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Henley Lions were asked if we would park cars at the Twyford Village Fete which took place on Saturday, 19 August 2019. It was our first time to undertake this event but found it to be very successful. The team of six Henley Lions parked 219 cars which raised £657 for charity. Half of the funds will come to our Lions Charity Fund with the other half going to Twyford Village Council’s charitable causes. Thankfully, the weather on the day was excellent which helped swell the crowds attending. We look forward to making this an annual event in our fundraising calendar.

This morning Henley Lions Club presented a cheque for £1,000 to The Chilterns Centre to fund their “Moments to Remember” programme. This is the fourth consecutive year that Henley Lions have funded this project. The scheme, originally called A Day to Remember, was the idea of Lion Ian Forster who proposed that we could bring the British seaside to the Chilterns Centre for the patients and their families to enjoy. That was a huge success and was enjoyed by everyone who took part. This has since been transformed by Pamela Lee of the centre into Moments to Remember which take place throughout the year and which are equally enjoyed by patients, families and staff. Accepting the cheque on behalf of the centre was Paul Barrett, Chairman of Trustees.  In the photo below are, from left to right, Gareth (Deputy Manager), Lion Ian Tritton, Eddie, Anna, Paul Barratt, Danii, Waqas, Lorraine and Lion Ian Forster. Henley Lions are very proud of our excellent relationship and continued support of the Chilterns Centre.

On 25 March 2017 Henley Lions took over the pool at Henley Leisure Centre for our annual Swimarathon. Despite struggling to raise teams prior to the event we had 126 swimmers there on the day from schools, Sea and Marine Cadets, Brownies and Mencap. The event raised £4,735, half of which will be retained by the swimming groups to support their individual causes and half will come to Henley Lions Charity Account. The event was a a huge success with all the participants thoroughly enjoying themselves. Mayor Julian Brookes presented a special award to the Mencap team for their continued support over so many years. Thanks to Michaela Clarke of the Henley Herald for kindly supplying the photos.

Henley Lions hosted An Evening with John Anderson MBE at Shiplake Village Hall on 10 March 2017. John is the performance director of the Team GB Olympic and Paralympic canoeing squads. He gave an absolutely brilliant talk about his time with the team from 1997 to the present date. He started with a squad which was hardly in the world rankings and which had never won an olympic medal. Working with coaches, trainers, medical professionals and the athletes the squad improved year on year to the point where they were the world number one after the Rio Olympics of 2016. After the talk and a delicious lasagne supper John took questions from the floor. His talk was very much appreciated by everyone who was there on the night.

The Henley Lions presented cheques to the Chiltern Centre for Disabled Children and Footsteps at their meeting this week. Accepting the cheques were Paul Barrett of the Chiltern Centre and Tina Jacobs, a Footsteps trustee. Both cheques were for the amount of £1,500 which represents the entire amount, £3,000, raised by the Lions at Santa’s Grotto at Toad Hall this past Christmas.
Footsteps Foundation is based in Dorchester-on Thames and helps disabled children to maximise their physical abilities, providing funding for children to benefit from intensive physiotherapy.
Paul thanked all the members and said, “There’s an enormous amount of work and time that those around the table have spent raising the much needed funds”. Tina was very appreciative as well and explained, “The amount donated would pay for 3 weeks of physiotherapy for one child with cerebral palsy or pay for physio for a number of children for shorter periods.”
Handing over the cheques were Lion President Wendy Franklin and Lion John Moore

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