WHATS IN YOUR DIARY? HELPFUL HINTS HAVE YOUR SAY!

LOUVAIN’S LETTER

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My Diary

Issue 9, March 2007 DG Lion Louvain Allen

Pride of LionsDistrict 105A NewsDistrict 105A NewsDistrict 105A NewsDistrict 105A NewsDistrict 105A News

1st-4th Mar 105A Convention Belfry Hotel7th Mar Northwood OV

8th Mar TO 105 BN Pre Convention inWindermere

9th Mar Return from Windermere10th Mar Harpenden CA12th Mar Chinatown OV

13th Mar UN Day followed by HornseyOV

14th Mar Chipping Barnet OV15th Mar Berkhamsted OV17th Mar Mill Hill CA

18th Mar Swimming Gala Copthallfor Region 3

20th Mar Bletchley OV

21st Mar Lunch with London HostOV & Thame OV

24th Mar Southall CA25th Mar Hitchin CA26th Mar Harrow & Pinner OV27th Mar Ruislip OV28th Mar Walthamstow OV31st Mar Swmming Gala Zone I

2nd March

105A Convention Golf Competitionat Waterstock, Oxford

Contact Lion Peter Gent

2nd - 4th March

105A District Convention

10th March

Harpenden Lions ClubCharter Dinner

13th March

United Nations Dayat Houses of Parliament

23rd & 24th March

Wimslow Annual Beer FestivalFor more details contact Club

1st April

CSFII Walk for the WorldOSTERLEY PARK

JERSEY ROADOSTERLEY

11AM START

21st April

Bowls & Quiz Night in aid ofWheelpower

(British Wheelchair Sports)at Stoke Mandeville StadiumTickets £10 includes buffetavailable from Steve Foott

Dear Family of Lions

Cast your minds to the future if you arereading this at Convention… Be carried awayand pretend that it is Monday, 5th March 2007.If you have only just managed to get yourcopy of Pride of Lions and the Conventionis over, then read on.

Now That Conventionis Over

Our District 105A Convention is over foranother year and if you attended, I hope youenjoyed the day. I have had many highs duringthe year and I am sure I will have many morebefore the end of June. However ourConvention has to be the pinnacle of the year!PIP Lion Bill Biggs and his wife PDG LionDana were great fun. PIP Bill gave a greatpresentation and on the Sunday morningmade many friends at the question and answersession.Andrew and I took PIP Bill and Dana to theLake District, as he was the International guestfor Tom Tyson the BN District Governor.Ever busy, from there he went down to EAto attend DG Brian Stanbridge’s Convention,and then home for a well earned rest.

Lion Ken Rouse became District GovernorElect and is now busy preparing his Cabinetand getting his case packed ready for the tripto International Convention in ChicagoMy congratulations also go to the new ViceDistrict Governor Elect.

Oh Yes She Did!

In January I was asked if I would like to go tothe Pantomime, (oh, yes I was!). Theinvitation came from the Dagenham Leos andAndrew and I jumped at this fantasticopportunity. This group of Leos, theyoungest in the district aged between 11 and14, had raised enough money to takedisadvantaged children to the pantomime.Included in this, they also had enough moneyfor each child to be given two bags of goodies:each containing sweets and a drink, for thefirst and the second half.

WELL DONE

Both the children and us adults were givenstrict instructions about this making sure weplayed by the rules.

I would like to tell you how very proud I wasof these young people. They had come upwith the ideas, raised the money, bought thesweets, obtained some help from Lions, butbasically done it all themselves. Some of thedisadvantaged children were not that muchyounger than themselves.This shows howwell the school based Leo Clubs can work.Do you have a secondary school near you?Community Service is part of the schoolcurriculum. What is it we do?

Please think about it. Do you have a Lion inyour Club who would take on this task? Isthere a teacher who you could interest instarting our children on the path ofCommunity Service through a Leo Club intheir own school for 11 to 14 year olds? Ifyou need further information speak to me. Ican then point you in the direction of a realexpert.

Yellow Jersey Ready

In the last issue of Pride of Lions I gaveadvance notice of the request for Marshallsfor the Tour De France, which is starting inLondon. This was also sent out with theFebruary mail out to all clubs with furtherdetails and also information how to registerto help either on the prologue day (8th July) orthe actual start of the race on the 9th. Can I askthose clubs with Leo’s to please pass thisinformation onto them as I am sure some ofthe older ones would love to help.

Yes, I am only Human

I also have to make two apologies this month.To my shame I gave Brian Tagg the wrongsurname I called him Tapp. No excuses - Ijust can’t read my own writing. My apologiesBrian.

And an even worse crime when I gave mythanks to the 105A Lions who are membersof the Lord Mayors Show Committee Iforgot a member from my own Club, LionEric Holland. I’m sorry Eric I will pay thefine at the next meeting

Have a great month!

Louvain

Couple of Words on Diabetes:It Kills!

Lions care about people and their communityand will therefore be concerned at the growthof the disease diabetes and how it willseriously affect a diabetic sufferer’s well being,if not detected early and treated.Did you know that diabetes is now the thirdbiggest killer disease? In excess of 50% ofdiabetes sufferers are unaware of theircondition. It is the biggest single cause ofblindness throughout the world and can beresponsible for heart and kidney damage,gangrene and premature death.We the Lions can make a real difference tothose who are unaware that they haveDiabetes, by an early warning test thatencourages potential sufferers to take expertmedical advice. This can be achieved by LionsDiabetes Screening Events.To those clubs who are not actively offeringScreening Events, please consider carrying outsuch an event. The rewards are immense.Correspondence of how best to do this, hasbeen sent to all Clubs, with a helpful list of allyou need to do and have.

Lion Ron WilkesDistrict Diabetes Officer

This month part of the Have Your Saysection is on the inside cover. Lion MikeBaldwin and the Honorary Committeeneed your views on the age-old topic ofRe-Zoning. All the reasons andexplanations are there for all Lions,Lionesses and Leos to read. (Leos areincluded as the voice of tomorrow). It isnot very often that as Lions we can make adifference to something that seems to bewritten in stone.So please, this is such an importantdecision and lets just say that 1,890 pairsof eyes are better than one!

Senior Citizens Party Your Views Please!

The Annual Senior Citizens Party Committeewould like to thank all Lions and Leovolunteers and the Clubs who participated foryet another most successful event.The Committee regrets that some Clubs couldnot participate and others could not increasetheir number of guests, as there was a fullhouse by the beginning of January. TheCommittee will be meeting shortly and wouldlike to hear from Clubs with any constructiveideas to improve the event. Read how it wentin the following pages.

Enfield Lions Are Keeping aKeen Eye on Kenya

A new wing ($800,000) was added to theexisting Campaign Sight First II Lions’ EyeHospital, which was dedicated by PIP DrAshok Mehta on the 4th of February 2007 atLoresho, Nairobi, Kenya. The Lions Club ofEnfield and club members, PDG Rati Shah,A C Patel and Ramnik Mehta, gave financialassistance to the project. The new wing is astate-of-the art facility that treats patientsrequiring eye surgery - free of charge. PIPAshok Mehta publicly acknowledged thededicated Lionistic work and financial supportfrom District 105A.

CongratulationsOsterley Lions Club!

We would like to say well done and heartycongratulations for Lions Club of Osterleywhich is run superbly by Charter Lion PresidentNimmi Suri, who together with her club hasworked tirelessly towards raising funds andawareness for the CSFII project. They havebeen presented with the Top Club AwardBanner patch 2005-2006 for the District fromPIP Dr Tae Lee who is the chairman for theproject. Well done all members of Osterley.

That’s me at the Senior CitizensCelebrations, happy to see the good

work that Lions of District 105A do tobring joy to so many elderly people in

our communities.

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From the Editor

Club Re-Zoning Have Your Say

To change or not to change?That is the question.What is the answer?

Are our clubs in the right zones? How do we accommodate new clubs in

the future?How do we deal with a zone if club

numbers fall below the prescribed level?

During the October cabinet meeting, it wasreported that, following the closure of oneof the clubs in the District, a zone was leftwith only three clubs. This contravenes District105A Constitution and By Laws which stateamongst other things, that “the District shallbe divided into Regions of no more than 16clubs and no fewer than 10 clubs, and eachRegion into Zones of no more than 8 clubsand no fewer than 4 clubs”.

DG Louvain asked the Honorary Committeeto consider the position of this zone and tomake recommendations. The HonoraryCommittee met last November. During themeeting the Honorary Committee alsodiscussed the current situation within theDistrict wherein a number of zones currentlyhave 8 and 7 clubs. We were concerned that asnew clubs are formed, difficulties will occur inkeeping to our constitution. It was also feltthat it may be time to consider if clubs arecurrently best placed giving regard to theirgeographical location.

These concerns were reported to DG Louvainwith a recommendation that she instigates afull review of the current Region/Zone make-up. The recommendation was agreed by herand cabinet in January 2007. Then DGLouvain held a meeting of Zone/RegionChairmen along with the chairman of theMERCLPR committee to put them in thepicture. At that meeting Louvain asked me,as the current chairman of the HonoraryCommittee, to chair an ad hoc committee, toconduct a root and branch review of thecurrent zones within the district.

Since then a committee has been formedconsisting of Lions Geoff Leeder, Marline

President of Loudwater, Lion President ofHayes and Harlington and the District Secretarygenerously donated £1,000.

There were also other smaller donors, whotogether made up the shortfall, and withoutwhom this would not have been possible.All the guests said they had a super andmarvellous time and were very impressed bythe event.

An event such as this would not happenwithout the help of many people. An eventof this magnitude means that the organisingcommittee have been planning during thepreceding year. Nearer the event the army ofLions and other helpers were assembled.Clubs selected the fortunate guests that theywould bring along. On the day itself countlessLions helped to get the guests to Harrow andthen waited at table.

Plans for February 2008 are already in handand we would like to make it the best yet!

Lion Steve Gledhill

In the car, 8am, school run. 11year old son Joesaid to me, “Have you heard mum, Harry’sgoing to Iraq”. Harry who? I don’r knowanyone called Harry... Oh, Prince Harry! Thisbold and matter of fact statement started methinking? Why are titles so important? Someof my fellow Lions I refer to as “Lion so andso”, others I always refer to by their first names.Am I being disrespectful if I don’t use theirtitles? The answer to me is really simple. Thereare times and places. For example: in a Clubmeeting there will be times when I use the titleLion, but because I see my Club as a group offriends, I don’t always. I helpout at my son’s

school. What do the children call me? Maria.Firstly I am a Miss, which does not computewith many, as the pupils know me asJames’mother, so they were calling me “Mrs”,which I am not. Then there was the problemthat my surname, coinciding with Spanishways, is not that of my sons. That’s why Iasked them to call me Maria. I am the onlyparent helper known by her first name. Thisapparently has had two outcomes: thechildren can really talk to me and I am nowone of the coolest and most respected mumsin the school.

Maria

Senior Citizens Party On!

Way back in the Millenium year of 2000, theDistrict decided to host an event, namely themuch loved and looked forward to SeniorCitizens Party, where the Lions clubs ofDistrict 105A would celebrate with the olderpeople in our Community, giving them achance to dance, enjoy each others company,and generally have a good time. For the Lionsand Lionesses it was a way to say thank youand to give something back to a older, wisergeneration in our District..

Hence this party, held in the Harrow LeisureCentre, which was such a huge success, that itis now repeated every February on a Sundayafternoon.

So, for the 7th year, 800 guests at this years’mega party were treated to a marvelousspectacle as they entered the Leisure Centre.There were balloons and streamers and the80 tables, each taking 10 guests, were tastefullydecorated.

The afternoon started with a wide variety ofwell known jazz numbers played with suchstyle by the Luton Youth Jazz Band. Thiswas followed by a nostalgia disco playingmusic familiar to all from the last 50 or 60years. A male magician on a bicycle, dressed asa fairy, who has certainly done the party circuit,entertained throughout the afternoon. Formany, the high point was the bingo session

District participated. Guests and volunteerstogether totalled an amazing 1,000 filling theLeisure Centre and creating a greatatmosphere.”

There was no commercial sponsorship so werelied on goodwill from many sources. SomeClubs donated £100, our District Governordonated £200 and there were individualdonations of £100 each from Lion DhirenBadiani of Moor Park, Lion Mark Hathwani

As the afternoon progressed, there were platesand plates of sandwiches, crisps, chocolates,cakes which paraded out of the kitchen, aswell as tea being available for all. This year forthe first time the stalwart organizingcommittee did the catering for the nonvegetarian food. There was also vegetarianfood provided, so everybody was happy.

Parveen Verma of the organising committeesaid, “The demand for places this year wasamazing. We sold out by the beginning ofJanuary and regrettably had to turn downsome Clubs. Over half of the clubs in the

London Hampstead raise fundsto complete Primary School

Over the last 2 years the London HampsteadLions have raised enough money to completetheir project to rebuild the Anada MargaPrimary school in Maynaguri a rural town inNorth Bengal. There are 50 children whichattend but there was only one classroom. Thechildren come from very poor backgroundsand not all are able to pay the school fees. Theone classroom was very small and half thechildren studied on an open veranda with noproper blackboard etc. There was a smallhostel room where around 10 children stay,the tin roof leaked and there were no grills onthe windows. More children would like to goto the school but are unable to.

We have now completed the rebuilding of thisclassroom, built two more rooms and also asimple bamboo kitchen where food for thehostel children will be cooked. It was being

cooked on a moveable stove in theclassroom after school – not ideal.The veranda has now been coveredand has had security grills fitted andthis is currently being used by thechildren as a sheltered seating areafor eating their morning snack. Itcan later also be used as a classroomwhen the number of studentsincrease. A concrete path has also

Kings, Luke Adams, Rana Dhawan, NitenShah, Ken Rouse and myself.

It is intended to produce ourrecommendations in time for the Lionistic year2008/2009. As a committee we believe verymuch in consulting and informing membersat each step and this article is therefore part ofthat process. We intend to start with a blankpage but it may it is not necessary to makeradical changes. There could be changes, whichshould they fall outside the parametersmentioned above, will need approval atconvention in 2008. At this stage it is notpossible to speculate.If any member has an idea to put to thecommittee please do so by emailing melionmikebaldwin@btinternet.com. Forexample one suggestion arising from theJanuary meeting was to look at post codes.Ideas may also come from Zone meetings andZone chairmen are asked to pass commentsto the committee.We are currently at the start of the process andthe committee will work diligently andprudently on behalf of the District.

Lion Mike Baldwin

been built alongside the veranda from thegate to the building to keep the mud fromthe garden out of the school building duringthe rainy season. We have also repaired theschool van which brings the children toschool. An outside toilet with septic tankhas been built and a base round the well hasbeen cemented and a cover and hand pumpadded to make the well water accessible tothe children, Various painting has been done.Blackboards and scholastic utensils have beenprovided.

Last of all we have built a decent insidebathroom and toilet so that the outside toiletcan be used by the school children who untilnow have been using a corner of the gardenwith some raised stones and no water.

The crowning glory is the large Lions Clubboard erected when work started. We maybe a small club but however small it is still

possible to do great things to help those lessfortunate than ourselves.

Lion Adrian Grocott

Lions Club of Mill Hillto give away a brand new Toyota

Would you like to have the chance to win abrand new Toyota Aygo or would you liketo go to Dubai? Well here is your chance.

Mill Hill Lions have organised a raffle to raisefunds for Breast Cancer, Bone Marrow Cancerand other related charities. The first prize isthe car, and second prize is the trip to Dubai.The draw will be at their Gala Evening on17 th March 07 , in presence of ourDG Louvain Allen.

Raffle ticket price is £1.The odds are much better than the Lotteryand the net funds will go to very worthwhilecauses. Well….what are you waiting for ?Contact any of the Mill Hill Lions or thePresident Lion Ashwin Sodha, who will bedelighted with your support.