IRONBRIDGE LIONS NEWSLETTER
Published 10 April 2020
Welcome to this 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 4174
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LOOKING BACK - RECENT EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The world has changed quite dramatically since our last newsletter in February. As a result of the restrictions imposed to limit the spread of Coronavirus. All meetings, and most other activities are now suspended until further notice. We can however report on a very active few weeks running up to the introduction of the lockdown on 23rd March.
FLOOD RELIEF
February brought serious flooding to the Ironbridge gorge. Storm Ciara swept across the country on February 9th bringing heavy rain and winds of up to 97 mph and storm Dennis arrived on 15th February bringing serious flooding to both commercial and residential premises within the Gorge.
Ironbridge Lions launched a fundraising appeal to support those affected by the flooding and joined with Ironbridge Rotary and local Councillor Carolyn Healy to provide a coordinated approach to the investigation and response to support requests. Our thanks to all those who responded to our fundraising appeal, and a special thank you to the staff of Restaurant 1840 Dawley who donated £1022.
A SUCCESSFUL 41st CHARTER LUNCH
Our 2020 Charter lunch – essentially the 41st birthday celebration for the club – was scheduled for 1st March at the Valley Hotel which sits close to the river in Ironbridge.
Although the hotel itself was unaffected by the flooding, road access was almost impossible in the period leading up to the event. However, the access from Coalbrookdale was opened just in time and the lunch went ahead as planned with 55 Members and guests enjoying good food, great service and excellent entertainment from comedy magician Paul Kay.
AN AWARD FOR PETE
The charter lunch brought a surprise for one club member when District Governor John Chambers presented the Melvin Jones Fellowship award to Lion Peter Derham. Pete has been a member of the club since 2005 and the Fellowship, named after the founder of the Lions Movement, is the highest award within Lions for outstanding community service.
PROSTATE TESTING
While our Charter Lunch on 1st March almost fell victim to the flooding, it was the rapid advance of Coronavirus
that provided the main threat to our annual testing event just 8 days later. By the weekend following our event, the Graham Fulford Trust, our testing partner, had cancelled all testing events until further notice.
This was the fourth year of our testing programme. As for the previous 3 years, the event was delivered in partnership with the Ironbridge Rotary club and for a second year we returned to the excellent accommodation at the Haberdashers Abraham Darby Academy.
But, whilst much was the same as before, there was one major change in the form of a new appointment system which enabled us to eliminate the long queues that were a feature of previous events. During our session almost 600 men were tested and the average time between arrival and departure throughout the 2-hour period was less than 15 minutes. Our thanks to all those who worked to make this possible - Lions Members and Friends, our Rotary partners, Susan Hart and the staff at the Graham Fulford Trust, Sue Colington and her staff at the academy and, most particularly, our amazing NHS phlebotomists
SUPPORT FOR A LOCAL, YOUNG TABLE TENNIS STAR
February brought a support request from Phillipa Jones who lives locally and whose 15-year-old daughter Megan is part of the national junior Table Tennis squad and is ranked number 3 in England in her age group.
Table Tennis is one of the sports which receives little or no financial support and so the cost of being part of the squad falls on the family. These costs include over £1000 per year for the training provided and all the costs associated with attending competitions including international trips. It was perhaps a sign of the times that Gemma put the £200 grant from the club towards the cost of a table tennis robot to enable her to maintain her training during the period of social isolation.
GUIDING TRIP TO RWANDA
Overseas project trips are a significant feature of modern Scouting and Guiding, and in recent years the club has contributed to the support of two such trips. We reported on the first of these in the November 2019 edition of this newsletter following a talk from Joanne Bradley on her 3-week trip to Russia as part of a Trefoil Guild TOPAZ scheme.
The second project trip was part of the Guides Gold (Guiding Overseas Linked to Development) Programme and at our February club meeting Kat Leaming gave an illustrated talk on her 3 week trip to Rwanda as part of a 6-Guide team designed to train first aid and safeguarding, teaching girls about women’s rights, world guiding and the WAGS (World Association of Guides and Scouts) process and building girls leadership skills.
It is very clear from both the recent talks, that these project trips make a very significant impact on the development of everyone involved. You can read a full report of the trip HERE.
THE STORY OF A GIANT EASTER EGG
Back in early March we were delighted when our friends in the local West Mercier Police cadets told us that they had a very large chocolate Easter Egg that they wished to donate to the club as a potential fund-raiser. John Marsh and Graham Powell collected the egg from the cadets at Malinslee Police Station on 5th march and the plan was then to use it as a raffle prize at the Jazz concert scheduled for the end of the month.
Unfortunately, the Coronavirus restrictions put and end to those plans and to any prospect of using the egg as a fundraiser. But the story has a happy ending; in early April, with the agreement of the cadets, the egg was delivered to the Children’s ward at the Telford hospital and we are fairly confident that it will bring much joy at Easter.
SILVER OVER THE BRIDGE 2020
At this point in the year, we would usually be looking forward to the Easter start of our SOB programme with a full summer of similar collection events to follow. This year we had planned to focus almost entirely on the support of small, local charities and community groups in a programme running from April through to September, but current restrictions have already forced the postponement or cancellation of the first 3 event and more will almost certainly follow. And even if the lockdown is relaxed later in the season, it is likely that visitor numbers on the bridge will be significantly reduced. The groups affected will be offered a donation and an SOB place in the future, once life has returned to normal
OTHER SUPPORT ACTIVITIES
Although our physical movements are severely restricted, the club itself remains active and ready to support those in need both directly and through other community organisations. Support for the homeless and those in food poverty are particular priorities at this time and at our most recent online meeting, members voted, with the aid of a £500 contribution from our national Lions organisation, to make grants of £300 each to 6 local organisations that are working to ensure that everyone has food and accommodation - Stay, Manninplace, Telford Crisis Support and the Community centres for Woodside, Brookside and Sutton Hill.
We will continue to look for, and respond to, similar needs during the current crisis so if you know of someone needing a helping hand please contact us
SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
Although our usual social meetings are suspended along with all our other activities, we are managing to “meet” regularly through the magic of Zoom online conferencing. Apart from the usual business meetings, a weekly quiz session organised by Graham Powell, our Community Service Chairman, enlivens our Thursday mornings and allows us to keep in touch with members and friends.
AND FINALLY - IF YOU LIKE WHAT WE DO, WHY NOT THINK ABOUT JOINING US?
Have you ever considered becoming a Lion? Membership provides an opportunity to make a real contribution to your community, to acquire new skills and to make lasting friendships. There is real satisfaction to be gained from helping others and that help is going to be needed more than ever over the next few months.
But if your family commitments do not allow you to commit the time for full membership, why not consider signing up as a Friend of the club. As a Friend, you are free to give as much or as little of your time as you wish, there is no subscription, no minimum commitment, and no pressure; we just send you an email every few weeks showing the upcoming activities so that you can volunteer for any that take your fancy.
If any of this appeals to you, we'd love to talk to you - just complete our contact form and we will give you a call.
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