A day in the life of a Lions Club President

On  Tuesday evening  last  Newcastle Lions President  Liz Murphy welcomed 12 club members to our monthly meeting, also present were three prospective new members who had joined us for the evening.

 The main item  for discussion was preparations for the club's annual recycling collection ,to be held on  Saturday 23rd March at 9.00 am until 3.30 pm. The location for the drop off to be announced nearer the time. Once again the Lions will be appealing for material that  would have in the past  have gone to land fill .  The Lions will be looking for donations of spectacles, adult bicycles good or in need of repair, sewing machines, electrical or treadle and any tools broken or good. The donations will be delivered to the Belfast based charity Bike Aid Africa and Downpatrick's Tools for  Solidarity .

The recycled products will then be serviced and despatched to Malawi, Tanzania and Madagascar to help people in need..

 Lion President, Liz was pleased to announce a pub quiz in the Harbour  Inn on  Friday 15th  March at 9.00pm in aid of  MYMY.

Photo: Newcastle lions  Club members prepare for their recycling appeal, in photo Lions Virginia Hughes, Dan O'Reilly, President Liz Murphy, VG Marian Mc Greevy, and Peter May.

Lions thrilled to extend spectacle recycling scheme with Spirit AeroSystems.

Newcastle Lions' glasses coordinator, Dan O'Reilly (left) receives a donation of spectacles from Spirit's Environment & Risk Coordinator, Matt Hall (centre) and Environmental Advisor, Andrew Wood (right).

In promoting  recycling in their  community, Newcastle Lions Club are joining with the  Northern Ireland  Resource Network to promote sustainable reuse and repair as a practical and effective way of tackling Northern Ireland’s waste generation and develop opportunities in the Circular Economy. As a small club, the Lions are achieving reuse and repair by promoting the recycling of unwanted  spectacles in a big way. Four times each year the club collect  glasses from  Belfast  City  Council, local opticians , the Newcastle Library and the  GPS surgery and despatch these in ten large boxes to Lions Medico France . There the glasses are cleaned and measured before being sent to needy countries to help improve the sight of people in need. This month, Newcastle Lions Club are thrilled that their recycling scheme has been adopted by the global aerospace company,  Spirit AeroSystems.  Spirit is one of the world's largest manufacturers of aerostructures for commercial aircraft, defence platforms and business / regional jets. Newcastle Lions, in working with Spirit, are returning to old ground. In 2010, the club, together with the company's Belfast facility, supported Centenary celebrations for Harry Ferguson, when Newcastle Lions helped our local council organise a very successful community event.  It was with great pleasure that Lions recycling officer, Dan O'Reilly visited Spirit to receive a large box of 205 pairs of recycled glasses. 

Cork Appeal

Following an appeal by Lions Ireland to help people in Cork who suffered due to flooding caused by Storm Babet, Newcastle Lions president Liz Murphy has presented a cheque for £500 to Marion McGreevy Vice District Governor Lions Club Ireland to pass to the Lions in County Cork.