Welcome to our blog pages.
Most recent news is below. Click the links down the side menu to look at what we've been up to in previous years. You can also visit our facebook page for live updates.
2024
October 2024
We are very excited to announce that the reason we've been a bit quiet is that we've been planning a big event for next year. In July 2025 we will be hosting a charity golf tournament at Downshire Golf Complex, raising money for wonderful local charity The Cowshed.
You can book your 4-ball team by completing this form and arranging to pay a £50 team deposit.
We are also looking for sponsors for each hole as well as for raffle prizes- please get in touch if you can help out!
--------------------------------
July 2024
It's on the start of July but we've had a few bits and bobs on already. It's been many years since we have attended the Crowthorne Carnival, but this year we took a stall along- Guess The Name of the Lion- with this huge gorgeous cuddly lion to win. We also had membership information and FREE message in a bottle packs for the local community. It was.... a bit of an interesting day weather-wise- we were lucky and managed to hang on to our gazebo and couldn't put up some of our advertising boards! We also got a bit wet but all our volunteers had a fantastic day and we will be back in two years.
We had a club meeting on Monday 8th and our 2nd Vice District Governor Tim came to visit. It's always nice to have a visitor.
--------------------------------
June 2024
It's been National Volunteers Week 2024 so we decided to introduce all our members to our facebook followers. You can find us all here or I've screen shot us all below!
--------------------------------
May 2024
May is often a busy one for us and this year has been no different. We were invited by Bright Horizons Nursery to take them out to Farleymoor lake for a litter picking activity for their Eco-Schools credentials at the end of April which was lots of fun as well as some very hard work from the under 4's! Next was a visit to the amazing Cowshed Charity in Wokingham that support people from across Berkshire. President Clare and treasurer Steve received a guided tour before dropping off a cheque for sponsoring refreshments for clients on arrival as well as some Message In A Bottle packs.
Then it was time for the Wokingham May Fair- an early start for three of us and a late finish for another member as we supported Wokingham Lions with traffic control and signposting stall holders. Another hugely successful event despite a little rain- well done Wokingham Lions!
Sunday 12th May was the annual Bracknell half marathon- a staple event in our calendar. We are responsible for nine marshall points around the twin bridges area (about mile six/ half way). In place by 8:15am and home by 11:15- but in-between we ensure the runners have a safe and fun event. This year it was hot so we had to keep an eye on participants, as well as other activities such as removing some tiles that had fallen from the underpass onto the course! Thanks to Everyone Active and the Lexicon for a great event.
And it's only half way through May- we have a club meeting, Zone meeting and litter pick activity to go, plus the ongoing saga of trying to move to a new bank account.......
--------------------------------
April 2024
This month we've completed two litter pick activities and fundraised at Martins Heron Tesco at Easter. We were overwhelmed with the response from our litter pick posts on social media, huge thanks to the We Love Bracknell community on facebook for suggesting places to litter pick around the area.
Next month brings a litter pick (location TBA), marshalling Bracknell Half Marathon (a staple in our diary) and supporting Wokingham Lions May Fayre. We're also excited to have two donations to make over the next month or so- to both Cowshed and Sandhurst Counselling Services.
--------------------------------
March 2024
We started the year with litter picking- both throughout the Christmas period and a sunny afternoon at Westmoorland Park in January. We're also currently applying for new bank accounts as sadly our current ones charge us fees for our accounts and fees on all our transactions which as a small charity is causing us problems.
Our big success of the month has been our Marie Curie collection at Bracknell Morrisons for £528.98. This pays for around 23 hours of vital nursing care for someone with a terminal illness, and it was great to be out and about chatting to the lovely people of Bracknell.
We're hoping to get another collection going for Easter at Martins Heron Tesco and possible an Easter raffle at Redwood Technologies!
--------------------------------
January 2024
2023 ended with a bang- we did some great fundraising and amazing community service events. In December we raised £360 with a collection at Martins Heron Tesco which we mostly used to arrange a wonderful Christmas party for the residents at Heathlands- which is an intermediate care centre in Bracknell. Patients in this unit have been discharged from hospital but don't yet have a care package in place for going home, and so our Christmas party was a really welcome distraction. We bought presents for all 20 residents, and supplied food, drink, crackers and table decorations and we even had Santa come along to dish out the gifts.
Sitting together wrapping these presents as a task together with fellow Lions was a real moment of appreciating who we are as Lions and what we do. It was so heartwarming, to have Lions old and new working together during the festive period to serve the community. Thanks to everyone who donated, all our volunteers who stood out in the cold collecting and to the staff at Heathlands for letting us host their party.
The final thing we managed to do was to buy chocolate advent calendars for the 70 or so children supported by Berkshire Womens Aid in the area. For children living under the threat of domestic violence this was a small thing we could do to bring some joy during the festive period.
Other events and acitvities
- We also joined Wokingham Lions on a series of shifts to support their Wokingham Winter Carnival at the end of November
- One member supported Windsor Lions with their Christmas Sleigh in the Winkfield area on 21st December
Both clubs kindly made a donation to our admin fund on the back of the above.
The club held a small social after our meeting in December- we don't often get time to relax together so we made the most of it with mince pies! Our immediate past president Scott also brought along the original charter document for the club and we also presented Club Member Steve with a small token of our appreciation as he's been involved in Lions for fifty years! Thank you for all your years of service Steve!
--------------------------------
