Fireworks!

Our annual fireworks display, held on Bonfire Night, is considered to be one of the best in the country.

The next display is expected to be on Tuesday, 5th November 2013, but should inclement weather prevent the display going ahead, the fall-back date is Saturday, 9th November. As in past years, the display will be held at the county cricket ground in Eaton Road, Hove. The display, which involves nearly £10,000-worth of fireworks, is scheduled to start at 7.30pm but the gates will be opened at 6.00pm. Refreshments, including a licensed bar, will be available.

Ticket prices are the same as the last few years: adults, £10; children aged 5-16, £5; under 5s free. A family ticket for 2 adults and 2 children will be available for £25.

Tickets will be available for purchase though our web site (http://www.brightonlions.org.uk/), at the shop at the county ground or through the Sussex County Cricket Club web site, approximately 3 weeks before the display.

We spent £23,000 last year.

The accounts of our Charitable Trust for the year to 30 June are currently being audited but we can say that we spent over £23,000 on charitable causes during the year.  This sum is made up by:

• £5,000 to Martlets Hospice;
• £3,660 running bingo sessions in retirement homes;
• £2,715 to pay for outings for disadvantaged children to a zoo park and a pantomime;
• £2,600 to Leo House at Home children's hospice service;
• £1,519 for a senior citizens' Christmas party and for Christmas gifts to senior citizens;
• £1,000 to Dogs for the Disabled to cover care costs for a year for Brighton-based dogs;
• £1,000 to Sussex Heart Charity;
• £1,000 to Brighton Table Tennis Club to pay for advanced training for disadvantaged youngsters;
• £1,000 to the Tuesday Club (for blind people);
• £704 to Hamilton Lodge School for the Deaf;
• £508 to the Sussex MS Treatment Centre;
• £500 to 9th Brighton Boys Brigade;
• £500 to St Asaph's flood appeal;
• £300 to the Mayor's charity;
• £275 to MedicAlert;
• plus numerous further small donations & purchases bringing the total for the year to over £23,000.

More music for the deaf

Our President, Bob Brown, visited Hamilton Lodge School for the Deaf recently to hand over another tranche of musical instruments and equipment.  The total retail value of the equipment we have donated this year is now in excess of £2,300.

School Principal Graham Sheppard said, “We really appreciate the commitment of Brighton Lions to help us expand our music work with our Deaf students. Every child should have the opportunity to learn to play an instrument of their choice regardless of any hearing impairment or disability. The students are really enjoying learning to play music”.

As a result of our donation being mentioned in the local paper, the school has since been given a piano.

Lions are not fat cats

Given the recent news reports of the large salaries enjoyed by some charity employees - especially the chief executives - it is an opportune moment for us to remind people that members of Lions Clubs are all volunteers.  No member of a Lions Club is paid.  Indeed, the costs of running the clubs are covered by the members so that all of the money raised by us is used for charitable purposes - except for direct costs such as bank charges.

Lions might be big cats but they are not fat ones.

Lions are there in the long term.

The Gomel region of Belarus is in the far south east corner of the country bordering the Ukraine and only 100km from Chernobyl. The radioactive cloud formed by the explosion 27 years ago drifted over Belarus and in particular the Gomel region and was encouraged to deposit its contents of radioactive dust there rather than drift further north and east towards Moscow and further afield. As a result the land became heavily irradiated and impossible to live on and everyone was forced to leave their homes.

Many 1000's of families and complete communities were driven off their land where they lived a very basic rural life for generations and brought to live in the outskirts of the city of Gomel and other cities throughout Belarus without work and without the ability to cope with urban life, a totally alien existence which some embraced but by which many were driven to despair and many became very ill. Vodka is very cheap and it is all too easy to drown your desperation.

Twenty-seven years on, the children we now support were born into these families in the city and its suburbs. Their parents have illnesses related to the Chernobyl fallout as do many of the children and so the orphanages and schools which we support specialise in looking after those children with many challenging conditions such as sight problems, learning difficulties, blood disorders, leukemia, thyroid problems etc.

In the next few days, members of Brighton Lions Club will be delivering goods to the warehouse set up by the District ready for a further delivery of aid.

Books, books, books

Tomorrow, Saturday, 3rd August, we will be holding our regular book fair at Lions Dene. There will be thousands of pre-read books for sale at 50p each plus CDs and DVDs.  Doors open from 10.00am till noon, no charge for entry.

Not sure where Lions Dene is? Check it out on our web site at http://www.brightonlions.org.uk/books.html

Any old specs?

Got an old pair of specs you don't want? The chances are that your local Lions Club will be glad of them. We collect them and pass them on to Chichester Lions Club where they are sorted. If you can't easily get to Chichester, Parcelforce will take them free of charge - see http://www.chilions.org.uk/donating-spectacles.html. They eventually fetch up in developing countries. If you live in Brighton & Hove, we have collecting points at Specsavers in North Street, Brighton, and Asda, Crowhurst Road, Hollingbury.

Money for the air ambulance

The gardens of Brighton's iconic Royal Pavilion provided the setting for a Family Fun Day last month which we organised in conjunction with the Pavilion Gardens café. All proceeds were for the Lions District appeal to raise £150,000 to enable the Kent, Surrey and Sussex air ambulance to operate at night. The takings have been rounded up and a donation of £1,000 made.

Our new President

Lions Club officers change at the beginning of July each year and it was at our dinner meeting earlier this month that the outgoing President, Lisa Dilloway, passed on the chain of office to Bob Brown.

More give-aways

We have made some more donations this month.

One of the charities we have supported for several years is Dogs for the Disabled. We have made annual donations to cover the cost of caring for the two assistance dogs living with local people. One of the two dogs has now retired and is being kept as a pet so there is just the one dog now for us to support. The estimated cost for the next year is £600+ so we rounded up our donation to £1,000.

Brighton Table Tennis Club provides activity for youngsters from some of the poorer parts of the city and we have agreed to sponsor several of their members on a residential coaching weekend to the extent of £1,000.

Then we have also given £275 to MedicAlert, £200 to Macmillan Nurses, £100 to Leo House at Home and £50 for Cancer Research.

Heartfelt thanks

One of our members recently underwent heart surgery and the club wanted to express thanks for its success.  Unfortunately, we would be unable to support the Sussex Heart Charity's sponsored walk as it clashed with our Lilac Lark but we were able to make a donation.  Here is our president, Lisa Dilloway, presenting a cheque for £1,000.

It's a Knockout!

And it was a knockout success!  Last Sunday, Brighton and other local Lions Clubs organised an It's a Knockout day for people with handicaps both physical and mental - a sort of mini Paralympic Games.  Lions (and Leo) were encouraged to wear silly hats.

There was a lunchtime disco and the Deputy Mayor of the City of Brighton & Hove, Councillor Anne Meadows, was on hand to present medals and certificates to all participants.

More donations made

At the recent meeting of the club, several donations were approved:

• £1,000 to Leo House Hospice in the Home;
• £1,000 to the Tuesday Club for blind and partially sighted persons;
• £180 to the Lions Belarus Trust to sponsor two children from Gomel to attend the Dyatlovichi Children's Centre for a period of 18 days;
• £100 to the Lions' Special Olympics appeal; and
• £100 to the Lions Shoebox appeal to provide humanitarian aid to people in Gomel, Belarussia, a town severely afflicted in the Chernobyl disaster.

Skills for Life

Several schools in Brighton have asked that we supply them with material from the Lions' Skills for Life programme.  When the presentation was made to Patcham Infants School by our President, Lion Lisa Dilloway (seen on the right in the photo), Leo the Lion went along for the ride.

Martlets Hospice

Martlets, the local hospice, has been a recipient of financial assistance from the club ever since it started up.  Indeed, over the past three years we have managed to donated £10,000 a year.  Unfortunately our situation is such that we cannot renew our pledge but we have decided to give £5,000 immediately.