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.