Autumn Forum  

Autumn Forum

 

This year’s Autumn Forum took place on Sunday 20th October at the St John’s Hotel in Solihull with approaching 100 Lions from 30 different clubs in attendance.

The day commenced with Lion Pauline Hoogerwerf who gave an update on Lion Jackie Anstice’s project for last year – Teenage Cancer Trust. It was reported that £10,151.37 had been raised by the clubs with an additional £1,655 raised and sent direct to the Trust. These funds will be used by the Teenage Cancer unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham to purchase play stations and their games, DVDs and a weekly “Pizza Night” in the Lions name. It will also be used to fund day trips and Christmas presents.

DG, Lion Simon Moss then gave a presentation on “Achieving Our Potential” based around his “Seven Seas”

  1. Community – needs analysis, service and reputation.
  2. Communication – effective PR, local PR, national PR, international PR, activity reports, lobbying and all channels.
  3. Co-operation – other Lions Clubs, wider community and bigger projects.
  4. Collaboration – other community organisations, larger organisations and real projects.
  5. Commonality – all Lions Clubs, common projects, wider awareness of what Lions do.
  6. Contribution – to LCIF, respond to disasters and humanitarian aid.
  7. Celebration – fun, satisfaction and friendships.
 
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This followed by two workshops

1. “A member is for life (not just for Christmas) by the Global Leadership Team.

 

 

2. “Working together” by the International, Health and Youth Teams. Participants were asked to consider the benefits and constraints of working on projects with other Clubs. They also looked at how many Lions are involved in their club activities, if they have enough members to carry out their activities and how to initiate and vary activities. Finally they were asked to state if an activity had been cancelled through lack of manpower and how they would feel about helping out another club.  


 

Following lunch Maria Hanson from “Me & Dee”, Lion Christine Moss’s project gave an inspirational speech about her charity which left a lump in the throat of many Lions present.

Maria along with her cousin Delia wanted to start a charity to give special moments where time was precious. Unfortunately Delia lost her battle with cancer, but Maria made the decision to create the charity any way.

Maria has become aware, whilst meeting families with very poorly children, that there is little time between diagnosis and admittance to hospital. For the parents, the last thing on their mind is necessities such as toiletries, or the time and funds to buy hot drinks. She therefore provides “Comfort Packs”. The parents pack contains two of everything in toiletries, cups and utensils, lip balms, hand cream, tea and coffee, hot chocolate and cup-a-soups, tissues, towels and more. The teenagers pack contains toiletries, lip balms and a range of games. The children pack contains toiletries, games and a soft toy.

As Maria’s health is not very good she also wants to leave behind a lasting opportunity to provide a treat and would love to buy a caravan so that those who need it most can get a break.

How can you get Involved?

You can get involved by either providing a special moment to someone in need, you can nominate someone to receive a special moment, you can donate to the charity so that Maria can continue to provide special moments, you can sponsor a comfort pack and have that pack delivered to either someone in need or have several packs delivered to a hospice near you.  


 

This was followed by a presentation from the Communications Team on “Getting the most out of Social Media”. This looked at the benefits to Lions on using Facebook, Twitter and Hashtags as well as giving detailed instructions on how to set these up and then use them to our best advantage.

The final presentation came from Lions Chris Burrows and Terrie Smith who gave an update on next year’s District Convention which will be held at the St John’s Hotel in Solihull. Both suitably dressed they advised us that the theme for the Friday night will be an “End of the Pier Show”. Budding talent that would like to perform on the night should contact them.  


 

Following an open question and answer session Lion Simon closed the event by thanking all the presenters for their efforts and all Lions for their attendance.