Lions Community Christmas Meal

Two local Newquay charities are joining forces to help provide a Community Christmas Dinner for those who are unable to celebrate Christmas with family or others.

As part of the Mayor’s Charity efforts, Newquay Towan Blystra Lions are working with the Joe Way Appeal to host the meal, which takes place on Friday 9  December at the Sandy Lodge Hotel, Newquay.

Barbara Hannan from Newquay Towan Blystra Lions explains; “The aim of the Dinner is to allow people who are unable to spend Christmas with family or others to get together and celebrate the occasion with others in a similar position.

The cost of the event is subsidised by the two charities, and costs £2.50 per person. This includes a welcome glass of Sherry, three course full Christmas dinner, a glass of wine with meal, christmas crackers and all the trimmings.

This is then followed by mince pies with tea/coffee, professional entertainment and prize bingo.

“Married couples, friends and single people all welcome. There is no intended age restriction as this is not particularly aimed at retired people.” added Barbara.

For more details, or to buy tickets, please contact Barbara on 07779 802767.

Members of Newquay Towan Blystra Lions made a donation to a local cause, in memory of a dear friend at a recent meeting.

Lions Member PDG Ken Clarke passed away last month, after suffering a serious stroke a couple of years ago. This left him confined to a wheelchair, and unable to communicate easily. Nevertheless, he continued to be an active member of the club along with his wife, Lions President Lesley Clarke.

Beatrice Dyer of the Phoenix Stroke Appeal made a presentation to the group, talking about the work the organisation does to help equip hospitals with specialist equipment to help people who have suffered strokes to recuperate. The club then presented a cheque for £500 to the appeal.

“The Phoenix Stroke appeal is very close to my heart, as my late husband Ken spent many weeks in the Phoenix Ward at Treliske Hospital after suffering his stroke.” said Lions President Lesley Clarke.

“The care he received was first class helping him to regain some of himself. Strokes are evil, they affect peoples vision and speech, sensation and movement, emotion and thought. With timely access to the right equipment and novel rehabilitation aids, the professionals can hugely improve the quality of the recovery of stroke victims. By providing this donation we can help someone on the road to recovery.”

Lions Vice-President Phil Bunt said “Towan Blystra Lions believes in helping local causes, particularly when they can have such a positive impact on people.

“Most of us know someone who has had a stroke at some point and appreciate the extent to which what is being planned here can help.”

Newquay Towan Blystra Lions are a group of likeminded individuals who aim to help local causes through both financial support, and as a service organisation. If you would like to find out more about the club, you can visit their website at www.newquaytowanblystralions.org.uk.

It is with a very heavy heart, that we must announce the passing of Lion Ken Clarke MBE in the early hours of Saturday, 1st October 2011.

Ken was a Lion for many years, with both Newquay Lions and later, as a founding charter member of Newquay Towan Blystra Lions. He was a past District Governor of 105SW - as he would say “Simply the best!”.

Despite Ken’s illness over the last couple of years, he was always smiling, happy, and cracking a joke - testament to his enduring personality, and the belief that there were people in the world a lot worse off than he was.

Lesley was a pillar of strength, and never let her or Ken’s community duties fall by the wayside whilst also being a fulltime carer.

We will all remember Ken, and keep a special place in our hearts for him, not only as a stalwart of the local community, and a Lion, but most importantly, a friend. We will miss him dearly.

Our love and thoughts are with his wife Lion Lesley, and of course the whole family at this time.

Details for Ken’s Funeral have not been announced yet, but we will post details on here as soon as these have been released.

Pictured above is Ken, at a recent event in Newquay with fellow Lion Andy Hannan, and his Wife, Lions President Lesley Clarke.

Newquay Towan Blystra Lions welcomed District Governor Clif Cane to our recent meeting.

Pictured are Clif, and Lions President Lesley Clarke exchanging bannerettes.

A recent night out at the Theatre raised almost £1000 for Newquay Towan Blystra Lions.

Newquay’s Lane Theatre held a special Charity performance of their latest production - the Alan Ayckbourne whodunnit “It could be anyone of us”. Pictured are members of the cast and crew from Lane Theatre presenting the cheque to Lions Vice President Phil Bunt.

Over 100 people came to watch the murder mystery, of which all the profits from the tickets went to the Lions.

The club also ran a raffle on the evening, which was generously match-funded pound for pound by Barclay’s Bank.

The amount raised was £781.78, and the match funding for the raffle was £202.30. Thus making the final amount raised £984.08.

All the money raised will be used by Newquay Towan Blystra Lions to help good causes.

Thank you for your support, and thank you to Lane Theatre for choosing us to be part of this special evening.

Two hard-working members of Newquay Towan Blystra Lions were recognised as stalwarts of the local Community, at a recent glittering reception evening.

Lions President Lion Lesley Clarke, along with her husband Past District Govenor Lion Ken Clarke MBE were amongst around half-a-dozen local people singled out and awarded at the recent Newquay Voice Newspaper 10th Anniversary Party.

The event, which was held at Newquay Harbour attracted around 500 invited guests. The “Citizen of the Decade” awards were designed to recognise people that had contributed much to the local community. As well as all their tireless work with the Lions, they also have involvement in Newquay Gateway Club and Lane Theatre amongst many other causes and organisations.

They were presented with a special glass award, and a large bunch of flowers by Newquay Voice Managing Director Andy Laming, and his wife, Newspaper Photographer Chrissie Laming.

You can view more photos from the evening on the Newquay Voice Website here