IRONBRIDGE LIONS
NEWSLETTER FOR AUGUST 2018
Welcome to the August edition of our newsletter. If you have questions on any of the items listed or if you wish to volunteer for any of the events or activities, please contact Colin Thompson cthompson@bcs.org.uk or call 07970 417497
LOOKING BACK – EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES OF THE PAST MONTH
MEMBERSHIP AND ADMIN
New Members
Having lost several members recently it is a pleasure to be able to report more positive news. Carol and Graham Powell have been attending meetings as visitors for some time having found us originally through the prostate screening event in March. Their contribution over that period has been such that, when they made applications for membership, the Directors of the club had no hesitation in accepting and we hope to complete the induction proces at the meeting on 23rd August.
On a slightly more negative note, John Boydell has decided that the time has come to take a slightly less active role and the Directors have accepted his request to change his membership status to Affiliate. John has made a massive contribution to the life of the club over many years and his scrap metal scheme in particular has had an enormous positive impact on our admin funds. We're delighted he will still be involved with the club’s activities, albeit on a reduced basis. and with two other membership applications in the pipeline the overall outlook on the membership front is definitely looking brighter.
New Trustees
The above mentioned Directors meeting also had to consider the appointment of a new team of trustees to oversee out charitable funds and responsibilities. The recent membership changes coupled with the handover to the new team of Officers meant that it was time to appoint new trustees. We have a total of 7 – the President, Secretary and Treasurer as ex-officio trustees plus 4 others nominated by the members. For the next 3 years those 4 places will be filled by John Marsh, John Toll, Gordon Weston and Frank Hill.
WELFARE AND FUNDRAISING
Silver over the Bridge
Just one SOB event in the past month – on 22nd July in aid of the Harry 
Johnson Trust which raises money for young cancer sufferers between the ages of 0—18. Harry died in July 2014 after fighting a 9-month battle with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma aged just 7. The trust was set up by Harry’s parents with the aim of making small simple gestures to help other Shropshire families whose children have been diagnosed with a form of childhood cancer. A fine sunny day ensured a steady stream of people to our model and we raised a total of £265 which the club subsequently rounded up to £300
We’ve always said that the ideal fundraising activity is one which satisfies 2 key criteria – firstly, that it doesn’t involve bucket-rattling and, secondly, that it is not affected by bad weather. Such activities are not easy to find but the past year has produced two which seem to meet the criteria:
- Gift Aid
Changes to the rules for Gift Aid last year meant that, for the first time ever, the club was able to claim a 25% bonus on almost all the money donated – including the coinage in our buckets at Christmas and on the tape at our Silver over the Bridge events. The final instalment for 2017/18 tax year arrived in our bank account last week - a payment of £641 which brought our total gift aid for the year to almost £3800. A rare gift from HMRC and a tremendous bonus for our charitable funds.
2. Twincl
Saturday 28th July saw the first weekly draw of the new Telford and Wrekin lottery. Twincl, as the lottery is known is designed to support good causes and 60% of all the money raised is used for that purpose. Participants are able to nominate specific charities, in which case the nominated charities receive 50% of the ticket monies with a further 10% going into a general charity support pool. We have so far collected 15 ticket-buying supporters which should bring us an income of £390 in a full year – and that’s well above the average return for a 6-hour Silver over the Bridge session. We hope to gain more supporters to grow that income but in the meantime, one of our existing 15 had a modest win (3 free tickets for the next draw) on Saturday evening. If you would like to buy a weekly ticket, just go to our Twincl page ((https://www.twincl.co.uk/…/ironbridge-and-severn-gorge-lions) and sign up.
POD Children’s Charity
POD is a charity that many people might not have heard of despite the fact that it has been around for more than 30 years. Pod’s team of magicians, musicians, puppeteers, storytellers and clowns provide happiness and diversion to sick children, their families and carers, performing over 2000 shows in 150 hospitals each year. Every penny raised is spent on entertaining sick children and, having seen the entertainers at work and witnessed the joy that they bring, we have enormous admiration for them. For the past few years we have sponsored 12 performances per year at PRH and at last week’s meeting there was unanimous and enthusiastic support for the £600 sponsorship required to extend that for a further year.
Little Dresses for Africa
It’s always really satisfying to be able to collaborate with other community groups to deliver outcomes that we could not achieve onour own. Earlier this year we gave a small donation to The Gorge Craft Group to help them to buy material for making dresses to go to young girls in the developing world through an organisation known as “Little Dresses for Africa”. Work is now in full swing and the first batch of very attractive dresses is about to be sent out.
The Bridge goes to School
One of the highlights of this year has been Jim Philbin’s construction of a scale 
model of the Iron bridge. This was essentially to provide a fundraising replacement for the real bridge during the repair and restoration process but Jim always had an eye to the possibility of an educational use and on 16th July the model made its first school trip. Around 60 Year 2 students from Miss Gear and Miss Newport’s classes at Newdale school listened very attentively to John Marsh giving a talk on the history of the Iron Bridge and then asked some surprisingly perceptive questions. At least one other school has expressed interest in a similar talk and we starting to get interest for may yet find other uses – at one point last month we were in serious negotiations for the model to make an appearance, in return for a modest donation, at a wedding reception!
Wheels Day
The Annual Telford Wheels Day event, organized Telford Lions took place on Sunday 8th July this year. As the name suggests, Wheels day is a motor-themed fun day which which held each year in Bowring Park Wellington. The club took the Gazebo and the football game and volunteers worked all day for a somewhat disappointing total of £143
Marie Curie
We have for some years now dedicated the Easter Silver over the Bridge event to Marie Curie. Unfortunately, this year we were rained off but we have made up for it with support for a couple of their own collection opportunities. Earlier in the year Harold and Jackie Taylor supported a collection at Tesco Wellington and on 6th July Jim Philbin and Graham Powell rattled Marie Curie buckets at Matelan. In both cases the support was greatly appreciated by the charity.
LOOKING AHEAD – FUTURE ACTIVITIES AND PLANS
FUNDRAISING
Silver over the Bridge
Our 2018 SOB programme continues despite the difficulties resulting from the restoration works. The next session (on 26th August) will be in aid of the Severn Hospice – a cause which always gets a generous response. . It will be a busy Bank Holiday weekend for the Lions so all help would be appreciated. We do three shifts between 10 am and 4 pm so if you have 2 hours to spare do please drop an email or text to Colin (see email address and ‘phone number in the heading above).
Coracle Regatta
This is the other part of our busy Bank Holiday weekend. The Coracle Regatta takes place on August bank Holiday (August 27th) As for last year we will be managing the car parking and running a range of activities in and around our gazebo. Unfortunately, the demise of the V Festival at Weston Park means that we have no chairs or tents to sell. But lots more going on and again all offers of help greatly appreciated. The Coracle regatta itself runs from 12 noon to 4 pm but we will be setting up our stall from about 10 am and aiming to catch the early arrivers from around 11 am. It’s a really good day so, again, if you can spare a couple of hourse just email, message or call Colin
Christmas is coming
Yes I know you didn’t want to be reminded and I know it seems no time at all since last Christmas. But once the August Bank Holiday is behind us we start the run-in to Christmas. The Santa sleigh gets its first outing at the Madeley lights event on 1st December and we will be collecting food for Christmas hampers as usual during December. Last year we also made Christmas trees for sale using old pallets – a process which involved a considerable amount jig sawing and the liberal use of of green paint. The end result of the process was around 100 trees illuminated with battery operated LED lights, which we sold at £20 each. We plan to do it all over again this year so if you fancy a few hours wielding a paint brush you know who to call!!
Paddling for Prostate
Looking beyond Christmas to 2019, plans are in progress for a grand canoe regatta on the Severn organised by Ironbridge Lions with the aim of raising money for our prostate screening programme. The event will run under the "Paddling for Prostate" banner and Sunday 19th May has been pencilled in as a possible date Further details will be published in this newsletter as the planning moves forward.
WELFARE
Tea on the way
On 22nd August we are repeating the trip to Tea on the Way at Clun – one of the best events of 2017. Tea on the Way is a delightful tea room set in large and very attractive gardens and surrounded by stunning scenery. As for last year we will be hosting a group from the Jayne Sargent Foundation which provides support to people affected by cancer. For more information and availability please contact John Boydell (jmbjmbgpc@tiscali.co.uk or 01952 432429)
SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
We have two visits planned to the Veolia Energy Recovery Facility in Shrewsbury – 29th August and 19th September.
AND FINALLY………….
August Meetings
Club meetings this month will be on 9th and 23rd August. The first of these will be devoted to meetings of the two main club committees (Fundraising and Welfare) and the second will be a business meeting of the full club. Meetings are held at the Holiday Inn Telford and all are welcome to attend. Non-members wishing to attend should contact the club Secretary Colin Thompson by email at cthompson@bcs.org.uk or by 'phone at 07970 417497.
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