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President and Membership Chairman of Glantawe Lions, Alan Davies, was delighted to welcome three new Lions to the Club at the Business Meeting held at the New Inn in Clydach on 9th April. In alphabetical order, Christopher Davies, Helen Davies and David Wilkinson were inducted onto the world-wide family of Lions in a ceremony that explained something of the achievements of Lions Clubs International and, more locally, Glantawe Lions Club.
(l-r) Lion Mike Sheldon, Past District Governor Laurence Morrissey, Lions Malcolm Curtis, Peter Evans, Lion President Alan Davies, Lions John Moore, Chris Davies, Helen Davies, Jeff Davies, David Wilkinson, Phil Taylor, Sheila Goodchild, John Mounty, Jackie Warren, Chris Sheldon, Wendy Demaid and Roy Philips.
Following the addition of these three new members the Club's membership now stands at 22. However there is still room for more; we would be delighted to hear from anybody who would like to contribute to our local communities especially people living to the north of the Club's area that includes Morriston in the south,through Pontardawe, Ystradgynlais, Ystalyfera and Abercraf in the north.
As a newcomer to the Lions Convention circuit, I was a little nervous and excited all at the same time on what this type of weekend would bring.
It made it more nerve racking as my own Lions Club was hosting the event and I had volunteered to take on one or two duties.
What could I wear that would make me look reasonably sane and human? How much attention to detail should I give my costume? Would I make a fool of myself? It was the first time I had been to a fancy dress evening let alone a Lion’s evening. The theme was the ‘Wild West.’ I along with some other Glantawe Lions dressed as a Native American Indian lady. Others in my club dressed as cowboys. Some of the costumes that my club and the other clubs wore were fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. The Country Western band was great. The band consisted of some Members of the Swansea Lions Club and they had everyone dancing and playing part in some games. The participation by the people at the party night was excellent. We also had a raffle that I was involved in organising. This was well supported by all in attendance and gave me an opportunity to meet and talk to a lot of the Lions from other clubs. An excellent evening. Enjoyed by all.
Being honest, I thought I would be completely bored and only went to the convention to support my Club. I must say though it was more entertaining than I thought and the speeches were well thought out. The day did not appear to drag on, although some of the men present may have been a little distracted at times wondering how Wales were performing in the Rugby match that was on in the afternoon. The Triple Crown was being played for. It was thoughtful by the District Governor to allow the result of the game to be broadcasted to the audience. Especially as Wales won.
I was surprised and delighted by the speech given by PID Lion Roger Richert. He was funny, but put across all his points so well. He and his wife PDG Rosemary Richert had travelled from Atlanta to attend the convention. They were so down to earth and so friendly.
There were a few moving presentations and speeches regarding Children who had lost their parents or siblings and how steps were being made to introduce bereavement counselling in schools. A Tacade initiative. Another presentation was how a vehicle had been designed to help those who were unable to walk but had use of their arms to use a ‘pet’vehicle. Too much to explain in this note but those that were at the convention will understand what it was. It is amazing that something so easy to use, cheap to produce and ship out to other countries a lot less fortunate than ourselves could help change someone’s life and independence.
The incoming Youth Ambassador was such an accomplished young man and gave an interesting speech on all the projects he was involved in. Our own Katie Davies, whose father is a new Lion Member like myself, relinquished her trophy as Youth Ambassador for 2007. We were very proud of Katie and all the hard work and commitment she had undertaken during her year. As a result of being in that position she too wishes to become a fully fledged Lion when she reaches her 18 birthday later this year.
I could go on for hours how fascinating the conference was to me and how I learned a lot more about what Lions do in just one day but feel I must stop and go on to the next part of the weekend.
Another enjoyable evening. It was strange to see some people I had met the previous evening who had been dressed as an Indian or cowboy looking so elegant in their Dinner Jackets and fine dresses. A completely different type of evening but very enjoyable once again. The meal was on a Welsh theme and was delicious. People danced and chatted and joined in the fun. The speeches were more formal than the previous night but once again entertaining yet putting important points across.
Sad farewells to old and new friends and fellow Lions.
My overall experience was one of admiration for all the hard work and organisation that took place. The way Glantawe Lions Club members all took part in helping out and joining in. Joy and delight at how friendly everyone was regardless of their background, life experiences and length of time as Lion Members or partners of Lion members.
Will I go to another Convention? You bet!
Lion Jackie Warren
Glantawe Lions Club
Something that was only a germ of an idea in January, has developed into a very large money spinner for Glantawe Lions in the space of 6 weeks. An Easter Egg Card with 30 girls names and 30 boys names on it was produced, and sold at a £1 a name. The winning name was stuck to the back of the card, and once all 60 names were taken the winner of a 1kg Easter Egg was revealed. Hopefully, by Easter 2008 over 30 cards will have been sold, and over £1000 will have raised for Lions good causes in the Glantawe area and further afield.
Although the end result was a handsome sum for charity, there were some quite funny bits leading up to the final result. Firstly, the eggs had to be sourced, and this proved to be quite difficult, because you were not sure whether at the end of January you were too early to buy eggs or too late. Initially, we had a pallet of 24 delivered but "elf ‘n safety" got involved because the eggs had to be left on one lion’s drive as the driver would not deliver them into the house. Then we ordered another 12, and this also was quite funny, because 7 were smashed on delivery. Fortunately, we were not charged for these, and lion members paid £5 each for a broken egg, and this went to help an orphanage in Nepal which one of the lion members was visiting. On two separate occasions lions reported that their egg had suddenly developed a hole in the back, who knows why, so more eggs had to be found. Throughout the whole selling process the “Egg Man” kept encouraging us by sending out egg jokes, every time an egg was sold, bit like timeshare selling really.
The end result was over a £1000 raised for good causes, and several more ideas being spun off the Easter Egg Card.
One of our member's suggested that the Club might like to put on a 'Psychic Evening' as his wife is very interested in this sort of thing and was very keen to help. So Austin Charles - who has appeared in Channel 5's "Britain's Psychic Challenge" - was booked to appear at the The Mond on the evening of Friday 8th February.
The event was a complete sell out and those who attended enjoyed an extremely interesting and, dare we say, entertaining evening. Here are the views of one lady who was there:
I have never been to one of these events before and was unsure how I would react when Austin Charles talked to spirits. I was impressed that he was not like some of the television programmes I have seen where they randomly call out a name and ask if anyone with that name knew a ‘John’ or ‘Mary'. Instead he meditated for a couple of minutes and then walked over to an individual in the audience and started to talk about a relative of her's. He would also say the audience member’s name and I know from a friend who he actually spoke to on the night that there was no way he would have known her name in advance. He also knew her sister’s name who was sitting next to her. He mentioned the sister’s pet name that the grandmother who had come through to him called her. No one else called her that name. He also said a few other things that were true.
This was just one example of many people he spoke to on the night. He made everyone feel at ease and also brought in a little humour on occasions. He was patient with the audience who became a little restless towards the end as people were getting ready to go home.
At the end of the session he asked if anyone had any questions they wanted answered and although all around were leaving the hall he did not finish until the last question was answered. True dedication to his calling.
I certainly enjoyed the evening as a whole and having a raffle also lightened things up in the interval and made a number of ladies happy when they won a prize to take home with them. I also thought for the ticket price was good value and the bar prices were also good value for those who felt they needed ‘dutch courage’.
When is the next one?
We are extremely grateful to Austin Charles for supporting the event so generously. We are already looking at another similar evening so check here to see when and where.
Austin Charles has been nominated for best male psychic and the Welsh paranormal investigation team have also been nominated for best investigation team in the Spiritual Connextions Awards 2008. Click the Awards voting button and cast your vote for Austin. (Please note that clicking this link will take you out of the Glantawe Lions Club web site; Glantawe Lions Club is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.)
For much of 2007 Glantawe Lions Club was working hard in the northern part of the Swansea Valley trying to form a new Lions Club based around the Ystradgynlais and Ystalyfera area. Regrettably, not enough people came forward to form a Club but a number of people have expressed an interest in becoming Lions and have attended some of our meetings in Clydach.
Also, a number of people said that, although personal circumstances made it difficult for them to consider becoming involved right away, they hoped to be able to join us later in 2008. It is therefore quite possible that we can form a Branch of Glantawe Lions Club based in the north of our area that will be able to address the needs of that community more effectively.
During our campaign 'Up North' we were able to assist a number of good causes and we made some excellent contacts who we hope will enable us to continue to support the communities in and around Ystradgynlaid and Ystalyfera. There will soon be more information here about what we did and our plans for the future so keep looking in.
Do please get in touch with us (click the 'Contact Us' link above) if you have some spare time that you would like to contribute to the Upper Swansea Valley community - the more the merrier!