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36 Phonebox Magazine | January 2025The Lull After the Storm!This time of year has been really busy for us %u2013 as we launched into our various Christmas and Winter projects %u2013 Olney Fireworks, %u2018Lions Toast%u2019 Whisky Tasting, Olney Christmas Tree Festival, Newport Pagnell Christmas Lights Switch-On Event, Dickens of a Christmas Lions Craft Fair, Calendar Sales, and Biscuits delivery to 300 local residents! Phew! Thank you to everyone for your help and support!DONATIONSDonation to Motor Neurone Disease AssociationAt our meeting this month, we affi rmed our decision to donate %u00a3500 to the Motor Neurone Disease Association %u2013 in memory of popular local man, Bill Bethune. This represents the money raised at our recent Lions Toast event (with a little top-up from our general Charity Fund).Donation towards the cost of Christmas Biscuits and CardsAs usual, at this time of year, we procured and distributed around 300 tins of M&S chocolate biscuits to local residents in Olney, Newport Pagnell and surrounding villages. (This is quite a major expense for us %u2013 in terms of money and eff ort %u2013 but we really enjoy doing it!).Donation to Willen HospiceWillen were running a matched funding scheme %u2013 so our donation was doubled. We couldn%u2019t say no!Donation to District Senior Citizens Christmas Celebration PartyThis is an annual event organised by our District and includes bingo, music and dancing in addition to good food and afternoon tea, as usual, we supported this activity by sponsoring a table.FUNDRAISING Town CalendarsWe have made a good start on our sales and sponsorships. We hope to raise about %u00a32,000.Note: the Club has made the unfortunate decision NOT to sell calendars, as usual, via weekly appearances at Olney Market and outside (what was) Boots in Newport Pagnell. We just didn%u2019t have the resources to support this level of commitment. Also, those boxes of calendars, gazebos, tables, etc. are getting heavy these days! So, we are relying this year on sales through local retailers %u2013 and we have had a bit of a push to increase the number of outlets that are selling our calendars for us.Dickens of a Christmas Lions Craft Fair at the Olney CentreWe had a really great Dickens Day! We had over 1,200 visitors %u2013 plus all of the children %u2013 and raised about %u00a32,000! Well done everyone %u2013 especially our event manager, Lion Angela and our wonderful stall-holders. We raised a stack of money, participated in a prestigious high-profi le event in our community %u2013 and we spoke to all the stall-holders and they were all delighted with the quality of the event, the footfall, and the sausage baps. We also had great support from our Friends group. We could not have done Newport Pagnell & Olney Lionsthis without the extraordinary help from so many special people. A special thanks to Jen who was with us all day. We had a load of other Friends helping too %u2013 including Angela%u2019s family who looked after the food; Terry who looked fabulous in her outfi t; %u2018stout fellows%u2019 Graham and Phil, regular stalwart helpers Maureen, Hannah and Lynda. I%u2019m bound to have forgotten someone %u2013 sorry if so! Thank you to all who made this a fantastic day for us!Newport Pagnell Christmas Lights Switch On Event We had a long %u2013 but enjoyable %u2013 day at the Newport Pagnell Christmas Lights Switch On Event! We had our photo taken with the Mayor and Mayoress, and with Chris Curtis MP %u2013 and we were invited to appear on a local community radio show to talk about Lions. A young chap asked how to go about joining our Club . . . oh, and we sold over 70 calendars and had about %u00a315 in our collecting tins!Thank you Newport Pagnell and thanks to the Christmas Lights team for organising such a splendid community event %u2013 and a special %u2018Thank You%u2019 to Wards of Olney for transporting all our gear over to Newport Pagnell.Olney Christmas Tree FestivalWe were very pleased to take part in the Olney Christmas Tree Festival for the fi rst time this year. We bought a nice Christmas tree and decorated it with white ribbons %u2013 to symbolise peace %u2013 which was the theme of this year%u2019s event. We also added some %u2018Birds of Peace%u2019 %u2013 small artworks created by Ukrainian children during the war in their country. Last time there were 70 local community trees, over 2,000 visitors and the event raised a good deal of money for charity. Well done Lion Nur, our newest member, for organising this for us!Lions Toast Whisky NightThank you to retired Lion, John for arranging the evening for us and being our guest speaker for the night %u2013 highly interesting and informative! Thanks also to Lion friends Sandra, Roz and Pat. Thanks also to the staff at The Carlton House Club, fellow Lions and to all our attending guests.SERVICE ACTIVITIESDistribution of Christmas biscuitsNot much time for Service this month %u2013 we were pretty busy on Fund Raising! But, as noted above, we purchased the biscuits and the whole Club %u2013 including some retired members, took them around to local residents. For some of our %u2018customers%u2019, it%u2019s not just the biscuits they enjoy %u2013 it%u2019s the few minutes of chat and engagement on their doorstep that they most cherish.MEETINGS and SOCIALSWe held our Christmas lunch at The Cherry Tree %u2013 and attended the Zone Quiz, for a bit of %u2018Fun and Fellowship%u2019!Oh! %u2013 and the Club won a couple of awards from our senior Lion colleagues in the US this month, in recognition of our service and commitment. We were also delighted to receive a relayed congratulatory letter from Chris Curtis MP. Thank you for the kind words Chris!That%u2019s all folks!At Newport Pagnell Christmas Lights Switch On No caption needed - the pic says it all! Christmas Tree Festival