Page 43 - Phonebox Magazine August 2016

Newport Pagnell and Olney Lions Club
It’s been one heck of a month!
Well, it’s been one heck of a month politically. But the world is still spinning around and the 1.4 million Lions across the world have no political boundaries to their work! We still have our job to do. There are people who need help wherever in the world they live.
We’ve had a busy month too as we worked hard to maintain our high pro le in the town – by means of giving community service and by raising money for our charity fund. This month, we have:
● Run our annual motor show on the Market Place.
● Helped out at the Noa Noa and Bex Boutique fashion show, on the door and selling raf e tickets.
● Attended the Cherry Fair, with our new stock of good quality second-hand books.
● Helped out at Riverfest.
● Helped out as marshals at the Togfest
music festival at Bradwell Abbey.
● We also caught up with James Whittle
from the Tempest Two!
Phew! This month, we also made donations of £500 each to Toby’s Trust, Medical Detection Dogs and Advantage Africa – (showing our local, national and international focus).
That brings the total donations for this Lions year to around £11,000.
A massive ‘Thank You’ to all our supporters for your hugely generous support. We couldn’t do it without all your help.
Going forward
We have an interesting and lively fund raising programme going forward including:
Newport Pagnell Civil War Weekend
A fantastic event will be taking place in Newport Pagnell over the August Bank Holiday Weekend when the Town will become home to a huge contingent of troops, civilians and equipment from the time of Oliver Cromwell. We have already sponsored (around £600) school educational activities related to this event and will also be present on both days with our book stall (and maybe, some other ‘fun and games’).
Whisky Tasting Event
Our next ‘Lions Toast’ Whisky Tasting Event is (metaphorically) heading to India when we will be sampling the output from one of the new Distilleries in Goa – John Distilleries Pvt Ltd. We will be tasting ve different expressions of Paul John Whisky and each is a lovely dram. We will also be sampling some curries during the evening to ensure we get into the “Spirit of India”. The event will be taking place on 14th October in the Carlton House Club and if you would like to be informed when tickets
will be available, please look at our website www.npolneylions.btck.co.uk, navigate to the Contact Us page and let us have your email address and how many tickets you are likely to need.
Book Stall and PR
Watch out for our stall on selected days on the Market Place when we will be selling our quality second-hand books. If you have any books – especially children’s books that you would like to donate to us, please let us know, and we’ll arrange pick up.
Town Calendars
Our 2016 Olney and Newport Pagnell Town calendars and Olney Christmas Cards sold very well helping us to raise over £2,000 so we intend to produce both items for 2017. More details on our website.
Dickens of a Christmas – Lions Craft Fairs
Unfortunately, the recent re which affected the Bull Inn at Olney has seriously affected our ‘Dickens of a Christmas’ plans. The impact of losing this venue means that our ability to locate stalls in the centre of town is now no longer feasible and our event will now take place in our two remaining venues – the Olney Centre and Carlton House club. We’ll be doing our best to provide you with the top-class stalls at these two rst-class venues!
And Finally!
We’ve had some very welcome engagement recently from people thinking about joining us. In fact, we hope to induct a new member this month and have started the journey with another. This is great news for us. We have shed-loads of ideas and bags of experience but don’t always have enough ‘hands on deck’.
If you know of someone who may need our help; or would be interested in joining us, or want to contact us for any other reason, please do so via our website or facebook page: npolneylions.btck.co.uk or facebook.com/NPOLionsclub.
PS: There was quite a bit of ‘buzz’ on facebook about maybe getting the Olney Floral Fiesta going again. Are you up for it?
Picture credits – Motorama, David Aldred; Whisky Event, NP&O Lions Club.
August 2016 | Phonebox Magazine 43