Page 24 - Phonebox Magazine June 2024

Youth Exchange Programme Peace Poster competition
Motorama
The Chernobyl Relief Foundation
Pele and Bobby Moore Lions at The Cherry Fair
Newport Pagnell & Olney Lions Club
DONATIONS
We have received several appeals for help this month:
Youth Exchange Programme
The first is a Lions appeal for help with the annual Youth Exchange Programme. The Youth Exchange programme offers young people an opportunity to experience new cultures and our British way of life. Lions Multiple District will be funding accommodation and meals – but they are seeking support to pay for the outings and educational visits. This will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for these young people. They will gain a set of friends for life, driving forward that spirit of understanding, and often go on to be Lions Leaders themselves. Lions Peace Poster Competition
For over three decades, Lions clubs around the globe have been sponsoring a very special art contest in schools and youth groups. Creating peace posters gives children everywhere the chance to express their visions of peace and inspire the world through art and creativity. Over the next few months we will be looking for schools who would like to participate in this global competition.
This month, we also received an appeal from a local young equestrian who is looking for help and support.
FUNDRAISING EVENTS:
Grand Pele / Booby Moore Photo Raffle
One of our members, Lion Steve, has very kindly donated a photo poster of world cup legends Pele and Bobby Moore, which has actually been autographed by Pele himself! Ian Stokes has kindly agreed that we can raffle the photo during the Olney FC Annual Awards Presentations, taking place on the 14th and 15th June. Cherry Fair
We will be participating in the Olney Cherry Fair on June 30th. See you all there!
Motorama 2024
We are now planning our annual Motorama event. This motoring extravaganza will take place on the Olney Market Place on Sunday 9th June and officially kicks off at 12 noon and lasts until around 4pm. We have around 60 vehicles booked in already.
24 Phonebox Magazine | June 2024
The Lions Toast Returns
We may have lost our Whisky Enthusiast on his retirement, but John will still be supporting the Club with his regular Lions Toast events with support from the Carlton House Club.
These events have brought in over £7,500 in the years which they have been running and are enjoyed by an increasing number of locals (and some from much further away), many of whom have learned much about the different expressions of whiskies from some leading experts within the industry. Our next event has been planned for November, and with a number of our regulars having moved away or otherwise no longer able to come along, we are appealing to anyone who may have more than a passing interest in whisky to join our distribution list. If you are over 18 and would like to be kept informed of our Lions Toast events as they are ‘unveiled’, drop a note to us via our website “Contact Us” page. These are great nights which include a number of drams, an appropriate meal, and with a paid bar open, are thoroughly enjoyed by all who come along.
SERVICE ACTIVITIES AND MEETINGS: Printer Cartridge and Mobile Phone Recycling We’ve had a great haul of printer cartridges and mobile phones this month. We make a modest amount of money on these items, which helps to ‘top-up’ our Charity Fund.
Attendance at the Chernobyl Relief Foundation in the UK (CRF) Event
We attended another successful event to commemorate the occasion of the 38th anniversary of Chernobyl catastrophe – and to raise awareness of the horrific consequences in the past, present, and future. The event was organised by two charities - The Chernobyl Relief Foundation in the UK (CRF) and the Ukraine Appeal Charity.
Report to the OTC Annual Town Meeting
We presented our activities report for the year, to the Olney Town Council Annual Town Meeting. One of the headlines was that we recently determined that our Club has raised over a quarter of a million pounds over the last 20 years – and performed around 15,000 hours of community service.
A New Member Joins the Pride
We are very pleased to welcome Liz Cook to our team. We will be formally inducting her at our next meeting. Welcome Lion Liz! We also hope to have another new member soon too.
Special Guest at Our Business Meeting
At our last business meeting, we were very pleased to welcome Simon Tuck, who is the Community and Event Fundraiser for Age UK (Milton Keynes). Simon spoke with enthusiasm, passion and authority. He described the wide range of services being provided by Age UK in our local area, and we explored together how NP&O Lions might support or collaborate with Age UK in the future. We were very engaged and excited by some of the prospects he presented, and we agreed to continue the dialogue and exploration of joint projects to support our senior citizens in Olney and Newport Pagnell.
SOCIAL EVENTS
We held a couple of social events in this period and attended a special ‘Thank You’ event, held by The Olney Group.
Very Late Christmas Dinner – We had an enjoyable evening with good food and great company at Ye Olde Swan, Woughton on the Green. Thank you to the friendly, hospitable staff at the Swan and to Lion Jon for organising the event for us, and a warm and big welcome to our special guest Liz. Cheers everyone, and Merry Christmas!
MKC LC Quiz – There was great fun (and some fund raising) at the Milton Keynes Central Lions Club quiz with around 10 local Lions Clubs taking part. We came second. Well done guys.
TOG Thank You Event – We and other volunteer helpers, were invited to a ‘Thank You’ night, with The Olney Group. A couple of our Lions attended, to represent the Club. This event was to recognise the help we gave to TOG for Fireworks and RiverFest. Good food, good company and good feeling of community spirit. Thank You TOG! Planning is already underway for this year’s RiverFest, so if you can spare a few hours, please reach out to them.
That’s all, folks!