This year’s Autumn Forum took place on Sunday 14th October at the St John’s Hotel in Solihull with over 80 Lions in attendance.
The day commenced with Heather Yaxley who gave an informative and hard hitting presentation on the new MD strategy with regard to Public Relations. The theme of the presentation was that Lions play a central role within the community and therefore we need to increase knowledge and understanding of who Lions are and what Lions do among a) key influencers b) the media and c) the public.
Lions then broke off into the two workshops:-
Following lunch Lion Jackie Anstice introduced her project for the year – Teenage Cancer Trust. Laura Bainbridge of the Trust began her presentation with the fact that every single day 6 teenagers are told they have cancer and how this affects family, friends, schools and communities. The Trust has 3 objectives a) to fund and build specialist units, b) educate young people about cancer and c) improve survival rates and quality of life. Laura concluded with a list of fund raising activities that Lions could get involved in.
Lions Andy Pemberton and Harry Fry then brought everyone up to date with how Lions are moving forward from “Tacade” to “Life Skills” and the challenges being faced. To sell “Life Skills” an online shop is available and training sessions are to be set up at MDHQ.
DG Paul then introduced our candidates for office for 2013-14. For DG Lion Simon Moss and for 1st Vice DG Lion Ian Haffner. Paul also advised that at present there were no candidates for the position of 2nd Vice D G.
The day concluded with presentations from Lions Joy Haffner and John Barnes who brought everyone up to date with ongoing arrangements for District Convention 2013 in Worcester and International Convention 2013 in Hamburg.