Page 31 - Lion Oct Nov 2016

Bracknell lions are pleased to announce the success of their second Bracknell show!
The event was held first in 2015 to relaunch the historic local show that hasn’t been put on for over thirty years. Ambitious (Immediate Past) Club President Paul Day had a vision that the small but growing club could come back from the brink after threatening to close back in early 2013 due to a lack of members. Luckily the club’s recruitment drive, plus his vision and the hard work of the members really paid off, with the show turning a profit for the second year running.
Bracknell Lions club chartered in October 1968, and has a long and successful history. However, with membership dwindling, the club had a last ditch attempt to rekindle their work in the community in 2013. The Club launched a recruitment drive that saw the membership soar from 4 to 16 members that year, and from there it has grown further since. The success was partially due to fantastic press including a front page story with one of the local papers and an intense leaflet drop around some of the local estates. Lion Paul joined the Club around then and wasted no time at all getting stuck in. His drive to relaunch the Bracknell Show inspired the whole club, and a committee was set up. The process of organising such an event was a steep learning curve for all involved. However, on a grey day in June 2015, the field was set up with over 40 stalls including food and drink, charity tombolas, crafts, face painting and bouncy castles, plus a huge arena in which there were exciting displays of live chainsaw tree carving and birds of prey (not at the same time!). Despite some disappointing weather, the day went smoothly and the Club learnt a huge amount from the process. They even turned a very respectable profit which they were able to plough into local community charities.
Immediately the club started planning for 2016’s show to be bigger, better and to run more smoothy, but to keep it free to attend for the public. This year was to have an element of live music in the evening with BYO picnic to enjoy an Elvis tribute act. This, and the size of the show meant different licences, a change to the timings and set up too. But 2016 managed to be both bigger and better- with more stalls including a free balance bike session supplied by charity Sustrans, gymnastic displays from the British Champions, ice cream, sword fighting, reptile handling and much more. And to top all that off, 2016 also delivered sunshine on the day for the 4000 or so people that attended, and a further 150 stayed for the live music in the evening! The Club worked harder at their PR that year, and as a result BBC Radio Berkshire broadcast live from the show for two hours at the event. The Bracknell Show 2016 made a profit of £2,867.48 on the event (including sale of stalls pitches, raffle and auction, and the sale of adverts in their glossy advertising brochure). This in addition to some wonderful support from Paul’s Trust (www.paulstrust.org.uk) and the Bracknell Town Council.
www.lionsclubs.co
October/November 2016
lancaster and MorecaMBe lions cluB
Over 30 Lions and friends from five clubs around the Bay enjoyed perfect weather and raised over £500 for their charity and community work at a Family Fun Day on Morecambe sea front.
They were joined by North West Blood Bikes, Nan’s Place at The Sanctuary (Morecambe) and Angie Ashcroft Vintage Jewellery, and a display of rescue owls plus a hawk by Barn Owl Bill.
This is a fantastic effort from the Lion clubs of Zone B, plus Birchwood Lions, in District 105BN (North West England).
Zone chairman, Ivan Huff said: “This was the first time in recent years that our zone has organised such an event and was very much a learning curve. We estimated that around 200 people visited which was fantastic considering there were several other events it coincided with. The day was conceived as a chance to meet the Lions and learn a little about our organisation rather than a fund raising exercise but grossed about £500 with each club taking home the earnings from their stands. In addition, the Blood Bikes had their own collection and had three enquiries from potential new members.”
community
31