105SW s News and Views

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1 September 2017 Lions Clubs 105SW In this issue: Global Action Team Health and Safety Peace Poster District News 105SW s News and Views The DG s Update Well, I don t about you all but, where did the first three months of our Lions Fiscal year go! Already the nights are beginning to draw in at a pace and the temperatures are dropping so quick that we can hardly remember having a Summer, or did we not have one, I ll leave for you to make your own minds up on. So now that the Summer months are officially over we ve completed the seasons activities our attention turns to Autumn and all that it brings with Halloween and, perhaps more importantly for many of you, Bonfire night. It is one of the most visually spectacular events in our Calendars with many firework display s accompanying a good bonfire much to the delight of our Communities, so lets ensure we plan and provide a safe environment, please make sure that you not only have a comprehensive Risk assessment in place, but that it is complied with by all BE SAFE! We shouldn t just be thinking about fundraising activities though, we should also be thinking about Service and as our temperatures drop spare a thought, and a little time, for those in our communities who are of a vulnerable nature. We can look to make regular contact with these ensuring not only that they are warm and ok but that they have someone to chat to, someone that can help take away some of the loneliness they often suffer. A visit just once a day for 10 mins can make a big difference. Of course, we also have the welfare of our members too, particularly with an ageing membership, we should ensure that we check up on those members who may be suffering from health issues, as well as those we haven t seen for a while, just to see if there is any help or guidance required. Service is at the forefront of our International President Dr Naresh Aggarwal s theme, We Serve, this year. It is a bottom up approach putting Clubs at the Centre of the action that can energise every facet of your Club. There is a New Global Acton Team that puts the entire network to work for your Club, Global Leadership Team (GLT), Global Membership Team (GMT) and Global Service Team (GST) TO HELP TAKE YOUR Club to the next level. More detail in this Newsletter and from your Zone Chairman or your district GLT/GMT/GST coordinators. At the end of the Day it s all about Service Kind regards D G Lion Ian Together Everyone Achieves More

2 Saturday October 21st. Weston-super-Mare Lions 49th Charter Anniversary Saturday November 4th. Yeo Valley Lions Charter Night. Mendip Springs Golf Saturday November 18th. Ilfracombe & District 43rd Charter Dinner Vacancy District Global Service Team Coordinator 1 year post - empowering Lions to meet the priority needs of their communities and elevate the members experience through impactful service growth. For more information on the role and/or applications Contact District Governor Ian. The Let s Focus on Change event. This is NOT Forum by another name, it is an event which replaces Forum! The event is an informal seminar on CHANGE Why do we need to change? What if we don t Change? How do we Change?...and more. 10am Sunday 22nd Borringdon Park Golf Club, Plympton. PL7 4QG. Booking form and all details are on the District website. We need your input good or bad!

3 District Diary DG - Ian Snell 3 rd Oct Ilfracombe Lions Club Official Visit 3 rd Exeter West Lions Club Official Visit 4 th Callington Lions Club Honey Fair 6 th Newquay Towan Blystra Lions Club 9 th Charter Anniversary 21 st Weston Super-Mare Lions Club 49th Charter Anniversary 27 th Council Of Governors Meeting Solihul 28 th Council Of Governors Meeting Solihul 29 th Council Of Governors Meeting Solihul 1st VDG - Peter Rowe 1 st Plymouth Tamar Club, Charter Anniversary 4 th Glastonbury & Street Club, Official Visit 9 th Portishead Club, Official Visit 12 th Launceston Club, Business meeting 21 st Exeter Club, Charter Anniversary 22 nd Let s Focus on Change 23 rd Plymouth Club, Official Visit 26 th Launceston, Club meeting 28 th Helston Club, Charter Anniversary 30 th Brixham Club, Official Visit 2nd. VDG - Jim Partridge-Hogbin 3rd October Wadebridge 10th October-Barnstable Cabinet Meetings for year 2017/2018 Okehampton Conservative Club, 09:30 for 10:00. 4th November 3rd February 12th May

4 Global Action Team Empowering clubs through the power of Action LEADERSHIP [GLT] MEMBERSHIP SERVICE For some time, many clubs have expressed concern at the lack of focus on service. At the International Convention in Chicago the International Board launched the Global Action Team to empower clubs through the Power of Action. The Global Action Team has the vision that one day ever need in the world will be served by a Lion or Leo. It brings together the three key areas of Lions: leadership, membership and service. By unifying the new Global Service Team (GST) with the Global Leadership Team (GLT) the Global Membership Team (GMT), we will create synergy and new opportunities to grow and serve to enable us to achieve our goal of impacting on 200 million lives per year. The Global Action Team will put the entire Lions network to work for your club. Teamwork is the key, it brings the GLT, GMT and GST together to support your club. It s a bottom up, whole club approach that can help to energize your club and take it to the next level by Finding great service resources and dynamic project support Identifying leadership development opportunities to empower all Lions Recruiting compassionate new members and keeping current members involved and keeping current members involved and motivated. Structure District Level The district Governor will be the Global Action Team chairman for the district GLT district coordinator GMT district coordinator GST district coordinator Club Level The club president will be the Global Action Team Chairman for the club GLT club leadership development chairman will be automatically be filled by the club 1 st vice president GMT club membership chairman GST club membership chairman There will be no need find new officers as all the posts should already exist within the club. Benefits to Clubs It s club focussed. Each club has Lions serving on the GLT, GMT and GST teams and the club president chairs the GAT for the club. It s a bottom up approach that puts clubs at the centre of the action. It s all about teamwork. The Global Action Team puts the entire Lions network to work for the club. It s a whole club approach that can energize every club. Help is all around you. Innovative Service. The GST helps clubs identify resources and use best practices to improve projects and impact. Quality service projects keep members coming back and help attract new members who are looking to serve. Leadership Development. The GLT provides leadership development opportunities that can empower Lions to lead and serve their communities. Strong leaders can help drive membership, champion new service projects and ensure clubs are positioned for ongoing success. Healthy membership. The GMT can help clubs develop effective membership programmes to attract new members. GMT can help clubs create a good membership experience that will keep new and seasoned members coming back. More members mean clubs can deliver more service to the community.

5 Leadership, membership and service impact on each other. Each of these key areas influences the others. Great leaders can drive membership and service. Great service can inspire new service-minded people to join us and Lions opportunities to lead projects. Membership growth increases service impact and produces new leaders to guide clubs into the future. Conclusion This initiative will encourage us to up our game, we are not being asked to do more, only to do it better. We have a wealth of knowledge in our clubs, we must not lose it. We need to work at replacing rigid, contained and unimaginative thinking where it exists and think freely about change. Be creative and challenge limiting structures, rules and practices. Not everyone can do this and may feel more comfortable in their own space and not making any changes in their lives. We must respect this, but stepping out of this space does not necessarily mean becoming president, zone chairman or district governor but it could. It could be suggesting a new club project, trying again with one that had not previously worked, not sitting in the same chair at a club meeting or having a conversation with another member you did not know well. If we can encourage this culture we can begin to embrace and understand the concept of the Global Action Team. At the end of the day, it s all about service. Andrew Bryant, GMT/GLT Chairman Peace Poster Contest The Future of Peace Thank you all to the Clubs who are sponsoring a Peace Poster Contest this year. Just a gentle reminder that the deadline for sending the winning Peace Posters to DG Ian is now looming! The latest posting date to ensure your poster will be judged in the District Competition is November 15 th, but do send them off as soon as you can, and let DG Ian know to expect a poster from you. Please also ensure that you have completed the official sticker and attached it to the back of your posters. Lion Theresa Warrell District 105SW Peace Poster Officer ta.warrell@btinternet.com

6 The role of the District Health and Safety Officer As a short introduction my name is Kevin Marshall and I am your District Health and Safety Officer, some might say I am the man with the poison chalice, surprisingly enough I don t see it that way. My role is to ensure both you as members and the public stay safe and sound through all our activities no matter what they are. So how do I achieve this aim, well I need to rely on you the club member and your safety officers to ensure that a suitable risk assessment is available for each of your events, for failure to do so could have very serious consequences, not only for the persons involved but to Lions Clubs everywhere and even Lions Clubs International. It is imperative that clubs carry out risk assessments and review them on a regular basis to ensure the findings are valid and up to date. For my part if there is anyone out there that is unsure of their risk assessments I am always available at the end of the phone or e mail me with your problem and I will do my best to help you. To this end I have a data bank of risk assessments so if you can't find one I will probably have one that suits your needs. It would help me a great deal if from time to time you send me a copy of a risk assessment to ensure we are all working from the same hymn sheet, I am not here to mark you out of ten or criticise, I am here to help ensure that we are all safe and remain so. If you really are stuck on the role of the club safety officer and you don t have a clue how to carry out a risk assessment don t worry help is at hand I can train you. I am available to give courses to anyone who needs it, however we will need at least 10 members to attend the course for it to be viable financially. Be Safe, Think Safe Lion Kevin Marshall District Health and Safety/ Insurance Officer

7 Pride of Lions In this section we want to celebrate those who have gone Above and Beyond in supporting Lionism. Lion Barry Straughton MJF Lion Barry Straughton of Yeo Valley Lions Club was recently awarded a Melvin Jones Fellowship to recognise the commitment he has shown both to the Club and the Association over a period of almost 25 years. Barry joined Yeo Valley in 1993 and since then has held a number of offices including two periods as President in 2003/4 and 2014/15. He is currently Youth Director and is also the club s newly appointed LCIF co-ordinator. Furthermore he is always to the fore when there is work to be done. A regular driver of the club s community minibus he also plays a leading role in its maintenance. Similarly he is always one of the first to volunteer when a working party is needed at Yeo Valley s Special Needs Playground and he is now chair of the committee which organises the annual Beer Festival, having always played a leading role in its organisation since the first such event 15 years ago. For many years he has also been an active supporter of the exchange visits under the twinning with L Aigle Lions Club in France. Club members were therefore delighted when Barry was presented with the award by outgoing President Kevin Moore at the Handover evening at the end of June, an honour all felt to be richly deserved.

8 The Last Word (or Editor s Prerogative) My second newsletter and only one comment received! Thank you Lesley for your feedback and I hope that this edition is easier for you to read. This edition has focussed on the Global Action team and how it will help your clubs plus an article from Kevin on Health and Safety, a necessary part of our activities. As our DG has already commented, Bonfire Night is approaching, let s be careful out there. If you have not already sent Kevin an example of your Risk Assessment please can you do so, I know he would appreciate it. I have not received anything from yourselves to go on the Club Notice Board, the items on there I have gleaned from s received via my club. If you feel that the notice board is not worthwhile please let me know and we can utilise the space for an article. I have received several requests to publish the dates for articles. Please can I have all articles, notice board submissions, etc. by the 14th of each month although I would appreciate a drip feed rather than a deluge on the day. With Christmas fast approaching (do I hear a groan or two?) we would like to use the December edition to show off what you have been doing to raise funds during this period, with pictures please. We are expecting lots of Santas but hopefully a few different events will come through. Finally, please feel free to let us have your thoughts on the Newsletter. The address to send all Newsletter correspondence to is dennis@somerton.me.uk Yours in Lions Dennis And finally:the three LION generations of BURNARDs of 105SW are currently in Vancouver (Canada), and have attended and celebrated a very special moment for Vancouver and Saltash Club of 105SW. LION JONNY BURNARD will be presenting a bannerette on behalf of our district 105SW and his home club SALTASH in Cornwall, to The President of Burrard Lions in Vancouver to celebrate their 80th Anniversary of their Charter to coincide with the TWINNING OF SALTASH AND BURRARD at the same time. A speech was made following their DG s speech to pass on OUR CONGRATULATIONS to them from our district and a district Bannerette from DG LION IAN SNELL was presented.