Hands Together in Friendship & Service

District Governor Lion Ken Gatehouse with our President Jenny

(Ed. Note that all bold text are links that you can press on for background information!)

This meeting we were joined by District Governor Lion Ken Gatehouse and his wife Lion Dawn. Lion Ken is a founding member of the Lions Club of Sorell which was formed 36 years ago has been honored with a Melvin Jones Fellowship and James D. Richardson
Award.

DG Lion Ken's motto is Hands Together, as we use hands to congratulate each other, hands to work, hands to wave, and we always need extra hands! Ken promotes working with younger people as they are our future and we need to bring up the young Lions to follow in our footsteps in the next 10-15 years.

Lion Ken told us we are all little beacons of lights in society, and by joining hands we form a big beacon with a strong light. Our beacon was shining brightly at the District Convention in Burnie this month where 35 of the 49 clubs (1259 members) from the district were represented. The lunch and dinner were well attended with about 180 attendees. Catering was exceptional as were the great speakers especially the Youth of the Year and the Leo speeches. A special mention was also made about the dog demonstration for the Tasmanian Lions Autism Assistance Dogs program, an initiative of the Rocky Cape Lions Club, showing the amazing work the dogs do for children with autism and their families, and the training required for them to become assistance dogs.

There was little business matters discussed as the District clubs had not put up any agenda items. This made the convention a particularly fun and enjoyable experience. If you failed to make it the next MD201T1 District Convention will be held in Triabunna, hosted by the Spring Bay Lions Club, on November 2011. The 2011 MD Convention will be in Launceston April 14-18 2011. Registration form HERE - more information HERE or visit the MD Convention website.

On closing Lion Ken emphasised the importance of meeting with other city and rural Lions clubs, if only socially, to see how they do things in their club, congratulate them, and learn from each other! He left us with a nice banner!

Other business covered at meeting:

• Please bring non-perishable items to the next meetings for a Christmas basket we are putting together for the Salvation Army.
• Bowling night on Saturday 11 December at 630pm at the Devonport Tenpin Bowl.
• Don't forget to get Lions Christmas Cakes to sell to friends, family, businesses, at work and wherever! Check with Lion Sam re supplies.
• The Christmas Carols by Candlelight scheduled for Sunday 12 December cannot be held at the SoundShell at the Bluff due to construction of the nearby Surf Lifesaving Club and the new venue is likely to be Meercroft Park. The alternative venue in case it gets rained out is at Devonport High School the following tuesday (14/12/2010).
• Our Shed in Spreyton is ready for occupancy as of next Monday 29 November! Congratulations to Lion Hos and his army for completing this huge project! A thank you slash shed warming BBQ will soon be organised! A big thank you to all involved.
• Magic Show on Saturday 4 December at Devonport High School! 800 Tickets have been sold for the two sessions 2pm and 530pm). We will be there to set up the venue as of 10am that morning, and if you are smart enough to volunteer as an usher you will catch the show too!
• Our Christmas Luncheon will be hosted by Wendy (and Gary) Beaton on Sunday 19 December and celebrity master-chef Hos (of Shed Fame) is recruited to run the BBQ operations.
• Lion Ree and Lion Walter returned from their Cystic Fibrosis Mission with a flag exchange from the Koo-Wee-Rup and District Lions Club in Victoria. Their club has one dinner meeting and one non-dinner meeting where people are free to bring along food. They also do combined club social functions, which is a good idea for us too where we could invite nearby Lions Clubs for an occasional TenPin Bowling tournament for instance!
• Lion George reported on the Over 90s Party to convey the message from the oldest person there, a Centenarian, that this was the happiest afternoon she has had in 5 years and was looking forward to next years party. Good on you to George for organising the event with our City of Devonport Lions!