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Lions John Moore and Christine Sweeney were invited by Head Teacher, Mrs Sue Hollister, to attend an assembly at Cefn Hengoed Comprehensive School on Thursday 27th May 2010. Lion Christine gave a short speech about Lionism and was snapped in the act by that day’s camera man, Lion John.
Lion Christine then went on to present a 'Friends of Glantawe Lions Club' certificate to the school.
Cefn Hengoed Comprehensive School received the ‘Friend’s of Glantawe’ framed certificate for having kindly taken one of our Easter Egg cards in the run up to Easter. Sellers of these cards coul keep a third of the money raised from the sales for themselves. On this occasion the School chose to donated its share of the money raised to the Pupils' Council of Cefn Hengoed Comprehensive School that is saving towards a piece of Art or Sculpture for their future refurbished school building.
Lion Christine presents Certificate to Head Teacher Rachel Thomas
On a recent visit to her son who is currently living in Bognor Regis, Lion Christine Sweeney took the opportunity to visit the Bognor Regis Lions Club where she was able to exchange ideas and forge new friendships. They exchanged Club banners as a show of friendship and Lionism.
Later in the week Lion Brendan and Lion Christine Sweeney travelled on to Chichester where they were able to join in the Christmas festivities at the Chichester Club's Christmas social. At this meeting the two Glantawe Lions Club members were very interested in the work that Chichester Lions do with unwanted spectacles and hearing aids collected and sent to them from Glantawe Lions and many other UK Lions Clubs. They were also invited to go to the Club and see for themselves what happens once the items are received at Chichester and how they eventually end up going to many countries to help those who otherwise would not be able to have these aids. It was an interesting day. Glantawe Lions have many boxes placed in various Doctors surgeries or Chemists in the Swansea Valley area.
Click on these links to find out more about how Lions in the UK make use of discarded spectacles to help people who would not otherwise be able to have their vision corrected:
Club Banners were also exchanged between Chichester and Glantawe Club and the two Banners received from Bognor Regis and Chichester were presented to our own Club President Lion Christine Sheldon at a recent Club Business meeting.
Not only are Lions welcomed to other Clubs in the UK, but also they are always welcome to visit Lions Clubs all over the World. On a holiday taken last year, Lion Christine and Lion Brendan took the opportunity to visit the East Vancouver Lions Club in Canada. Once again they were greeted with friendship and found it fascinating to discuss ideas and make new friends. It shows that wherever Lions travel, they will always find a friendly addition to their Lions family.
Lion Christine Sweeney presenting the Chichester and Bognor Regis banners to Glantawe Lions President Christine Sheldon.
Lions made an annual pilgrimage to Bethlehem, not in Jerusalem, but near Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire. The reason for their journey to the tiny branch attached to the village hall was to post almost 600 Father Christmas Letters to receive the special Bethlehem hand stamp. The letters are a reply from Father Christmas for a donation of £1. All proceeds going to local Charities. With thanks to family, members and friends of Glantawe Lions Club, once again this annual event has been a great success.
Lions Helen Davies and Jeffrey Davies handing Glantawe Lions Santa Letters to Sarah Jones of Bethlehem Post Office, Carmarthenshire.
The Sun was shining, it was a beautiful October day but Glantawe Lions Club were about to shut out the light for many to let them experience being blind as we marked ‘World Sight Day 2009.’ We were joining several Lions Clubs across the Country, who were also organising walks in their own Clubs area at the same time.
Anita Davies, a member of 'Vision Impaired West Glamorgan’, kindly volunteered to give everyone a brief guide before the walk, on how to properly guide a visually impaired person.
Members of Glantawe Lions Club marshalled the event. There were 27 participants many who were blindfolded. This included Glantawe Lions Club’s own President Lion Chris Sheldon, Councillor Roger Smith, some children from Clydach Junior School, and some members of 'Vision Impaired West Glamorgan', Their walk started from Forge Fach Community Centre and along Clydach High Street for approximately 300 metres and back again. During the walk they encountered many obstacles including, crossing the street in two different places, walking up some steps and having to manoeuvre around various items on the pavement. The photos below show some of the problems encountered.
Lion Phil Taylor, who acted as Councillor Roger Smith's guide during the walk said, "I know Councillor Roger Smith was extremely disorientated, once blindfolded. He thought he knew the town of Clydach very well, until he suddenly found himself without sight. Both Councillor Roger Smith and I found it very strenuous doing the walk because he was having to totally rely upon me."
Everyone who attended on the day were greatly moved by the experience and realised just how important their sight is. The children returned to their school and reported to their teachers and fellow students on their experience. Everyone learned a valuable lesson on how something so simple as a walk can be so difficult to someone without sight.
Lion President Chris Sheldon crossing the road with her guide Lion Mike.
Andrea Davies and Guide dog Fliss with Lion Christine and Councillor Roger Smith.
Councillor Roger Smith finding out how difficult it can be when obstacles are in the way.
Walking up steps blindfolded is something very different from when you have your sight.
Some of the Clydach Junior School children experiencing crossing the road with blindfold on. With guides to help them.
The Lions year runs from 1st July to 30th June; in 2008/09 Lion Christine Sweeney was the Club's Activities Committee Chairperson. "I thoroughly enjoyed my term as Activities Chairperson.", said Lion Christine, "Glantawe Lions Club was present at many events raising money for the Club's projects in the Swansea Valley and further afield. If you are planning an event that that we could attend please get in touch with the current Activities Chairman, Lion Chris Davies - you can email him from our Contact Us page." Here are some of the events that we participated in during 2008/09:
Glantawe Lions Club is being seen at more and more events in the Neath area. Pictured is our stall at this years Neath Festival.
The local Vicar tries his luck by choosing a square on our ‘Treasure Hunt’ board. Will he be the winner of 'Loadsa money' when the board fills up?
As part of its Service in the Community initiative Glantawe Lions Club organised an Easter Fete at Forge Fach in Clydach this year. The idea was to provide an event to which local charities and voluntary organisations, especially the smaller ones that frequently find it beyond their means to participate in larger event, could come inorder to publicise their activities and to raise some money. The costs of running the event were met entirely by Glantawe Lions so whatever money these organisations raised, they kept!
Glantawe Lions held an Easter Bonnet competition. Councillor Sylvia Lewis kindly awarded the prizes:
There was also Glantawe Lions' raffle for some seasonal prizes:
A new venture for Glantawe was a quiz night. A very enjoyable time was had by the participants and the organisers.
Finally Ammanford Lions came out as the nights Winners - this was not a fix, honest!
Certificates were presented to the entire team, by the Glantawe Lions Club President, Lion
Christine Sheldon.
A fun filled event, during which a member dressed up as a clown. This Lion also had a photo opportunity with Glantawe Lions' Santa.
Our local supermarkets very kindly allow us to (very quietly!) shake our collecting tins on their premises very regularly. The photo shows our tame Lion at a recent collection in the Llansamlet Tesco store. You can always recognise us by our tabards and Club shirts. A big thank you if you’ve passed us at one of these collections and given some moeny.
The Club likes to recognise the invaluable help that local supermarkets give to Glantawe Lions by the presentation of a 'thank you' certificate. The picture below shows John Garlick, Manager of Morrison's in the Morfa Shopping Centre, being presented with a certificate by Lion Christine Sweeney, Activities Chairperson 2008/09.
When a new Lions Club is formed it receives it Charter from Lions Clubs International. The Club celebrates the anniversary of this event every year as it is effectively the Club's birthday. We take a moment off from the usual Lions activities to reflect on the previous year's work and to look forward the pleasure of helping others in the year to come.
In November 2008 Glantawe Lions Club celebrated its 35th birthday - its Charter Anniversary. One of our guests was from Morriston Comprehensive School to whom Lion Christine presented a Lion so that it could be displayed in the school and remind them of the strong bonds between us.
The Club President, Lion Christine Sheldon, presented a cheque to Councillor Mrs P Thomas, the Mayor of Neath Port Talbot, for her charity of the year.
In the Autumn of 2008 the Ystradgynlais Volunteer Centre had it funding seriously reduced when local government sources of income dried up. Glantawe Lions were delighted to give enough money to the Centre to keep it going whilst other sources of long term support could be put in place.
Lions Clubs are one of the few organisations that take absolutely no money from public donations for the running of the Club or the larger International organisation; every single penny that we raise goes to charitable causes, the administrative costs of our Clubs and International Headquarters are paid for by the members' membership fees.
Lions World Sight Day is a day set aside by Lions throughout the World to highlight the huge impact that impaired vision has upon people from all walks of life. In October 2008 the Mayor of Pontardawe, Councillor Dyfrig Harris, allowed members of Glantawe Lions Club to blindfold him and walk with a white stick around the town centre to mark Lions World Sight Day and highlight "Opening Eyes", the all year round Lions Eye Health Programme, which stresses that people take care of their sight so as not to lose it to glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy.
Following his experience Cllr Harris, wrote: "It gave me great pleasure to join Glantawe Lions members in order to highlight their World Sight Day activities. Using a blindfold and a white stick I acted as a blind person in order to draw attention to the campaign and the plight of the blind. It was an interesting experience to walk around Pontardawe without sight and many problems were highlighted which the blind might encounter such as traffic, obstructions on pavements, uneven surfaces and many more”. "The Lions are collecting old and unused spectacles for recycling for this very worthwhile cause. I hope that the Lions get all the support necessary from the public in order to make a difference."
During the walk Glantawe Lions Club members and the Mayor called at the One Stop Centre in Pontardawe one of the shops that house Glantawe Lions Club's collection bins where people may leave both their old or no longer used spectacles and hearing aids. All spectacles that are collected are thoroughly cleaned and their prescriptions checked and noted. These spectacles, cast offs, can make an enormous differnece to people in the third world as it can help them to find work thus helping their families rather than being a fianacial burden. Similarly, all hearing aids are thoroughly tested, refurbished and sent people with hearing problems in areas where, but for Lions - and your help - they would be condemned to a life of quiet solitude.
Please donate any old spectacles or hearing aids that you no longer need at any of the following Lions collection points:
- Strawberry Place Surgery, Morriston.
- Clydach Health Centre.
- Pontardawe Primary Care Centre.
- British Heart Foundation Charity Shop, Pontardawe.
- Ystalyfera Surgery.
- The Surgery, Ynisdarren Road, Ystalyfera.
- Pengorof Surgery, Gurnos, Ystradgynlais.
- Ystradgynlais Community Hospital.
We are extremely grateful to the above for allowing us to use them as collecting points. Their help is crucual in the journey of these unwanted items from the Glantawe area to the people who so desperately need them,
Glantawe Lions put up their tent at the 2008 Pontardawe Festival and invited passers by to come in for blood pressure checks provided by Lloyd’s Pharmacy. One of the Club members is seen having his blood pressure checked; he was found to have high blood pressure so was advised to see his GP. Although he had absolutely no idea that there was any problem this Lion was prescribed medication for his condition which he continues to take to this day; just goes to show, everyone should check these things regularly - even if you don't feel ill.
We also took the opportunity to showcase some of the work that Lions Clubs International is doing throughout the World to eliminate all curable and preventable blindness and to provide immediate help in areas of natural and man-made disaster. For example, Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF), the Lions' own charity, made an immediate grant to he Lions Clubs of Australia to help them alleviate the suffering of local people who had lost so much, their home and, sadly, relatives in the flames of the forest fires in South East Australia earlier this year. Lions in the United Kingdom and Ireland have, with help from LCIF have and, importantly, continue to rebuild the pre- and neo-natal care units in the war-torn, former Yugoslavian state of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as providing the finance and arrnaging for the volunteers necessary to train the staff necessary to reconstruct the services as well as the buildings.
Below is a display of our Lion's International work, also in the tent.