Lions in Action
A Busy Festive Season for the Club
The lead up to Christmas is always a busy month for us - and it wasn't purely fundraising.
November closed with us attending the Newport Pagnell Christmas Lights switch on where we were selling tickets for the annual MK Community Foundation Car Raffle. This was the 25th year that VW Group has donated a car for the raffle and thanks to Wayside Group in Bletchley, we again had a similar car as the centre point of our sales drive. Initial figures suggest this has been our best result for many years and the icing on the cake would be to see one of our ticket holders winning the main prize. If only!
possible. Living up to our motto of "We Serve", saw the members personally delivering a tin of festive biscuits to almost 300 of the more senior members of our community.
But it's not a  work
A week later, it was the turn of Olney to see us out in force at our contribution to the annual Dickens of a Christmas with three Craft Fayres and a Birds of Prey exhibition - what an event that turned out to be this year.
This is an activity which we have carried out for many years and we get a real buzz meeting old friends as we drop by with such a small gift which really does brighten up so many lives.
Sadly, we will be saying goodbye to Mark and James at the Bull Inn, two absolute stalwarts who have supported the club since they arrived seven years ago. It seemed only fitting to have our Christmas Bash there and over 40 Lions and friends met to join in the celebrations of Christmas. Whilst the evening was tinged with a little sadness as we said a formal farewell to two of the nicest guys to be pa  of the Olney scene in recent years, we had an extremely enjoyable and fun evening as, through rose tinted glasses and between three fantastic courses and plenty of liquid, we looked back on a successful year. Proof, if ever it was needed that you can have a good time whilst putting something back to our community.
The sun splitting the sky encouraged the crowds to hit Olney with a vengeance and they ce ainly seemed to be in a spending mood. A number of our stallholders actually sold out and it wasn't only the craftspeople who were smiling by the end of the day. Many of our visitors were delighted with the unique presents they were able to get at the event - "sure beats Milton Keynes any day" one very pleased visitor was heard to say. At the time of writing this article, we have still to finalise our figures but again, we seem to be heading for a record year.
A major donation was made to the The Sick Children's Trust. This is a charity which provides temporary accommodation for parents who have travelled many miles from home to be beside their children who are often receiving life saving treatment. One local family have had cause to thank the trust as a result of their own situation and we were happy to make a significant donation to the charity on their behalf. Most years we provide a level of suppo  to local charity, MK Act and this year was no exception. Th is charity, often referred to as the Women's Refuge, actually supports anyone who suffers from domestic violence and we have set aside a sum from our charity account for a project which they are currently exploring.
 The day sees us active from around 7.30am when we begin setting up the sites until after 5pm when they have to be 'broken down' again and without the help of a number of people, we would struggle to make it happen.
The purchase of a life saving hea 
A number of our Friends Group came along to both events which was fantastic but special mention has to be given to members for 207 (Cranfield) Squadron of the ATC. Commanding Officer Fg Off Sue Warbu on RAFVR(l) arranged for some of the cadets to give us some muscle at Olney and we were more than appreciative of their help. One of our stallholders was clearly impressed with their enthusiastic support and presented each cadet with a box of her cakes - just another example of the camaraderie which our Olney event seems to engender.
Day Centre in Newpo  Pagnell was
Our final fundraiser was back to Newport Pagnell with "A last minute Christmas Fair" - our third Fair this year and the most popular yet. Our Charity Account has received another great boost and Newport residents can look forward to many more in 2014 - keep an eye on Phonebox, Lions Website and local Posters.
friendship and incredible support for an amazing cause.
The funds raised will combat breast ovarian and cervical cancers and although we could have simply made a donation to their trip, felt that we could be a bit more creative in our suppo .
defibrillator to be located at the Brooklands
agreed. Although we hope that it will never
be used, we feel that it's presence will
give those attending the day centre a little
comfo  that it will be available if needed.
Our final 'cash pledge' in December was a
little different. Two ladies will be heading off
to Cuba in the summer as part of Women
 V Cancer a sponsored cycle ride full of fun  
We have agreed to underwrite a significant pa  of a fundraising event which they are planning which will ensure that those attending can be confident that their ticket money will actually reach the charities concerned and not be swallowed up in costs.
 What else did we do?
Watch Phonebox for more information and get on board when the tickets for the event at Carlton club become available.
Over £3500 committed to a wide range of charities and good causes, most with a local influence and all in the space of a single month.
Money raised ce ainly doesn't lie in our bank account for long as we have a philosophy within the club to use your donations as quickly and sensibly as
26 Phonebox Magazine