News from the District Governor

Club Visits and Charters

News1105a Apart from some re-arranged visits to take place in May and June, my club visits are now complete. My thanks to 1st VDG(e) Roger for sharing the visits with me to lighten my workload, allow me time to attend committee meetings and try to put a strategic view on things. We must not forget also allowing me to give full concentration to my demanding daytime job which provides the financial backup to allow me to serve as your District Governor. As I am now into the 11th month of my year, I am sorry to say that until Lions Clubs International mandates that the District Governor Team do share all the club visits, then being a District Governor will become the preserve of the retired or semi-retired - driving an average of 150 mile round trip for a club meeting and arriving home at nearly midnight only to get up at 06:30 for work the next morning does not work over the long term. A prime example was our last scheduled visit - to Weymouth in April - where we left home at 16:00 as we were joining the President for dinner before the meeting and Mike had to ask me to drive on the way down as he was falling asleep; coming back I was driving and half way back I nearly swerved off the road on the M3 as I also was falling asleep. Don't under-estimate the wear and tear on your body - perhaps the District Long Range Planning Team should look at this aspect on how the District should be run?

Mike and I had an exhausting 14 day stint in the middle of the month with club visits - including the Channel Islands - and charters on three consecutive days over the weekend including the magnificent celebration of Bournemouth Lion's Club 50th Anniversary - congratulations to PCC Jeff Byers and Bournemouth Club. I spent quite a bit of time that evening talking to PCC Ken Riley who is this district's oldest surviving PDG having served in 1970-71 and what a wealth of stories he could tell.

News1105b Whilst in Jersey, at our request, we were taken to Maison des Landes which those of you who were at Convention heard about from PID Philip Daubeney. With my professional hat on looking for suitable facilities for those with Physical Disabilities I can say without a doubt that this venue is excellent and will meet the needs of almost any condition - and at a very reasonable price so next time you get a request to provide a holiday for someone in your club's area then why not suggest Maison des Landes in Jersey?

Final word on Convention

News1105c District Convention Host Chairman, Lion Steve Spencer, has now analysed the feedback he received from the 46th Annual Convention and I have included a summary of it elsewhere in this newsletter for you to read - the full feedback will be handed over to the next two years Convention Committees when we do a full debrief. My personal thanks to all those who took the time to provide some feedback on the event. Overall I am very glad of the way it was received by most people whilst acknowledging that some things could be done better and that there are some things in the business session which could be improved. I do however feel sorry for the couple of people who remarked that their Banquet and Ball was more like a family wedding with children there. Can I just say that my family were very proud of what I have achieved and wanted to ensure they supported me through the two biggest events in my year - Handover and Convention. Equally I am proud that they wanted to attend a Lions function at their young ages. I do not mind constructive criticism but for me this was more personal and uncalled for. Remember the phrase we used frequently at Convention - Lions lose Lions!!

Sad News

Unfortunately this month the sad news is very close to home. The secretary of Bracknell Club - Lion Iris Gough - died after a long illness and spells in and out of hospital. She had been a Lion for about 30 years in South Africa and joined Bracknell when she returned from South Africa 4 years ago. Many times Mike and I had given Iris lifts to various club events the last being Burnham Charter in February which she thoroughly enjoyed. The second sad news is Lion Marion Williams - a Charter member of my own club Burnham and widow of the club's Charter President, Bernard. Marion also had been in ill health for some time and unfortunately missed a club event which had been her brainchild - a Deaf Awareness Day held in Burnham at the beginning of this month - a fitting tribute to a courageous and caring Lion. Finally I have just heard of the death at the age of 90 of Lion Harry Ovens, MJF of Windsor Lions Club. Harry was a Past President and was, until his retirement, Chair of the Welfare Committee. May they Rest in Peace.

New members - March 2011

We welcome those new members who joined 105D Lions Clubs in March 2011:

Blackmore Vale - Lion Keith Waterhouse
Bridport - Lion Wendy Bentley
Dorchester - Lions Johanna Maidment and Keith Hutchins
Blandford - Lion Nigel Hodder
Wareham - Lion Timothy Lench
Trowbridge - Lions Robert Jotcham, Scott Vivian and Alice Adcock
Crofton - Lions Victoria Stabler and Anthony Stabler
Hayling Island - Lion Gillian Newman
Hart - Lion Jill Symons

I wish them a very enjoyable time in this District and in the wider organisation.

Membership Retention and Club Growth

At the end of March, overall across the District, we had two members less than I started with in July 2010. Again the rolling statistics show that we have no trouble getting new members to join but we do have trouble retaining members once they are members of the organisation. 53% of our clubs now have less than 20 members and 12% have less than 10 members. Analysis of the 103 members who have left so far this year shows the following:

Category	% of total	Comment
Resigned in good standing	56.3%	Do we ever ask why when members resign and do we believe them? Do we try to stop them?
Moved	8.7%	May become more relevant in the future as people perhaps downsize their property or move to be near family
Non payment of dues	2.9%	This would seem to indicate that cost is not a problem
Non attendance	11.7%	This is a problem - is it style of meetings, lack of involvement?
Transfer	5.8%	We have lost some to other districts but at least they have retained their membership
Deceased	14.6%	Surely a sign of our ageing membership?

I do hope the �My Ideal Club' workshop if taken up by clubs will flush out some of these issues - certainly in the clubs in the two districts where it was piloted have found that having got to the bottom of issues they have at least been able to address them. One of those two pilot districts is one of only three in this Multiple District who are showing positive growth this year so far.

Membership Reporting

Leading on from Membership is 'Membership Reporting' - the monthly MMR report for LCI, MD and District records. Why do we need to bother? Well this updates the master database of new members, deceased members, change of address etc. Completion of this form ensures that your new member gets to receive the Lion magazine for which they are paying - more importantly it also ensures that the name of a deceased member is removed from the database and does not receive any more mailings. It is also a constitutional requirement of a chartered club to provide such reports as required. And finally the figures supplied to LCI in May and November each year dictate the charges for your club for the next 6 months - it is far easier to supply the right information and be charged the correct amount than to try to sort it afterwards. Last month 13 clubs failed to report their numbers to LCI (they know who they are) - and if they fail to report at the end of May they could be overcharged for the next 6 months. Can I ask these clubs especially to get their reporting up to date as we reach the end of another year - if you don't know how please contact DG(e) Ron Twining or District Secretary Godwin Micallef and they will be only too pleased to help you.

Hendy's Haunts - May

Date	Where	Why
May 1st	Blandford and District	C/A and Leo Club Charter Presentation
May 2nd	Wokingham May Fayre	Club Event
May 3rd-9th	Belfast	MD105 Convention
May 11th	Romsey	Official Visit
May 14th	Holiday Inn, Southampton	Incoming Officers
May 14th	Fareham	C/A
May 15th	Portsmouth	Cabinet Meeting
May 16/17th	Jersey	Swimarathon Presentation
May 18th	Region 5 meeting	Maidenhead
May 21st	Westbury	C/A
May 22nd	Paultons Park	District Event
May 22nd	Hart	C/A
May 25th	Ibis, Southampton	District Development Meeting
May 27-29th	Ireland	Family celebration
May 29th	Blackmore Vale	C/A

Key: (O/V = Official Visit C/A = Charter Anniversary)

Regards

Brigid and Mike

Download the PDF file

District 105D Convention 2011 - The perfect Convention?

Not quite! As we had a very successful Convention, based on the comments of people over the weekend and responses to a survey I ran, I thought I would try to draw some conclusions from the survey and our experience, which may be of use to others in planning a Convention.

Reduce the ceremonial (the flag ceremony and opening ceremony generally), as well as the non-business content such as the awards of District prizes (it was suggested these were more appropriate for the handover, or even should be awarded at club meetings)
Move away from the traditional approach as typified by the above, towards a more discussion focussed day, involving the audience. One suggestion made in the survey to that end: ensure all attendees have access to a Convention booklet, by sending a soft copy as well as hard to the clubs - and (or at least) posting it on the District website
As part of this process, perhaps have all the business in one day, including the workshops. This would enable those there for only a day to benefit from the full business programme. Give more time and emphasis to workshops - it was felt these were valuable but needed longer
Using a dedicated convention centre scored highly, as all the facilities are there and add to the experience
Organisationally, get the venue on board with what you require from an early date. For example, learn from our mistake and ensure that not only is it a decent lunch at a reasonable price, but that there is slick service to ensure that lunch does not over-run - the latter will probably require input from the Host committee to manage the seating arrangements. We allowed people to sit where they would, which made service that much more difficult and slower.
Ensure first impressions are positive, a good booking-in experience is essential. Having Lions manage the whole process worked for us, as it streamlined it.
As there are always comments about cost and a large proportion of the attendees choose or need to attend for one day only, ensure they are catered for adequately, both in terms of accommodating them and also, as mentioned above, in the programme. This can have a profound effect on budgeting which needs to be realised in that process - there appears to a steady trend away from the full weekend attendance, although the venue can affect this.
There were comments in the survey about how the Convention is not attractive to the younger person, and we need to address this. However, those of you who have read Lion President Clare Dowling's account of her first Lions Convention in the District newsletter will realise that what older people think might be attractive to the younger members is not necessarily true. I will mention though that Clare did like the band on Saturday night and in common with many of her generation likes her dance music loud. So if we wish to attract younger members we may all have to learn to live with the noise occasionally!

I realise that some of the points above may mean that we need to make changes to the way in which we operate and may need some Constitutional changes. Also they are matters which have been and will continue to be considered by the Long Range Planning Committee. However, (as we are often reminded) we need to adapt to the times and Convention is not exempt from this need.

Steve Spencer
Host Committee Chairman, 2011 Convention