News from the District Governor
My Fellow Lions...
This is my first newsletter to you and probably the most difficult. Why? Because I have actually had to write it before my year has begun, in fact you are probably going to be reading it while I am in Seattle being sworn in as your DG, or at least just after my return.
I thank you all for having the confidence in me to elect me to be your Governor for the coming year. I will do my best along with my wife Lion Ann, not to let you down.
After the elections in March at our convention and being presented to the delegates, the excitement was raised somewhat at the MD convention in Belfast, when we were paraded in to the rapturous acclamation of our own district, as we walked to the stage to be greeted by Brigid and all the other dignitaries. The buzz is still with us and I am told it gets even better at International Convention.
Over the past couple of years serving as your VDG, I have undergone a lot of training especially in the last 6 months, with more yet to come; I have also attended as an observer at 2 Council of Governors meetings. During this time I decided to continue to collate the reports every month that all the clubs send in. I did this for several reasons, one of which is that you can learn a lot about a club by its reports, also I wanted to save the club visits until I was actually your DG. As your VDG I have had the pleasure of visiting some of the Zones and the real pleasure of meeting a lot of you at Charter celebrations.
What of the year ahead? Well the feeling among this years group of DGs and the International President is that we need to get back to our roots in Lionism and our motto "We Serve". So my theme for this year is "Service before Self", based on my old school motto, and as Lions we can add to that "Fun and Fellowship". Because as Lions we do have fun serving others and being a Lion is being part of the best fellowship organisation in the world.
International President Wing-Kun Tam, has as his theme "I Believe" and he like myself believes in service within our communities, he is asking us all to do at least one major community service project in our areas this coming year. He believes in growth in membership and new clubs, in youth, our today and tomorrow. He also believes in planting a million trees around the world this year to improve our environment and our lives.
What other plans do I have for the year? Well with the accent on Service and Fellowship, I have asked the Region Chairmen to appoint Regional teams to help them with membership, leadership and of course community service. These in turn will have, via the Regional Chairmen, the support of the Membership team, the Leadership team and the District Community Officer. With these teams in place I hope we will see growth in membership, and clubs, more Lions standing for office and some major community service projects taking place during the year.
What about fellowship? Well we start with the District Handover in the evening of 23rd July at the Alton House Hotel in Alton; this is followed by the District Service on the 2nd October in Fordingbridge, to show off our local dignitaries and rededicate ourselves to the Ethics and Purposes of Lionism. Then there will be a "Meet the Presidents" DG lunch on the 27th November at the Moorhill House Hotel, at Burley in the New Forest. Finally on the 23rd-25th March 2012 we will all, I hope, be "Carrying on across the Solent" at the District Convention in Norton Grange. Now I must emphasise that all of these functions are open to all Lions within the District, and it gives us all the chance to meet and have fellowship with other Lions from around the District.
I will close by saying that I am here as your Governor to serve you and I will do my utmost to be available on the phone, by email or most importantly in person to help and advise any Lion who asks me. I will also do my upmost to visit each and every club within the District, during my year and to attend as many Charter Celebrations that I am invited to and I will do this despite living on an offshore island.
Remember as I serve you as your DG, we all serve our communities, so that together we can achieve the unbelievable. I believe we can do amazing things together and be proud to be members of Lions Clubs International, the best Service and Fellowship organisation in the world.
DG Lion Ron and Ann
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