The first Lions club was formed in Chicago in 1917. The first in these islands was London Host in 1950, and today Lions Clubs International is to be found in virtually every nation of the world, 1.5 members in more than 45,000 clubs. Membership is open to men & women who wish to serve those less fortunate in their community.
So how have Shakespeare Lions served Stratford upon Avon? The answer is in many varied ways as the needs & aspirations of our locality have changed in more than 30 years.
[1967 -1969] In those early days, Christmas breakfasts for the elderly, a monthly rota of drivers to transport the blind & disabled to the Firs Club [where Stratford Police Station now stands], and gardening & decorating homes of the elderly were a staple. Fund raising by means of Race Nights, and an annual Summer Fete generated moneys for two important local causes.
Sylvia Smith a teenager from Tiddington urgently needed dialysis and the only way to lengthen her life expectancy was to purchase a Kidney Machine. The Lions galvanised local opinion and £7,000 was raised, and this became very high profile for Woman’s Own magazine wrote a wonderful article on Sylvia and her supporters. Sadly, Sylvia died some years later.
The decade closed with the Russaid project. This was a specialised electronic device invented by a local man initially for use by his deaf son. This enabled the boy to be educated locally and not at a specialised school. On 27 December 1969 to coincide with the opening of the Regal Cinema, Leamington Spa a Gala performance of the film ‘Oliver’ enabled the Lions to purchase a further dozen sets. Today circumstances are different in terms of technology and what the State is prepared to provide but these were fun days when the world did not move so fast.
[1970 - 1979] In September 1969, the Stratford Leo Club was chartered. This was the junior version of Lions for young men & women aged 15 to 21. The following year Leo David Dumper was selected by the Multiple District to represent Great Britain & Eire at the Lions International Youth Congress to be held in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Two years later David was invited to join the senior club and has remained a Shakespeare Lion ever since.
The highlight of this decade was the construction of a Day Centre for senior citizens in Mulberry St. Opened in July 1974 the Shakespeare Lions Day Centre cost £15,000 to build, and still stands today a lasting monument to Vision with Action. More than £3,000 was raised on a single event when Phil Burn a local track cyclist was sponsored to ride from Lands End to Stratford in 24 hours arriving just in time to open the Day Centre.
Another popular activity of this era was the annual kids cinema show. The old Stratford Picture House could accommodate more than 900 and every December we gave the kids a free cinema show in return for a tin of food, which we would later donate to the needy.
In 1972, we received a visit from Verona Lions of Italy, and in 1973 we visited them to cement our twinning. Verona again returned to Stratford to celebrate that other Shakespeare’s birthday in April 1974 and gave us a bronze statuette of ‘Juliet’. We later discovered it was valuable so we donated it to the Shakespeare Centre in Henley Street. A second copy is to be found in the Town Hall.
In 1975, we became the saviour of the Stratford Amateur Boxing club by sponsoring a tournament at the Stratford Moat House. This became an annual event for fifteen years raising many thousands of pounds for our charities, and establishing the boxing club with their peers in the Midlands.
This was the great decade of expansion of Lions clubs. We formed Redditch (1972), Evesham Vale (1977), Alcester (1978) and Stour Valley (1981).
[1980 - 1989] In 1982 in conjunction with Wellesbourne Lions, we made provision of major items of playground equipment and toilets for the handicapped on Stratford Recreation ground. Other notable purchases during this decade was an Ambulance for St. John, and the first heart resuscitation kit to be placed in a Warwickshire County ambulance for use by paramedics.
[1990 - to date] Swimathons, Easter Egg raffles, and our annual ‘It’s a Knockout’ have been our recent successes. It has been a trend in this most recent period that although we raise between £5 to £10,000 per annum our recipients are greater in number and the days of the large capital project have gone. That said we are as well known in our community now for the Lions Carol Concert in Bridge Street begun in the early 1980’s, and our involvement with the Gateway Club for whom we have provided weekly transport for nearly twenty years.
After nearly 40 years the Club still maintains its link with the Falcon, the club of 1967 held its original meetings at the Falcon Hotel, Chapel Street, Stratford upon Avon, and it remains our current meeting place on the 2nd & 4th Thursday of each month at 8.00pm.
