Annual Report 2010 – 2011
President Report, by Trish Long.
Welcome all !
I have come to the end of my year with a sense of achievement and satisfaction thanks to the generous support of all members.
I will mention some of the highlights of the year, the main one being the completion of the Accessible Toilet/parents room. It came together this year with the generosity and cooperation of the Strata management of Beecroft Village Arcade and the help of a grant from the NSW Government.
We all know the wonderful work done in producing our Gazette and masterminding the website. This has been recognised by Lions Clubs International with the prestigious Best Website being awarded to Beecroft-Cheltenham Lions. Our congratulations go to Alex and also Tom our former YOTY contestant.
Beecroft in Bloom was once again a huge success bringing our club, businesses and the community together for a day of fun and activity.
The South Sea Cabaret was another fun night thanks to Lesley and Nuki.
A major project for youth is Lions Youth of the Year and Beecroft-Cheltenham supports this very worthwhile event under the direction of Dr. Margaret Talbot. This year we had five contestants from local schools.
I would like to thank my club for giving me this opportunity and encourage all to carry on their enthusiasm through next year and into the future.
Thank you and goodnight.
Trish Long, President 2010-2011
Return to TopIncoming President’s Report by Frances Michael
As your President for the coming year I feel humble to represent our club for 2011-2012.
It is exciting planning for the year ahead. We have achieved a lot over the last 8 years. As you read in our Ethics and Purposes it is a daunting task, but I believe we have upheld many of the qualities and challenges that have been set before us. We now need to maintain the high standard we have set ourselves. Lion Alex is an example of this in honouring our club with an award from Lions International for the best designed web site in ‘Liondom’. How lucky are we to have members with such devotion and dedication. We have many members who have a wealth of experience and many who have raw enthusiasm. It is this blend of our members that makes this club so successful.
It is my responsibility as your incoming President with our newly inducted board, to maintain a focus on all things Lions. I look forward to the challenge – with your help.
Thank you,
Frances Michael, Incoming President 2011-201.
Report from Secretary 2010-2011, Joanne Sim
Where has this year gone?? It only feels like a couple of months ago I handed over the gong and gavel to Trish but it is 12 months!
Beecroft-Cheltenham has again had a successful year with many outstanding events and lots of ‘family’ gatherings. The atmosphere created by the members of Beecroft-Cheltenham has been one of the major reasons convincing our new additions to come and join our Lions family. This year we have welcomed Brian Bailey, John and Beryl Wakefield, Julian Leeser and John Glasson. Although we lost a couple of members early in the year, we have ended the year with an overall gain of four taking the club’s membership to 34. Reports at the last board meeting indicated that there may be some more on the horizon.
As usual, most months saw the club members out and about involved to various activities. Again the September highlight was, of course, Beecroft in Bloom. 2010’s festival grew bigger again with the addition of market stalls. A great hit and one which will remain. The cocktail party was successful and a great community event. BIB is becoming well known by the community and the continuing support by the businesses of Beecroft is ensuring that the club will be able to continue to provide this annual event. Well done to Frances and her team for another successful event.
Anyone for dancing? Our South Pacific Cabaret in October was very successful with the club selling enough tickets to fill the Club. We were treated to great food and entertainment and so look out for this year’s event…it should be another great event. Thank you to Lesley and Nuki for your efforts to make this a great night.
November saw several members attending the District convention and then Beecroft-Cheltenham again demonstrated we were the trivia kings by, again, taking out the Interclub Trivia Challenge. There are some of us ‘smarter than 5th graders!’
Christmas is always a busy time for members of any club and Beecroft is no exception. Our Christmas cake selling reached greater heights than previous years and with the increasing numbers of orders and queries coming through the website, how many will we sell in 2011? Thank you John and Alex for all your efforts in selling and delivering all those cakes and puddings. Beecroft’s other Christmas time activities include making gingerbread houses, Santa’s photos, helping with letters to Santa and two children’s Christmas craft workshops in the arcade. Thanks to John Moore, and Santa’s elves including Frances, Gwenda, Doreen, Alex, Abbey Sim and myself. Thank you also to Bede and Trish for hosting the 2010 Christmas party.
The other major achievement in December was the awarding of the inaugural Lions Community Services Awards to students from our five local high schools. Thank you to Alex, Sharon, Gwenda and myself for attending the various presentation ceremonies and representing the club for the awards. Each student was a worthy recipient and I look forward to finding out the 2011 recipients.
January is usually a quiet time in most Lions clubs, however 2011’s January found our members cooking sausages at Bunnings on two Saturdays and holding bucket collecting at several railway stations to raise funds for victims of the terrible floods in Queensland, northern NSW and Victoria. With these activities, Beecroft-Cheltenham was able to contribute $4000 to the flood appeal. Thank you all those members who contributed to this great result.
Unfortunately 2011 has also seen devastating disasters in Japan and New Zealand. Our club has been able to make substantial contributions to the tsunami appeal in Japan and the earthquake appeal in Christchurch. The board recently received thank you letters from families in Christchurch who have benefitted from our donation.
February and March are, of course, Youth of the Year. Beecroft’s club judging saw five contestants from Epping Boys, Normanhurst Boys and Asquith Girls. Our Club winner, Luke McKerrell from Normanhurst Boys went onto win the Region final. Well done to Dr Marg for your organisation and introduction of the information session held last December.
May was another busy month with members cooking sausages for Hornsby Council’s Graffiti information day and also participating in the charity trivia night. Another great night with 100 people and a great profit made.
However, the most monumental achievement in May was the very long awaited opening of the completed Accessible toilet and baby change room in Beecroft Village Arcade. This project started with the birth of the club in 2003 and has taken a lot of effort from many members to finally reached fruition. The club certainly owes a vote of appreciation to the management of the arcade who have decided to only charge the club the amount we received from the government grant. This is a substantial saving for the club and has now set us up for other future projects.
The highlight for July has been the Lions Club of Beecroft-Cheltenham being awarded first place for the International website competition. What a fantastic achievement and we all offer our congratulations to Alex, our webmaster, and, of course, Tom for all his outstanding contributions.
Another highlight of this year has been the continuation of the social program organised by Patrick and Bev McAppion. This year’s program included dinners to Baulkham Hills TAFE, a Lebanese restaurant and Australia Day BBQ. Thank you both for your efforts and the club certainly looks forward to this year’s program. Patrick has also been responsible for organising our guest speakers. They have been devise and very informative and entertaining. Thank you Patrick for making the meetings something to look forward to.
Along with these highlights, we have also continued to collect used postage stamps, used eyeglasses and assist with the BBQs, trivia mornings and bus trips for Chesalon Nursing Home in Cheltenham. Thank you to John, Patrick, Gwenda and John for your continuing support of these activities.
The collection of used stamps for charity has certainly been very successful this year thanks to contributions from Bankstown Council, NSW Dept of Education and several members of the public who have seen that we collect stamps on our website. The largest contribution was made by a lady from WA who has sent over 10kg of stamps from her father’s collection. I’m sure Parkinson’s NSW will be able to make great use of these stamps for their fundraising activities.
My only regret from this year has been that due to escalating work commitments I have been unable to put the effort into the Secretary’s role as I have in the past. Thank you to those members who have stepped in for me and offered to help with some of the tasks. As it appears my work commitments will continue to grow, at least in the near future, I am looking forward to having a quieter year serving as a director for the Club.
Congratulations to Trish for an outstanding year and my best wishes to Frances and her team for 2011-2012.
Joanne Sim, Secretary 2010-2011
List of Donations by Lions Club of Beecroft Cheltenham To Support Others During 2010-2011
During 2010 – 2011 the Lions Club of Beecroft Cheltenham provided funds to help the following worthy causes…
| Accessible Toilet and Parents Room Beecroft Facilities for frail, aged or with a disability that may mean people move with aids such as wheelchairs, motorised scooters or walking aids and includes a baby change table for parents |
$12,440.15 |
| Flood Relief All funds collected went to the Australian Lions Foundation to reach flood victims |
$4,000.00 |
| The Children’s Hospital at Westmead Cystic Fibrosis Clinic |
$3,000.00 |
| Alzheimer’s Australia |
$2,000.00 |
| New Zealand Earth Quake Relief NZ Dollars $1,000 to Lions Club of New Brighton, Christchurch New Zealand. |
$791.50 |
| Vision Australia |
$500.00 |
| Parkinson’s Australia |
$500.00 |
| Lions High School Community Service Awards |
$500.00 |
| Glaucoma Australia |
$200.00 |
| NSW Public Health Care Raffle Benefiting Lions NSW-ACT Save Sight Foundation and the Lions Clubs NSW-ACT Public Health Care Foundation. |
$200.00 |
| Lions Education Builds Bridges project |
$200.00 |
| Repairs To Mobility Scooter |
$164.00 |
| Youth of the Year Quest Awards |
$80.00 |
|
Total |
$24,575.65 |
Plus, members devoted many happy hours to:
- Preparation for and running of Beecroft in Bloom and Beecroft Lions Art Exhibition
- Contributing to and enjoying ourselves at our two Trivia Nights (November and May)
- Selling Lions Christmas Cakes and Puddings
- Helping with Santa’s Mail box
- Organising Santa’s visits to Beecroft and taking photos of Santa and the children to be emailed to parents
- Assisting the Children to make decorations and gifts at the Christmas Children’s Craft Table
- Assisting each month at Chesalon Nursing Home with bus trips, bbq’s and trivia functions for residents
- Several days raising funds by barbecuing at Bunnings Warehouse
- Supporting our Youth of the Year contestant through several levels of the Quest
- Presentation of Community Service Awards to local High Schools
- Collecting used postage stamps to assist Parkinson’s NSW with their project to “Stamp Out Parkinson’s”
- Collecting and re-cycling used spectacles
- Members attended International, National and District Conventions
- Members served on N5 District Cabinet and the Lions Cord Blood & Childhood Cancer Research Appeal Committee
Leos Australia
Lions Australia
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Google+
Follow us on Twitter