IRONBRIDGE LIONS NEWS JUNE 2015

Welcome to the June 2015 edition of the Ironbridge Lions news bulletin which is distributed to members and friends of the club to provide a brief review of activities over the past month together with a look ahead at forthcoming project activity, social events and fundraising activities over the coming 2 months. 

All the items covered are open to both members and friends of the club and all can be found on the club calendar which lists important dates for the whole of 2015. You can also find the monthly Lions regional and national news bulletins by clicking the Member area tab at the top of the left hand margin of this page and then keying the password “oakbrook”. 
If you would like to follow the club on social media you will find our Twitter feed at https://twitter.com/IronbridgeLions and our facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/ironlions

MAY REVIEW

May was a fairly active month for the club with two Silver over the Bridge (SOB) sessions, and the Shrewsbury Fun day plus a zone social and charter events at Newport and Middlemarches.

Blood Bikes The SOB for Blood bikes was covered in the May newsletter - but the picture of Gordon on a motorbike is well worth showing again! As a result of a very successful session on the bridge the club was able to make a donation of £300 to blood bikes. This was in addition to the money raised by blood Bikes volunteers themselves on the day so the total raised was over £400. Blood Bikes is also the Zone project for this year and at the meeting on 14th May the club agreed to send a contribution of £150.

Medical Alert Dogs was the beneficiary for the second SOB session during the month.  Lions Club members were joined by Samantha Potts and her dog Charlie.

Sam lives in St Georges with husband Gary and 9 year old daughter Lydia and has a medical condition which causes up to 10 blackouts per day.  These attacks arrive without warning - at least as far as Sam is concerned. But amazingly, Charlie knows that an attack is imminent and is able to alert Sam by licking her hand vigorously. 

Charlie's arrival last September has transformed Sam'a life - reducing the risk of serious injury and giving her confidence to venture outside the house for short periods.

Just one of those amazing charities which we hear very little of and which are so deserving of support - a view clearly shared by those crossing the bridge on Sunday as this was one of our best bridge collections for some time and the club was able to make a donation of £450 to the charity.

Shrewsbury Fun Day is organised each year by Shrewsbury Lions on Whit Monday. We ran our usual year fun day activities such as noisy balloons, tombolla and football and added one  new element - a bric-a-brac stall.  All these activities did well and at  the end of the day we were able to add just over £300 to our charity funds.

Madeley War Memorial. Thanks to John Boydell, Frank Hill and Malcolm Appleton the area around the memorial had a spring tidy during the month.  We had expected the memorial to be moved to a new site this year but the plans for this appear to have been put on hold for the moment. 

Wellingtom Cottage Care We reported last month that the club had made a donation to this local charity and was in discussion regarding the possibility of providing some kind of support on an on-going basis. Following those discussions the club has agreed to make a 
further donation of £300 to be used specifically to assist individuals who find it difficult to afford the cost involved in travelling to the care centre. Further information about Wellington Cottage care can be found on their web site http://s424446717.initial-website.co.uk/

 FORTHCOMING SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 

Walk and meal.  This walk was planned for 12th June but unfortunately it has had to be postponed as so many members are on holiday at that time. We hope to be able to rearrange and further details will be circulated when a new date is fixed.

 Handover Dinner 25th June 2015. This event marks the end of our club year and it is the point at which those elected at the recent AGM take office. This year's dinner will be held at the White Hart in Ironbridge on 25th June and will include a three course meal at a cost of £20 per head. The menu is as follows:

Whipped Goats Cheese, Heritage Tomato Salad & Basil Oil 

Salmon Gravlax, Sweet & Sour Beetroot, Horseraddish 

Pork & Black Pudding Terrine, Celeriac & Mustard Remoulade 

Tomato & Basil Soup, Crusty Bread 

***

Crispy Pork Belly, Parmentier Potato, Black Pudding, Peas & Baby Onions 

Spring Pea, Wild Garlic and Goats Cheese Risotto

Grilled Rump Steak, Béarnaise Sauce, Chips

Fish Pie, Creamy Mash, Wilted Greens 

***

Passion Fruit Chiboust, Coconut Pannacotta
 Chocolate Brownie, Chocolate Sauce 
Sticky Toffee Pudding, Ice Cream 

All members, friends and family are welcome. please email June Softley (4cats@talktalk.net  ) or Colin Thompson (cthompson@bcs.org.uk) if you've not yet booked.

FORTHCOMING PROJECT AND FUNDRAISING ACTIVITY 

 Defibrillator for ironbridge. We are still "almost there" on the defibrillator project which was covered in last month's newsletter. The cabinet housing the defibrillator unit is being installed by Council contractors. Once that has been done and the defibrillator has been commissioned by the ambulance service we will arrange formal unveiling and  public training sessions. Ryan Kennedy of BBC Radio Shropshire (and Ironbridge resident) has kindly agreed to do the unveiling and Robin Bennett from Much Wenlock First Responders will do the training session.


 Silver over the Bridge. SOB is our longest running fundraising activity. Essentially it involves laying sticky tape across the Iron Bridge and inviting passers-by to put down their spare coins.  We also volunteer to man the Toll House on those days when we are collecting on the bridge.

We have scheduled 3 SOB sessions during June and July each focussed on a different charity:

Sunday 21st June - Midlands Air Ambulance

Sunday 5th July - Telford Young Carers

Sunday 26th July Macmillan      

Each SOB session runs from 10am to 4pm and is supported by Members and Friends working in 2 hour shifts – generally 3 people on the bridge itself and one person to man the Toll House.
Additional volunteers are always very welcome so if you’ve never helped at a SOB session why not give it a try. Visitors are general intrigued by the activity and we have some really interesting conversations so the two hours pass very easily.

Ironbridge Brass Band Festival 11th and 12th July. This is one of our biggest events of the summer season.  Although it is not itself a Lions club activity, members and friends of the club play a major part in both the planning and the operational support. This year volunteers are required as follows:

Friday 10th July - pre-festival working party
Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th July - Festival support activity