Global Action Team Convention reports

Global Service Team Report to Convention 2024

GST Chair PID Phil Nathan MBE

               

2,000,000 PEOPLE SERVED

Over the 9 months from 1st July 2023 to 31st March 2024 we have served, minimally, 1,999,899 people; a fantastic achievement

1. May I begin by thanking Council for appointing me to this role for the second year of what I hope will be a three-year appointment. Service to the community has been my watchword throughout my years of membership and I consider myself privileged to be invited to have the opportunity to work with Clubs throughout the MD.

The individual Officer reports will highlight up to date activity in their respective fields.

2. Global Service encompasses the following Core and Non-Core Service Programmes, guided by the respective MD Officers, whose Council Reports form part of the overall Service area, together with the District GST Officers.

Diabetes	Keith Hedges
Environment	Currently vacant
Hunger	Lead - Chris Hibbert
Cancer
a. Brain Tumour Research	Currently vacant
b. Prostate	Currently vacant
c. Childhood	Currently Vacant
Lions In👁Sight	Sue Taylor
Vision Screening	Stu Young
Leos - Alpha & Omega	Doreen Allen
MedicAlert	John Sutherland
Speech Hearing	Penny Tregillus
Physical & Learning Disabilities	Tony Buchan
Special Olympics	Alastair Joel
Activity Alliance	Penny Tregillus
MIAB	Brigitte Green
Youth	Doreen Allen

3. Spectacle Recycling

I wish to commend to Convention PCC Philip Goodier & Brigitte Green for their leadership, hard work, commitment, and initiative in taking forward our vision for the HQ Spectacle Recycling project. In only 30 months we have processed over 3.0 million spectacles.

Thanks to their dedication, the project is the pre-eminent spectacle recycling programme in the UK; relationships have been and continue to be developed with major corporate bodies and institutions, relationships that are putting the name of Lions firmly in the public eye.

4. Vision Camera Screening

The high spot of this fiscal year has been the formal launch of the Vision Camera Screening Project in March 2024.

Third International Vice President Lion Mark Lyon was present at the launch at Lyons Hall Primary School, Essex, giving rise to a wonderful headline: Lions screen with the Lyons at the Lyons! PID Geoff Leeder, Project Lead Stu Young, Lion Simon Smith, the school liaison, CC David Pope, CCE Kavaljit Dev & DG Paul Southerton were also present.

309 young people were screened with 14 being recommended to see an optician as a matter of urgency. 34 staff were also screened with 5 being advised to have their vision checked by an optician.

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of a few individuals, what have seemed, at times, to be endless obstacles have been overcome. It was October 2018 when the vision screening concept was first presented to a GST meeting; it has taken over five years of hard work to be able to formally 'launch' the project.

District CE will pilot the project and it will then be rolled out across the Multiple District.

5. Clubs have continued to serve their communities and what has been very heartening has been the way that Clubs have risen to the challenge of finding new ways of serving their communities. I have no doubt that the continuing economic situation, the ongoing cost of living crisis allied to the energy crisis has created a demand for our services that we may not have experienced previously. Clubs continue to serve their communities safely and steadfastly. What has been very heartening has been the way that many Clubs have risen to the challenge, post pandemic, of finding new ways of serving their communities.

We have an excellent service programme and I know Clubs are eager to take up Vision Screening. Vision Screening will be rolled out across the Multiple District over the coming year. I encourage Clubs to stay active, relevant, and focused on serving their communities as we continue to live and work in a most trying time. 

6. Service is the key to membership

I have said before, and make no apology for repeating, my belief that, if we get 'Service' right, we will attract members. The programmes we offer and undertake are so good that individuals will want to be associated with us.

The problem remains: not all Clubs publicise what they do, either internally, via MyLion, or externally, using whatever media is available to us. I am aware that many Clubs are good at getting their messages into the public domain.

Given the success of several of our programmes, Council have agreed that the Cancer, Environment & Hunger portfolios should be undertaken by teams due to their size and I look forward to working with my Deputy, PDG Chris Hibbert, in developing these portfolios further and would encourage any Lion with an interest in these areas to please make themselves known.

7. Service Reporting and Contribution

As a Multiple District, we compare very favourably with the level of activity being undertaken within Europe, our Constitutional Area, and globally. With 4.3% of the European membership, we have contributed 15.6% of the service activities recorded and 23%

of the people served.

The number of Clubs reporting is increasing; however, I commend District 105A who had 85% of Clubs reporting on My Lion by the 31^st March 2024.

As at 31^st March reporting Clubs have completed 11,596 service activities since July 1^st 2023 serving 1,999,899 people in 273,468 volunteer hours. 48% of the recorded activities support the 5 Global causes. The GST Secretary has calculated a value of the service given, based on average salary rates, and that equates to more than £5 Million.

Remember, we are Lions, Service is what we do, and Service is needed more than ever before. The amount of service that is reported is remarkable: thousands of hours on hundreds of projects. But think what it could be if 100% of Clubs reported their activities instead of the 60% that do? The attached report details what we are doing.

What and why the reluctance I neither know nor understand.

8. Kindness Matters Award

Kendal Lions Club, 105CN, was the nomination from MD105, unfortunately they were not recognised globally.

GST continue to push hard but getting names has proved very difficult; this Award needs to be promoted within Districts and now is the time to promote. Clubs must record service activity on MyLion in the relevant fiscal year for the activity to be included in an Award application.

9. Meetings

Three 'team' meetings have been held to date, all in hybrid form. The meetings have been very well attended, with over 20 participants at each. They have all been very, very stimulating with all participants demonstrating passion. It is fascinating to see the breadth of projects that are ongoing.

10. Thank You

I would like to thank the relevant specialist MD Officers and District Officers for their hard work in promoting the Service programme to Clubs.

I must thank my Deputy, PDG Chris Hibbert, for his support, the Service Team Secretary, PCC Philip Goodier for his hard work in recording, circulating, and monitoring Service activity across the Multiple District and Past International Director Geoff Leeder for keeping us informed about thinking and new initiatives coming from the International Board.

Finally, we have come a long way over the past six years, our service is expanding, our activities are innovative and engaging and partnerships have been developed with a wide range of individuals and organisations; our Clubs and members are doing some great, brilliant, and remarkable activities, right now, across the whole of the Multiple District.

We have achieved much but much remains to be done and I look forward to continuing to drive service forward. In a word, Synergy!

PID Phil Nathan
Global Service Team Chair

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Diabetes report to Convention 2024

MD Officer PDG Lion Keith Hedges

• Enhance awareness of diabetes conditions & complications among those most at risk
• Encourage those at risk to seek appropriate examination
• Involve as many Lions as possible in the Diabetes Education Programme

Hopefully the worst of the pandemic is behind us, but we still have another ongoing pandemic that of diabetes, as has been reported in the media and on the television, Diabetes is very much on the rise with now over 4,300,000 people in the UK being diagnosed with a further 850,000 undiagnosed the condition predicted to grow to more than 5.5 million by 2030. It is also estimated that there are another 2,500,000 at risk of developing the condition.

The cost of diabetes to the NHS and to us all is over £1.5m an hour or 10% of the NHS budget for England and Wales. This equates to over £25,000 being spent on diabetes every minute. In total, an estimated £14 billion pounds is spent a year on treating diabetes and its complications, being around 10% of the NHS Budget with the cost of treating complications representing the much higher cost. A report in 2012 developed in partnership between Diabetes UK, JDRF and Sanofi Diabetes, the report highlights the large percentage (79%) of NHS diabetes spending that goes on complications – many of which are preventable.

Clubs throughout our Multiple District are continuing to get involved in promoting Diabetic Awareness activities throughout their communities following the setbacks off the pandemic. These activities are growing as clubs look to The relationship with Diabetes UK continues and strengthen, discussions that have taken place have been very productive and their active participation in our monthly District Diabetes Officers Meetings have been very productive.

In conjunction with Diabetes UK and the Diabetes Team we are in the process of developing a Zoom presentation diabetes, the complications of the condition and how we can work together in helping those at risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes for approximately 1 Hou followed by a Q&A for ½ Hour and hopefully take place in mid-June.

Know Your Risk flyers that were referred to at last year's convention are available for free download from the MD web site as well as 2 new 'Never To Late To Prevent' information sheets, at the time of compiling this report and with the assistance of Mandy Broadbent we are in the prosses of developing a new Poster to support the 'Never To Late To Prevent' element of the programme.

The existing Diabetes Leaflet is in the prosses of being updated to reflect the current statistics and incorporating some minor amendments also the inclusion of the KYR QR code.

There is a Diabetes Stand/Display at Convention, were all the new and existing support materials will be showcased & some will be available. Come and have a look and possibly take a test.

If diabetes is left undiagnosed or untreated, the complications such as eye disease, kidney failure and lower limb amputations can totally wreck people's lives so, it is so important to promote diabetes awareness.

Future Plans for the Diabetes Team

• To continue looking at promoting Health Eating, Changes in Lifestyles And more Exercise.
• In conjunction with introducing the Lions Strides Programme.
• To continue work with DUK in promoting the Online Know Your Risk element to maintain our detection part of the programme.
• To expand ways that we may be able to work with JDRF for the betterments of both our organisations.
• We are still looking at targeting Diabetes Awareness Week from the 12^th to the 18^th of June 2024.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Council of Governors for my appointment & to the District Diabetes Officers for their support and assistance during the last year, and I know they will continue to strive to encourage more clubs in their Districts to get the Diabetes Education Programme back into Clubs Diaries and get involved in activities leading to the detection of Diabetes and support for those with these insidious and increasing condition.

Finding out your risk of Type 2 Diabetes

Take the Test

'It could be the most important thing you do today'

https://riskscore.diabetes.org.uk/start

Scan or click on this QR Code

   

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Sight Report for Convention 2024

Lion Sue Taylor, MD Sight Officer

Summary of activity

I continue to be amazed by the magnificent effort all over the multiple district regarding Sight loss initiatives and thank each and everyone for this, especially my team of District Sight Officers. 

1. The collection of spectacles goes from strength to strength with  Clubs  continuing to find new collection points and new and  innovative ways to get the specs to HQ.  It probably is our biggest sight related effort.  Many thanks and congratulation to Brigitte for co ordinating HQ and to Chichester Lions for what they are doing. 
2. Individual Clubs are supporting in so many varied ways, raising awareness,  as grant givers, as volunteer IT support, befrienders, activity organisers, with Talking Newspapers, and we also continue to support through our various existing partnerships. (RNIB, Blind Veterans, Guide Dogs and many local partnerships) 
3. We are also very strongly supporting Sight Savers through our donations to Lions Sight Savers Trust. I know this is very much appreciated by SightSavers. 
4. I continue to develop partnerships with other sightloss organisations, and have agreement with all nations regarding Visually Impaired Bowlers. They jointly proposed one partnership document covering all UK (as boundaries are complicated) Discussions continue with Royal School for Blind which has outreach services across England, plus Royal College for Blind in Edinburgh. On going effort will need to be in matching and encouraging joint working (volunteering/service) between individual Lions Clubs and sight loss activity through our partner organisations.
5. My personal aim for 2024/5 is to make MD105 Lions, and all the individual Clubs in UK much more aware of issues relating to their own club members. Evidence indicates that over 65% of people over 65 have some level of sight loss... so the implication to us nationally and locally are obvious... but do we actually do the best we can for our members…
6. Thanks to Brigitte and to Mandy for all the new information on website and resources

Through increased opportunities for service and other sight related activity we aim to attract new members and usefully retain existing members who are doing a brilliant job

By recognising the value of existing work done by local Clubs and encouraging new activity we will make them feel more valued.  

By ensuring accessibility for our members we are more likely to retain people with sight loss.

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Global Leadership Report to Convention 2024

PCC Lion Alastair Joel

GLT Co-Ordinator

The RLLI was held over the weekend of the 12^th-14^th April in Redditch. As an official LCI course, there are only 24 places available covered by the grant. We were oversubscribed, which was a lovely position to be in, but it led to some disappointed members, I would encourage them to reapply next time. Each District was represented, we were joined by 2 members from D133 Ireland (they pay for their share)

I would like to thank the District Leadership Officers, Council and Vice Council for identifying and endorsing the applications of those Lions who applied. 

The weekend is a chance to see the future leaders of our association, whether that's a Club President, District Officer, or District Governor – there were some real light bulb moments over the weekend for the participants. The chat on the WhatsApp group since the weekend has been busy!

The feedback received has been favourable.  I would like to thank the faculty, Stewart Sherman Kahn, Stu Young and Mellisa Murphy for giving up their time in delivering the programme and to making a positive difference to those attendees. We shall be meeting to review the weekend in due course.

The relevant documentation will be completed and sent to LCI to claim the remainder of the grant money.

The DGE training weekend is being held from the 19^th- 21^st April, also in Redditch, the 8 DGEs will be joined by D133 too.

I would like to thank the Adorable Brigitte for her support in planning the RLLI and DGE training too, her hard work in preparing the booklets, liaising with the hotel, coordinating applications for the RLLI, amongst many other things – it is appreciated not only by me but those participants too.

Monthly training via Zoom for the 2^nd VDGs continues. There have been sessions on LCIF, Data protection, Conflict resolution, Service, and public speaking. The upcoming sessions will be on Membership and MD finances.

Looking ahead……. Contact has been made with the 2^nd VDGE, a zoom call has been scheduled for the 10/6, to meet initially and kick off their development programme.

We wait for direction from LCI as to what training will be required for both 2^nd and 1^st VDGs next year.

I note that there are no Vice Governors from 105CN, or a 2^nd VDGE – whilst I appreciate the District is well aware of this predicament they are in. From a leadership point of view, whoever follows DGE Ian, will potentially have a large learning curve, and may require additional support in readiness for their leadership journey.  

A session for MDO has been pencilled in for the 15/6 – once Council has made the appointments, contact will be made with them. The aim is for officers to meet each other, and to see what resources and support are available to aid them in their role.

Provisional dates for an RLLI 2025 are pencilled in (subject to Council approval) 4-6/4/25 and for DGE training 25-27/4/25.

I would like to promote the Symposium; the date has been booked for the 28/11 to the 1/12 at the Chesford Grange hotel. More details will follow, now is the time to start identifying candidates from within your Districts to participate.

I am looking at a session for the current DGs, 'Life after DG' – its likely to be in early July.

The Portal has landed, some members are lucky to have access, others will come in due course. Sessions to guide members through the new system will be organised, more likely at a local level. There are some very good bits available online www.lionsclubs.org/en/resources-for-members/digital-products/portal-updates and on YouTube – just search for 'Lions International Portal' www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Lions+International+Portal

Any change will take some getting used to, and for some require patience and some reassurance. We have lots of members who are proficient in these sorts of systems, we should utilise their skills in supporting others.

I have a Leadership slot at MD convention, where I will speak about the Portal and Leadership development within our MD.

I am happy to assist with the roll out of any H&S training for members following the course in Feb.

And finally – I am planning new Member Orientation to support Districts, focusing mainly on MD and International aspects. I am also looking at a Mentoring session to support clubs.

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Global Membership Report to Convention 2024

Lion Alan Hall

Global Membership Coordinator (GMT)

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Convention Report No: B.8 Hunger

Lion Chris Hibbert, MD Hunger Officer

As one of our global causes, Hunger is such an important issue as we live with the cost-of-living crisis, food shortages due to the war in Ukraine and the effects of Brexit. We are seeing more and more people needing to use Foodbanks etc. We have an excellent team of dedicated and passionate Lions serving as District Officers and our clubs do so much to support this cause in so many ways.

During this Lionistic year to date, Lions across our Multiple District have served over 2,000,000 people. Of this, over 260,000 were on Hunger related projects, third after Environment (338,000) and Vision (320,000). All three of these service areas demonstrate the need but also the interest of our members and of the public and these are some of the areas we can expect to attract new members.

Service is the key to membership!

It was suggested that the Hunger role was growing too large, and I was asked to propose a split portfolio. I have been informed that the below suggested split of the hunger portfolio has been approved by Council. I am very keen to hear from anyone interested in joining a Multiple District Hunger Team.

Food sourcing	Food donating
Supermarkets APPS - Too Good to Go / Olio etc  Gleaning / Urban Harvesting	Foodbank donations (food or money) Meal clubs for elderly / vulnerable / isolated Soup kitchens / community feeding programmes Christmas Hampers
Education and Advocacy	Youth
Feeding the 5000 Bags of Taste Cooking lessons Slow cookers / Air fryers Nutrition lessons External events (Climate Expo)	Magic Breakfast Holiday Hunger

Gleaning & Urban Harvesting (Food sourcing)

We have had a very productive meeting with Fareshare, with most Districts represented. This is an opportunity for Lions to be the gleaning partner of choice for Fareshare, nationally.

Fareshare can help with identifying opportunities, providing volunteers, pallets and trays as well as their usual collection and distribution support. With permission of the individual Lions, I have provided Fareshare with a list of all contacts matching their depots.

Since the meeting we have undertaken six gleans in partnership with Fareshare, three in District CE, between which we gleaned c. 6,000 kg of apples, the first glean in District SC, where 600 kg of carrots and potatoes were gleaned from a beautiful walled garden. District SE under Lion Graham Illsley ran an apple glean in Faversham and District CN ran their annual pumpkin glean in Stafford which saw over 6 000 kg of pumpkins distributed by Fareshare.

To date we have gleaned over 97 tonnes, with 300 volunteers and 1748 hours of service and are very much on target to break the 100-tonne mark in 2024.

Approximately each kg of food can serve 2 people (minimum). This also saves a huge amount of water from being wasted. On average c. 200 litres of water is needed to grow 1 kg of veg. 97,000 kg x 200 litres = 19.4 million litres!

It also saves CO₂ being wasted and reduces the generation of methane due to rotting food. So very much an environment project too!

Gleaning is yet to start for 2024, but opportunities could arise at any time.

I was invited to speak about gleaning at the District 105SC Convention. This seemed to go really well. 

Their international Guest ID Marcel Daniels asked me for a copy to share at the next International Board Meeting. We gained two hunger officers within the District, Lion Lisa Rust and Lion Mark Thorpe, and added numerous names to their Gleaning WhatsApp group, which now has 13 members.

I am very excited to see how this develops over the coming months. WhatsApp is a great way to share opportunities with those who have already expressed an interest and we hope this grows as they share their interest with fellow Lions and friends.

I've been asked to provide a hunger presentation via Zoom for District N, which is booked for 29^th April.

I've received an email about a project called Bromsgrove and Redditch Welcome Refugees, they glean apples and make some into fruit juice to sell, synergistically linking Refugees and Gleaning, RefuJuice • Bromsgrove and Redditch Welcome Refugees (brwr.uk). This is linked with Gleaning Gloucester, which is an existing group that local Lions could get involved with to experience gleaning.

I am also developing a relationship with Greater Lincolnshire Food Partnership who are part of Sustainable Food Places. These exist in all of our Districts and aim to connect like minded people to build sustainable food networks for all. Check out one in your area.

https://www.sustainablefoodplaces.org/members/

Magic Breakfast (Youth)

My wife Sue chose Magic Breakfast as her DG partners charity and has raised over £12k, sufficient to provide over 43,000 breakfasts. This has put money into the project, but Sue has also been actively encouraging our Lions Clubs to talk to their schools to encourage them to apply for funding, if they meet the criteria of >35% Pupil Premium (free school dinners).

In Sue's words 'Children are like cars; they don't work without fuel.'

Climate Expo (Education & Advocacy)

I attended an event in 2022 called Staffordshire Climate Expo, in 2023 they have aimed higher and moved to a larger, more prestigious venue and are calling the event - CLIMATE EXPO. Chris Packham was the guest speaker. The event was free to attend and took place on Friday 22^nd September at Keele University.

I put a small team together to put on a stand and to provide a workshop session. We had a double stand, with one part promoting Lions and the other promoting the work of The Lions Gleaning Hub. We had an incredibly successful and busy day and were told that our stand was the 'best for Merchandise'. This was essentially free fruit and veg with recipes entitled @Let's Get Ready to Crumble' for fruit and veg crumbles. We had so much interest due to Sarah Strawberry and Sue Squash and are now following up on 20+ good contacts. This is the power of impactful PR - the costumes & USP drew the crowd, got Lions brand out there.

District visit - 105SW Visit

Sue and I spent the Easter break in Budleigh where we visited the Lions food bank, which is supported by the local supermarkets and is open 6 days a week. This was a great opportunity to serve alongside the local Lions and learn more about their service in their community.

Feed the 5,000 (Education & Advocacy)

Last year I was made aware of at numerous Districts who are interested in organising Feed the 5,000 events. The basic aims of these events are below. I am always available to advise and assist any District with these events.

1. To feed XXXX people for free using food that would otherwise have gone to waste.
2. To use no single use plastic.
3. To make a meal that is suitable for all, i.e. vegetarian / vegan.
4. Ideally to source the ingredients from new sources, rather than to rely on food from Fareshare etc. Gleaned food is ideal.
5. To promote Lions and to gain members.

Wouldn't it be amazing if we could do multiple events in different locations on the same day, with media links between them?

India – Global Week of service (Feb 24)

Six Lions from this Multiple District were invited to join this. Second Global Week of Service. A part of this amazing project, we spent a day serving on hunger related projects. This was a day of very mixed emotions!

The morning began with a Lions led project, called 'Food for Life' where the Lions Club of Howrah currently support 55 impoverished individuals living in dire poverty with little or no family support. They provide each of them with a food box every single month for the rest of their lives. Each box costs just $20 and they are growing year on year as they secure more long-term funding.

In the afternoon we joined the Leos for their 7^th annual 'Spreading Smiles' event where around 350 Leos come together to pack 5,000 food boxes which will be later handed out to the children in the slums. The food packing was not anything any of us had seen before, as it was done whilst singing and dancing to music. The Leos had to be forced to take a break so there was still something for us Lions to help with. The food was later handed out to 5,000 children.

What can we take from experiences such as these?

We need to think big, be brave, aim high and use the support of our Foundation to make these sorts of things happen.

Idea! Why not use a similar food packing event in a school to show what Leos could do and ask the students if they would like to become Leos. Maybe linked to a vision screening event??

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MedicAlert Report for MD Convention

PDG Lion John Sutherland JP. MJF,  MedicAlert Co-ordinator 

Since the inception of the Lions supported Early Start Programme in 2012, it has had a bumpy journey with some clubs supporting the programme from the start and others finding it difficult to understand the concept of a national programme funded by Lions clubs and managed by MedicAlert especially in the areas highlighted below

The fund being a rolling programme of membership allocated to children at various ages from birth to ten years old.

Confidentiality issues around both child protection and use of medical information.

Confusion between Message in a bottle and other identification products available.

This I believe has led to clubs not supporting the Early Start Programme.

Some of this has been sorted out over the past 12 years leading to an increase in funding during 2022/23 which enabled MedicAlert to reduce the waiting list of children requiring ESP membership by March 2023.

As can be seen from the graphic below donations to the lions Early Start programme has again gone on to the back burner, some of this is understandable given the ever increasing demand on lion's clubs across the multiple district for funding projects, however if the long term relationship we have with MedicAlert is to continue clubs will have to find ways to reengage with MedicAlert.

MedicAlert continues to support children and promotes Lions clubs in the UK by informing applicants that their membership is paid and supported by the Lions clubs of Great Britain, this alone is a good sustainable image promotion for the lions of the UK.  

Lions and MedicAlert

The Lions Clubs have worked with MedicAlert for 60 years and since Lion Denis Gilchrist introduced the charity to the UK and the Lions ESP was introduced in 2013 to specifically sponsor children under 10 years old. The programme provides free MedicAlert membership for vulnerable children every year up until their 10th birthday, along with an item of medical ID jewellery. The programme continues to protect children here in the UK.

Due to the increased demand seen throughout 2023 we need to significantly increase the funding from The Lions Clubs. MedicAlert fully expect this upward trend to continue given the increase in childhood illnesses and allergic reactions, which means that now, more than ever, they need The Lions Club to allocate more of their hard-won donations to continue the support of the programme.

£300 provides membership from birth for ten years, the MedicAlert foundation will continue to top up the Lions fund by donating £100 for every £200 received from Lions clubs making sure that tis remains a truly joint endeavour between our two charities, ensuring that if the child is taken ill or involved in accident and the parent/guardian is unable to speak for them, MedicAlert can. Clubs can name a specific child for the donation. If not, MedicAlert will identify a suitable child on application for the Lions supported programme, the ESP.

Please give consideration to supporting this Lions sponsored programme.

PDG Lion John Sutherland JP. MJF

MedicAlert Co-ordinator 

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Message in a Bottle Report to Convention 2024

National Headquarters

Message in a Bottle National HQ and Lion David McKirdy

Again this year we have seen huge growth in demand for Message in a Bottle even in almost 25 years of this project requests for bottles from Clubs and public alike is enormous. This was helped recently by the project being featured on BBC1's Crimewatch programme which ran a feature on Safety and Security at home and Lions Message in a Bottle was demonstrated as an excellent way to keep all your useful information in one place where it could be quickly and easily found. It would be fair to say that within 20 minutes of the article being featured the phones at HQ lit up like Blackpool illuminations and within the first hour we had received over 100 bottle orders from the public.

We continue to produce our bottles both at Garth Prison and commercially at RPC a plastics production company. 

Our bottles are biodegradable and are made from a substance which does degrade overtime and I know this has been of concern to some of the environmental groups that we work with and we have at least been able to allay their fears.

We now have a new Message in a Bottle website www.lionsmessageinabottle.co.uk and the site has been very well received. 

PID Gary Anderson was most interested in the project on his recent visit it attending District Conventions and has taken the idea back to The States to try and get it moving over in America. We have also had an enquiry from Amsterdam to get the project moving there as well 

Since January we have moved

234 boxes of 100 bottles

2 pallets 

3,304 bottles individual bottles to members of the Public

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SOGB Liaison and Promotion

PCC Alastair Joel

Lions have partnered with Special Olympics for many years, the partnership has brought development and service opportunities to individuals with intellectual disabilities in over 100 nations. Special Olympics and LCIF continue to deliver the Opening eyes programme, Family Health forums, Healthy Hearing, Special Smiles, and Inclusive Sports. Since 2013 Special Olympics and Lions Clubs International Foundation have implemented the 'Invite an Athlete' scheme which encourages Lions Clubs to conduct outreach to individuals with intellectual disabilities to harness the unique talents and gifts of these athletes. 

What is Special Olympics? As a vision of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who saw how unjustly and unfairly people with Intellectual disabilities were treated, she decided to act. In 1968 the first Special Olympics Summer games were held in Chicago. The formalisation of Special Olympics was confirmed later that year. 

Out of the Shadows: Events Leading to the Founding of Special Olympics

Special Olympics GB (SOGB) was formed a decade later in 1978, it is a non-profit charity providing, year-round coaching and athletic competition for both summer and winter sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.

To define an intellectual disability:  A significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information, to learn new skills with reduced ability to cope independently, which started before adulthood with a lasting effect on development. Source Dept of Health (2001) Valuing people

Unlike the Olympics or Paralympics, Special Olympics differs as it aims to offer opportunities for athletes of all abilities to take part in sports every day of the week, all year round.

There are an estimated 1.5 million people living with an Intellectual disability with Great Britain with that number estimated to rise. Special Olympics GB currently has more than 120 clubs in the UK offering 28 sports. These programmes are run by over 4000 volunteers.

The work of Special Olympics GB is funded by individuals, trust, and corporate donations, this is vital to enable the work to continue.

Special Olympics Great Britain (specialolympicsgb.org.uk)

Last year saw the SO World games in Berlin, SOGB took part, the lions of MD 105 helped pack the kit bags for each participant, and then very early one morning, met the team and other volunteers at a hotel in Heathrow, were we loaded all sorts of equipment and all the athletes onto coaches and took them to check in ready to begin their journey to Germany. The atmosphere on the bus was electric, I'm not sure if the driver has ever recovered from the experience!

Top Golf has become an official sport for SO, I was lucky to attend a local sports evening, where the programme was officially launched, we even got to have a go too – not that I was any good!

This year has seen a change of Leadership within SOGB, Laura Baxter MBE has taken over from Colin Dyer as the Chief Executive. SOGB recognise the support that Lions give, not only in terms of our volunteer hours, but from the grants they receive from LCIF too. SOGB are considering a bid to host a world game in the near future, this would be very exciting for all.

SOGB are keen for the support of lions at a local level too, there are many clubs around the UK, offering some 96 sports. Lions could get involved on a regular basis to support regular training, or at competition too. Building that local relationship will help strengthen and cement our commitment for this fantastic partnership.

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MD Activity Alliance Report to Convention 2024

Lion Penny Tregillus

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