The Lions Club of Winchelsea

President Roly Livingstone's end-of-year Annual Report

"I have again used a picture of the setting or rising sun, as you might see it as representing in a pictorial way, the setting of the sun for the outgoing management team and the hearalding of a new era for the Club through the incoming team. Tonight is an important event for this Club as it is for all Lions Clubs throughout the world as one management team takes over from another. I believe this is one of the strengths of Lions that each year brings an opportunity to review the management of each Club.

Lions Clubs provide great learning opportunities for all members to grow with the Club as positions in the management team become available. Those of us from the old team wish the new team the best of good fortune and stand ready to assist them in any way we can in the future.

Membership

We were fortunate to gain two new members this year. This has helped to balance two resignations which were unavoidable for various reasons. Our new members are Tony Phelps and Gary Drayton. We welcome them to the Club as warmly as we can.

Key Factors

Funding - generally

The Lions Club of Winchelsea exists to serve the community. This can mostly, and significantly, be satisfied through the raising of funds to achieve this objective. In looking at what we need to do in the application of these funds, we have carefully examined our responsibilities in regard to distributin of those funds. We have applied quite a forensic approach in our consideratin of the distribution of ou funds covering local, state, and national areas, to capture their optimum and appropriate application to those different areas. The Treasurer's Report contains details of our income and how we have spent our funds to serve the community.

Paper recycling project

We have been very fortunate in that we have dedicated members who graciously give of their time to raise the necessary funds to facilitate our work in assisting the community. Some shining examples have been the continuity of the operation of the recycling waste paper operation run by the Club now for very many years. The Lion who as been responsibe for this serious fund raising venture for many years, Lion Hugh McCallum has been doing a splendid job in this area. Most people would not appreciate the time, effort and work that Hugh puts in to this important project, and I take this opporutnity to thank him for his splendid efforts.

Merino Marbles

What can I say about this wonderful money raising project? It is not only a serious fund raiser, it is also a fun fair in itself, with good fellowship and some hard work combined with a real sense of accomplishment and team work. How can anyone say enough about the efforts of Lion Murray Leak, Lion Lady Shirley Leak and Marj Wilson, and their team of willing workers from within and without the Club?
Without their drive and dedication this project could not have survived all this time ; and let's not forget the critical input from our sales outlet operators, Kelly and Paul Clark who let us use their shed for storage, their front fence for display and sales purposes, and operate this facility for us. And a special "Thank you" to volunteer John Reid a regular worker at our working bees who contributes his much appreciated dry sense of humour too!

The "Chuck Wagon"

What about this unique "contraption", designed by past President Leo Bath, with assistance from a team of people who produced this real winner ; not only a great money spinner, but a piece de resistance in terms of efficiency as a mobile catering facility. It is used in numerous situations and for many occasions. The Gun Club, where it caters every second Saturday, the Winchelsea Fair, social occasions of many sorts, etc. etc. This is another major fund raising activity, which enables us to serve the community in the way we have been able to do in the last, and many other years, too. Nearly everyone at one time or another works on the "chuck wagon". However the real stalwarts of the operation are Lions Murray Aisbett, Neville Mawson, 'Joe-Pop' Buhrmann, Les Hunter, Neville Densley, and Paul Sorensen who organises supply of the meat and sausages.

Application of funds, and Community work

The Lions operation in Winchelsea is not confined to serving our community through the use of funds that have been raised. We also go about our business of providing assistance in kind, in a variety of ways, to different people and groups of people.
We have been instrumental in providing appropriate assistance to many of our fellow community members in many different ways, and plan on continuing this important part of our work into the future.
Some indications of the work we have done in this area include ;

• working on the town clock
• providing 'good will' hampers/packages to local people in times of need and to let them know that the Winchelsea Lions are thinking of them
• assisting elderly people to get to and from Geelong for medical appointments
• cutting and splitting firewood for a single mother in need of warmth for her home and children
• 'backyard blitzes' for deserving people in and around our town
• assisting to setup displays for flower shows and the like

Project hours

The following table sets out a summary of the project hours we have provided in the last 12 months :

Application of Funds

This year we have made a number of donations to assist in providing assistance to the community at large, while at the same time having that assistance touch upon the local community.
The Treasurer's Report gives details of how we spent our income last year.

Important visits to our Club

A very important visit occurred when District Governor Gordon Williams and Lion Lady Helene visited us this year. District Governor Gordon enlightened us about important matters within the District as well as reminding us about our responsibilities emanating from International and National Headquarters. It was a very enjoyable night and good fellowship followed the formalities. This visit also included the awarding of an Alan J Holding Award to Ms Pat Emmazael of Winchelsea for her dedicated service to the many foster children she has been fostering for very many years.
We also had informative visits from Regional Chairperson Wendy Hildebrand and from our Zone Chairman, Robert Meek. Both of them passed on valuable information to us.

Guest Speakers

We were fortunate to have a number of guest speakers address us during the year. Each of them gave us all a better insight into their respective specialties thus adding to our knowledge base.

Fellowship

One of the key features of being a member of Lions is the fellowship offered by each Club as well as from Club to Club. I doubt if there is any better place that I have been, that our Club, for fellowship to be enjoyed and be enjoyed fully.

Youth of the Year

Once again we fielded a good team of candidates for the Youth of the Year event through the able assistance of Lion Russell Holloway, who has made a specialty of organising and managing this function from our Club's involvement. We were also assisted by the presence in our Club of Lion Neville Mawson, Chair of the Youth of the Year Competition.

A great Club with magnificent Lions Ladies

It does not need me to tell you all what a great Lions Club we have in Winchelsea. We are only a small club numerically, but what determination and dedication our members display in the face of the many challenges that face us in our quest to serve our community.
Working in the rain as we fill bags of Merino Marbles, lying down to scrape product from under the floors of wool sheds, are but two of the instances that display such dedication and determination amongst our members.
Turning up every second Saturday to the Gun Club shoot to cater for the active and hungry shooters is a task mostly beyond the average punter in most communities. These members of ours are a shining example of those rare persons in any community group who are consciously aware of the needs of their fellow community members, and are prepared to do something positive about it, week after week.
And then there are our extraordinary Lions Ladies. They go about their business without any noise, or attention-grabbing. They too are so consistent in providing support and assistance to members without which we would not be anywhere near the effective force we are as we strive to achieve our objectives.
And no one should think that our Lions Ladies only work behind the scenes if you like ; they can be seen in the elements bagging sheep poo as well as the men in our club, and keeping the great food up to the troops as they work away at their tasks.

In retrospect

I enjoy my life as a member of the Winchelsea Lions Club ; in particular, I have enjoyed occupying the position of Secretary and now my first time as President. I became a member as the result of an 'invitation' being extended to me almost as soon as I arrived in 'Winch' by Lion Rob Knuckey. I have been provided with fellowship, new friends and extraordinary assistance when I became ill a few years ago. I have been provided with the opportunity to help others as part of a positive team of people with similar ideas and ideals to my own ; alone I could never have achieved the outcomes that our Club has achieved as a group. These are all wonderful images, common to all Clubs, and yet we still struggle as an organisation to recruit new, younger members as is the case with many other community organisations.
I agree with comments made at our recent Inverleigh-Leigh Valley Changeover Night that while we have good people in our clubs as we do now, the organisation should go on for ever. But what will that organisation look like if it does not attract new and younger members? How many clubs will it have and what membership will each club boast? This is a question that I believe needs to be addressed by all Lions Clubs, everywhere, all of the time.
Certainly our Club is pretty strong, in all respects, from membership to activities, with its present membership numbers and a very willing membership. It also has many advantages by which it will keep its membership intact and will attract new members from time to time as has been demonstrated over the years. It walks the talk in respect of the application of our objects and ethics. While this comes from the hearts of our members, both these important parts of our existence are fortified by the tightly structured discipline surrounding meetings of Clubs, which as so impressed me from the start of my membership at Winchelsea. While this continues I believe clubs will continue, but it will become harder as the years go by and I believe each club needs to consider this situation on a continuous basis in a real way.
I believe Winchelsea Club is doing this in a number of ways and the future is looking good ; but let's keep an eye out for the future at all times and let's keep on thinking about ways and means to ensure the bright future of this wonderful organisation and this wonderful club. My thanks extend to our current office bearers and all our members and Lions Ladies, all of whom have worked so hard over the last year to ensure our success. Finally, let me congratulate the new office bearers as we all wish them good fortune in the coming year. It is my honour and pleasure to present this 2007-2008 annual report for the Lions Club of Winchelsea Inc."

Lion Roly Livingstone - President - 02-July-2008