Page 38 - Phonebox Magazine July 2014

The Lions Den
Newport Pagnell & Olney Lions Club
Helping in the Local Community
We reported in a previous Phonebox that your Club donated a heart defibrillator to the Brooklands Centre in Newport Pagnell. In addition to the actual equipment, we arranged a training course for some of the people who could be called on to use the equipment and organised a maintenance contract to ensure that it will be ready and able to be used if, unfortunately, it is ever needed.
The training took place recently and visitors to the Centre can take comfort in the fact that anyone suffering from a cardiac arrest whilst there will have a much better chance of survival thanks to the Lions club.
This month a donation went to a very talented young girl from Milton Keynes who is creating quite a stir in the world of classical music. A singer, cellist, organist and pianist, she was recently asked to join the English National Youth Choir. She had also been asked to take up a residential scholarship at one of the Countries leading music schools but due to family circumstances the extensive travel and costs involved were such that it was impossible to take up both opportunities. Having made decision to join the Youth choir, she embarked on a fundraising intitiative to help with her travel costs and we were pleased to be able to encourage her with some support. As part of the deal, she has undertaken to play/sing at any events we are organising so watch this space to see when we take her up on her offer.
Motorama 2014
Did you come along to Motorama this year? We had some superb weather and plenty of cars around to keep the motorheads occupied.
The shining sun, sheer variety of colour and the enthusiastic owners made this a day not to be missed and there was plenty of chat taking place with loads of cameras capturing the moment. Wonder if any of the photos will reach Our Olney Calendar? If you have any you would like to share, see our website for details of how to submit them to us.
This free event has become extremely
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popular and through sponsorship and a range of fundraising initiatives, we anticipate to have raised around £1000 this year. The final figure will be shared between Prostate Cancer UK and McMillan Cancer Care, two very worthwhile charities which many in our community have benefitted from using.
Trying to fast track the impossible?
Roger Bannister, a 25 year old little known medical student made history in 1954 when he ran the mile in under 4 minutes. Elite runners had been trying for years to crack the 4 minute barrier with some observers speculating that such a feat was impossible. People could only run so fast was the belief and surely we had reached the limits of the human body.
When Bannister broke the tape about half a second under 4 minutes, spectators erupted in pandemonium. The improbable had happened. yet here is something even more astonishing: within five years of his feat, more than 100 people had done it and today it’s done almost routinely. What we think is nearly impossible often can be quite achievable.
This applies to Lions - it always has, especially now that Lions are partnering with the GAVI Alliance to protect tens of millions of children from measles, a disease which kills 160,000 people every year, most of which are under the age of five.
Under the partnership, Lions Clubs International will deploy its network of 1.35
million volunteers (19 of which belong to our club) to raise a staggering US$30m and to improve access to vaccines through the GAVI Alliance, a public private partnership whose mission is to save children’s lives and protect people’s health by increasing access to immunisation in the world’s poorest countries.
In a new development, funds raised by the Lions clubs in the UK will be matched by the UK’s Department for International Development and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and as a result, our target has been raised to US$60m ensuring that even more can benefit from the partnership.
A famous Bannister quote states “We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves” which can easily be reflected by Lions as “We are Lions, not because we think it is doing US good, but because we enjoy it and can help OTHERS as a result”
PICTURE TO COME