun, Lions, Lions Ladies and families are welcome, someone has to fire the water cannons and throw flour bombs.. Get behind this fantastic project, Leos are our fastest growing demographic in Lions, as demonstrated by MD201 being awarded the Leo Club Extension Award for the 2013-14 Extension Award issued from the LCI Board of Directors. Check out our facebook page for more information www.facebook.com/V6LeoConvention or the District Webpage, http://201v6.lions.org.au/ under “Conventions” for the registration form. Look forward to seeing you there!! Leo Hanna Walkington V6 Leo Convention Secretary

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Multiple District 201 “Leo of the Year” Quest Aims 1. to develop and encourage the qualities of Leadership, Experience and Opportunity 2. to select a fine ambassador for the Leos of Australia and PNG Qualifications The entrant must be a financial member of a Leo Club in good standing, and should: 1. show a genuine commit-ment to the ideals of community service 2. be actively involved in the activities of his/her Leo Club and the wider community 3. demonstrate a high level of leadership skills within Leos and the community 4. have a knowledge and appreciation of the Leo Program and Lions International 5. have a knowledge and appreciation of Australia/PNG and world affairs 6. have good communication skills Judging will be on your commitment, enthusiasm, per-sonality, community service involvement (in Leos and community) Leadership (positions held in Leos and com-munity) Leos/Lions knowledge (important history and projects) Appreciation of Australian and world affairs Pub-lic speaking (own choice topic) Leos wishing to enter the Competition must complete the MD201 Leo of the Year Entry Form and submit it to the District Leo Chairman who will arrange the first level of judging. Judging will include a 20-30 minute interview with the judging panel, and a 5-minute prepared speech to be pre-sented to a wider audience. Each Lions District will host a “Leo of the Year” District Final at least two weeks prior to the State Final. Winners from each District go onto the judging of the State Final from there the winner of each State will attend the MD Convention each year for the final Australian “Leo of the Year”.

The Leos worked hard at the “Carboot Sale” Great excitement around the Benalla area as their Leo Club announcers they are about to charter. The Benalla LEO Club wishes to invite you to their Charter Night Saturday 28th February 2015 Time: 6:30pm for a 7pm start Place: Benalla Bowls Club, Arundel St Benalla Dress: After 5 Cost: $18pp, two course meal with tea or coffee DRINKS AT BAR PRICES RSVP: No later than Noon Friday 20th February to Natalie O’Brien, [email protected] Please indicate if you are bringing a guest and any dietary requirements in your reply.

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Where will Leos take

you?

For 16 year old community leader, dedicated volunteer, accomplished student and world traveller Alannah Doering it's led to her becoming Corowa, New South Wales Young Citizen of the Year! And now she can add to that list the title of 2015 Corowa Young Citizen of the Year. Alannah was nominated with an extensive list of achieve-ments, the bulk of which see this impressive young lady going above and beyond to engage and inspire the young people of Corowa and surrounds. At the core of Alannah’s hard work is a drive to volunteer – with more than 200 hours notched up last year alone. So, how does she find the time? “I guess it is about balance,” she said. “For me, finding things that I enjoy and getting involved makes it worth the while. “Volunteering and being involved with the Corowa Leos are my extra-curricular activities. I choose to spend time doing those things rather than playing sport – it’s what I enjoy doing.” Leos are an affiliation of Lions Clubs specifically aimed and engaging young people with their local community. Alannah and brother Jacob were charter members of the local branch after the idea was floated via the Corowa High School newsletter in 2012. Since joining, Alannah has taken every opportunity to be involved in the variety of events, activities, forums and fundraisers organised locally and now has branched out to help connect with other young Leos. “There is going to be a Leos District Conference here in Corowa in March and I went along to the meeting to see what I could do to help – somehow I came back as Chair-man of the district,” Alannah said. “It’s very excited. We’re hosting clubs from across the district (80-100 people) and have a great weekend of ac-tivities planned in March. “Leos is about young people planning and getting involved in activities they enjoy and at the same time findings ways to help the community. “It’s fantastic and I love being a part of it.”

Alannah was recognised with the NSW Premiers Volunteer Program Black Opal Award in 2014 – the highest distinc-tion given to young students who contribute in excess of 150 hours of volunteering. She also managed to fit in her year 10 curriculum at Corowa High School, participate in the Student Represen-tative Council and contribute as Peer Support Leader. On top of her already busy schedule, Alannah was lucky enough to be selected among a group of students to trav-el to Miki City in Japan in October as part of Corowa Shire Council’s cultural exchange program. “Miki City was incredible – as soon as we found out there was an opportunity to go we put an application in and I’m so glad we did,” Alannah said. “Visiting the city and seeing the industry and places it is built around was amazing. Going to the schools and realis-ing how different things are was a big learning experience and the people were all so friendly.” Alannah and her family are hoping to repay the hospitality when a group of students visit Corowa in 2015. In the meantime, Alannah is focussed on year 11 in 2015 and furthering her interest in volunteering – and of course there is the small matter of collecting her 2015 Young Citi-zen of the Year Award on Australia Day. “I was really surprised when I found out about it – I had no idea,” she said. “I’m a bit nervous, but really excited.” _____________________________________________ The Corowa Leos held a morning for Coins for Kids With Cancer. This took place on the footpath of the main street of Corowa. They layed masking tape upside down on the ground and people were asked to lay a coin for this worthy cause.It started off a bit slow, but once everybody got the idea and what it was all about they wanted to lay notes as well. The amount raised came to $1,074.75 which was a great effort and fun was had by all, l would encourage any Leo or Lions Club to have a go at this project and make a dif-ference. Cheers Corrinie

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A number of Cohuna Leos were involved in the Cohu-na Secondary College play to celebrate the end of the school year. Leo President Tony & Leo Josh are seen here, Leo Emily also had a lead roll in the play. During December, mem-bers acted as waiters for a fundraising night for “CHANCES for Kids” held at the town hall. Around 200 people raised over $20,000, these funds will go to a “CHANCES” camp to be held in Cohuna in August, where once again the Leos will be out in force to help. The Leos enjoying lunch and a well deserved break after another day of washing cars in Cohuna. Around $700 raised over held in October, November and December, not a bad effort.

To finish off the year, and celebrate what they had achieved, the Cohuna Leos and their families spent some time in Apex Park, enjoying each others company, a swim and BBQ tea cooked by Lions President Allan Walkington.

Work on the “Youth Garden” at the Cohuna Village contin-ues, there is much to do to clear out the old and make way for the new.

At our last working bee, even Lions President Allan (better known as Buddgie) got down and dirty! There is still lots to do, but with the help form Lions members and com-munity, the job is

getting done. It’s amazing what skills you pick up being a Leo!

Our aim is to make this area a warm and com-fortable place to stop for a chat with family and friends or to do a spot of gardening. Funds raised from the Caravan Cubby raffle will go to replace old garden beds, and furni-ture.

With a number of specially built garden

beds for wheelchair access that will allow the residents to have comfortable access and enable them to continue their enjoyment of gardening.

January 2015 UpdateChairman’s Report We’re looking forward to another great year at Lions Vil-lage Licola and would like to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful staff and the many Lions and Lionesses who contribute to the success of this often life changing project. Many children will return home from our January camps just that bit more confident in their abilities and with pride in their accomplishments. Licola Application Forms and other informationPlease be aware that the Club Application form required to send children on Lions Sponsored Camps are available from the Licola website www.licola.org.au. If you have not already checked you can also obtain back issues of the Licola Corner, from February 2009. Log on, go to Lions/ Lions Portal and tap on archive. Have some fun seeing how our communication has (fortunately) changed since then. Lions Sponsored Camps for 2015 By the time you read this newsletter all of our January camps have been finalised and the first two will have been completed. We will provide some feedback in the February Licola Cor-ner. It is now already time to start looking for children for the Easter Camps and once again we would encourage clubs to prepare now so they are ready as soon as school goes back at the end of this month. The weather at Licola is usually superb for the April camps, We have been told that there are even lots of “Bunnies” about, not necessarily the Easter type. The new Club application forms for the 2015 camps are on the websiteLSC 277 Sunday March 29th – Thursday April 2nd. Note: Easter falls during the middle of the school holiday N4 / V6 Special Needs Camp April Sun 12th – Fri 17thV3 Special Needs Camp April Mon 20th– Wed 22nd& V3 Special Needs Camp Oct Mon12th – Wed 14thLSC 278 September Mon 21st – Fri 25th - TBA Lions Sponsored Camp Leaders - we still need your help Our summer camps were again short on leaders and we can only ask that if you are aware of anybody interested in becoming a leader please let us know. Licola is authorized to provide accreditation to leaders who need this for their Tertiary courses. Please contact the Licola office if you can help AND NOTE THAT VOLUNTEER FORMS ARE ON THE WEBSITE UNDER “Volunteers”. Staffing matters It is with much regret that we have had say farewell to “Sudge” Saya from our team. Everyone who has been as-sociated with her wIll miss her cheery personality, work

ethic, ability to solve a problem, and attitude to life and Licola. We will also take the opportuni-ty to welcome back Arran and Jayne Flitton to the team.

Something Very Special -- Vale Dudley Barton Adams Life Member 1990 Since Lions commenced operations in 1972 Licola has awarded many Life Memberships to special people who put so much into making Licola the camping showpiece it is today. Regretfully many of our life members pass away and we never find out until long after the event, so we now respectfully ask that Lions Clubs please keep us informed if a current, or as is often the case, a past member who has a Licola Life membership passes away. It is not our intention to report each and every death but it would allow the Board the opportunity to acknowledge their contribution to the family. We mention this because the first we knew of Dudley Bar-ton Adams’ death was from a Solicitors letter advising that he had left a small portion of his Estate to Licola. This is something that we would ask all Lions to consider to ensure the longevity of Licola, but not the reason for putting this comment to paper. People who make special efforts deserve to be recog-nized for what they have done, please keep the Board informed. Youth at Risk Camps – Progress report Adam is back in harness, suffering no permanent damage after his Ironman event in W.A., perhaps a little fitter. Per-haps our January camps will keep him on his toes. As at 17/12/14 the total is $17000.00. Fantastic. Our most sincere thanks to all the Lions who have sup-ported Youth@Risk to date, but please don’t stop now. Prime 7 Wellington’s Peoples Choice Awards Lets Keep Licola Wilderness Village on the Map Simply log into www.wrtawards.tourismwellington.com.auand follow the link to the voting page Also don’t forget to like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/DiscoverWellingtonGippslandWe would dearly like to win the Best Customer Service but It would be great if everyone that possibly can VOTES for us as follows and we will see what we get; *** Re-member to vote in all 4 categories.*** and ask your friends to vote as well.Category: VOTE FOR: Easy access for people of all abilities - Licola Wilderness Village Best Caravan/ Cabin/ Camping Park/ Backpackers - Licola Wilderness Village Best Family Activity - Licola Wilderness Village Best Customer Service - Licola Wilderness Village

Double rainbow on Blanket Hill – Licola. Oct 2014

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Licola February 2015 Update

Working Bee Monday 27th April – Monday 4th May

Our next Working Bee week has been set and we would love to have you all come

and stay. Please note this in your diaries and discuss it with your club to make a working visit. Lots of jobs for everyone. Please let Adam know that you are coming.

Staffing matters Adam Wake presenting “Sudge” Saya with a framed aerial photo of Licola, as a farewell gift. Adam has provided a short history of Sudge’s time at Licola. We wish Sudge the very best in whatever she does.

“Sudge Saya joined Licola as a teenager, as a volunteer on one of our sponsored camps. She came back as an activity instructor and finally joined me full time in the office in 2010 and took on the Camp Manager role in 2012. She has worked with many of you and seen many changes during her tenure here, has been a phenomenal character in her ability to adapt to whatever was required, to be flexible all the time, and work with so many differ-ent people from all walks of life. She has left us to return home to Geelong where she is needed for a number of reasons. I cannot complain in that she did give me over 6 months notice. But she will be sorely missed. Hers are some big boots to fill. We left on the greatest of terms and the Licola family support her in her choice and will continue to support her when needed and will of course welcome her back whenever she can make the journey between here and there. Good luck Slugger.”

In coming months please make sure you make yourself known to Arran who is now taking on the unenviable task of working close-ly with me in the office! We have a big year ahead.

Youth at Risk Camps – Progress reportOur initial goal for Y@R has now been achieved, however we have to admit that some of our original estimates to establish the program were a little on the optimistic side and all funds will be used.

Brian Edwards notified us that The Lions Club of Corio Bay have donated $5,000 to the program which was an excess of funds raised this year to bring children on a LS Camp this January – part of their monumental effort in bringing 71 children this year.

Alan Fluck, D.G. of V5 also notified us that a donation of c. $2,000 was being made from excess funds from the 2014 con-vention.

Our special thanks go to both of these gentlemen and their Clubs/ committees. As at 25/1/15 the total is $23,000. Fantastic

Our most sincere thanks to all the Lions who have supported Youth@Risk to date, but please don’t stop now.

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Double rainbow on Blanket Hill – Licola. Oct 2014

Volunteers are absolutely vital to the success of Lions Spon-sored Camps. We need able bodied people over the age of 18, with Working with Children Checks. If you or your family mem-bers are interested, or if you have any contacts with Tertiary In-stitutions where students need to do placements, please contact Adam or Arran at Licola on 5148 8791. It’s a very rewarding ex-perience and will make a real difference to a young person’s life.

A wonderful gift of a beautifully handcrafted Tasmanian oak ta-ble was received this week for Houses 15 & 16. Thank you In-verloch Lions, there will be many, many people who will appreciate this lovely table for years to come.

Licola Application Forms and other information The Club Application form required to send children on Lions Sponsored Camps can be downloaded from the Licola website www.licola.org.au.

Lions Sponsored Camps for 2015 Lions sponsored three very successful January camps this year. This year was the first time that the writer has actually been in-volved with co-ordinating children on to the buses. The experi-ence was a reality check, last minute withdrawals for a variety of reasons, disappointment because age restrictions were not checked by clubs and children were ineligible to attend.

On behalf of all Lions clubs that send children to our Camps we have to say THANK YOU to Noelene Birnie and all of the bus marshals that put in so much work to make it happen so smooth-ly.

It is now time to start looking for children for the Easter Camps and once again we would encourage clubs to prepare and avoid any last minute rush.

The Club application forms for the 2015 and 2016 camps and a new brochure to give to schools will be sent to all clubs soon and are also available from the website www.licola.org.au 2015 and 2016 LSC dates are also on the website. Camp dates: LSC 277 Sunday March 29th – Thursday April 2nd. Note: Easter falls during the middle of the school holiday

N4 / V6 Special Needs Camp April Sun 12th – Fri 17th

V3 Special Needs Camp April Mon 20th – Wed 22nd

& V3 Special Needs Camp Oct Mon12th– Wed 14th

LSC 278 September Mon 21st – Fri 25th –

Wish List – dress up costumes etc. We have an urgent need for a lot of new THEME GEAR / COS-TUMES. Our stocks are dwindling and we would love any pi-rates, rainbows, any dress up gear would be really appreciated. Please let Adam know and we can arrange for it to be collected and delivered to Licola.

We also could use any large/ huge pots & pans for the self-ca-tering kitchen.

If anybody has old (but safe) ladders or work platforms in their garages that are no longer being used we would welcome them at Licola also.

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