Monthly News from the Lion President

Handover July 2023

Handover Lion President Alan Ranger to Lions Jo0hn Carter










On 7th July 2022, Lion John Carter (on the left in the picture) took over from Lion Alan Ranger as President. 

May 2023 - July 2023

The members of the Lions Club agreed funding for the following: -

  • A donation towards the purchase of a special wheelchair for a local lady in a Care Home
  • Purchase of "T"- shirts for Burgess Hill Youth members
  • A donation towards the Mississippi Tornado victim appeal
  • A donation to Age UK towards the cost of raffle prizes
  • A donation to St Peter & St James Hospice to help fund their volunteer presentation event
  • Purchase of Burgess Hill Cricket Club Youth Team awards and the purchase of cricket balls for the 2024 season
  • A donation to "Young Minds" - a mental illness charity
  • A donation to the Burgess Hill Xmas Food Parcel project
  • A donation to the Burgess Hill Academy Inkwell Mentoring project - to help young people with mental illness issues
  • Purchase of new goal posts for Marle Place Wanderers Soccer Team
  • A donation to Age UK towards the cost of a new dishwasher
  • Replacement physiotherapy equipment at Princess Royal Hospital
  • Sponsorship to benefit a School for the visually impaired in Tanzania

January 2023 - April 2023

The members of the Lions Club agreed funding for the following: -

  • Sponsorship of the Burgess Hill Summer Fayre
  • Sponsorship of the Town Festival Teddy Bears Picnic
  • Sponsorship of the Town Festival "Romeo and Juliet" outdoor performance
  • Sponsorship of a BMX "Rock up and Ride" event in the summer
  • A donation to the Lions Club International Turkey & Syrian Earthquake appeal
  • The purchase of new instruments and new uniforms for Burgess Hill Marching Youth
  • A donation towards the construction of a Secret Garden at Sheddingdean Primary School
  • A donation to the Hurstpierpoint Hedgehog Haven to help towards annual veterinary and medication bills
  • A donation to the Burgess Hill Pantry for the purchase of food
  • A donation towards the purchase of a special wheelchair adaptation for a local man

August 2022 - December 2022

The members of the Lions Club agreed funding for the following: -

  • Replacement defibrillator for Burgess Hill Theatre Club
  • Local Scouts attending their World Scout Jamboree
  • "Activity Alliance" an organisation that supports disabled sport
  • St Peter & St James Hospice Lights of Love Service
  • Lions International appeal following floods in Pakistan
  • Christmas Meal for adults attending "Summerhaven"
  • 4-Sight to help locally visually impaired people
  • A Yamaha Digital Piano for London Meed School to allow pupils to learn to play the piano
  • Golf training lessons for pupils attending Woodlands Meed Special Needs School
  • An Anniversary Concert being planned for the pupils attending Woodlands Meed Special Needs School
  • Pantomime tickets for Young Carers
  • Repairs to Mid Downs Radio Outside Broadcast unit
  • "Young Minds" - an organisation that helps prevent young suicide
  • The Lions Clubs National Youth Appeal

Handover July 2022

Handover from Ken Saunders to Alan Ranger

On 4th July 2022, Lion Alan Ranger (on the right in the picture) took over from Lion Ken Saunders as President. Lion Ken had been President for two years due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

May 2022 - July 2022

The members of the Lions Club agreed funding for the following: -

  • The Burgess Town Day held on the 13th August
  • The Art Club at the Cherry Tree Centre
  • 24 "Jubilee" trees for Downlands School
  • The Town Council/Kings Church Xmas Hamper project
  • A Diabetes Screening Day Equipment for The Mustard Seed Cafe
  • Volunteer Trophies for St Peters & St James Hospice
  • Burgess Hill Cricket Club Youth Teams
  • Burgess Hill Rugby Club Youth Teams
  • Chailey Heritage
  • A local gymnast who is part of the GB team

January 2022 - May 2022

The members of the Lions Club agreed funding for the following: -

  • St John's Church
  • Sussex Chorus
  • St Peter and St James Hospice
  • Sussex Clubs for Young People
  • Burgess Hill Marching Youth
  • Dumbrills Residents Association
  • St Wilfrids School
  • Street Mate Youth Workers
  • Young Leaders in Service
  • Age UK (Burgess Hill)
  • A Bluebell Railway Cream Tea

December 2021/January 2022

October/November 2021

DG Ian Forbes presents his Bannerette to Liion President Ken Saunders

District Governor Ian Forbes presenting Lion President Ken Saunders with the DG's Bannerette at a recent Club Meeting

Burgess Hill District Lions has won an award for its work internationally in support of the Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) for 2020-2021. The LCIF supports critical humanitarian needs in 208 countries and other areas around the world. They fund initiatives as diverse as the communities being served. Lion President Ken Saunders commented 'our funding will assist in providing vaccinations to children in the developing world and disaster assistance when required. Where there is a need, there is a Lion.'

The club gave £2,800 to Lions International for their relief work around the globe for that period as well as giving grants of £41,200 to local groups and charities. In a normal year they also would have been helping in the community, but the pandemic precluded this. Lion President Ken said, 'we are looking forward to providing help in the community as things get back to normal and we are actively looking for more community minded people to join us.' Please see the press release here.

August/September 2021

The Club voted the support the following:

July/August 2021

The Book Den is now open 6 days a week and we are now having our normal monthly Dinner and Business meetings at Singing Hills Golf Centre.

The Club voted to provide the following:

BMX Rock up and Ride Day 10th August 2021 

May/June 2021

We have had the following applications accepted by the Club: 

March/April 2021

The Book Den has finally re-opened again on 14th April on a four days a week basis and we hope to return to the usual 6 days a week as soon as possible.

A defibrillator has been purchased for the Sussex Heart Charity.

January/February 2021

The Book Den has been closed again under lockdown rules due to the increasing number of coronavirus cases.

As schools have been closed also, the Club voted to donate £2,000 each to 6 schools in our area to help provide laptops for children in need. The pictures shows Lion President Ken Saunders outside the Book Den with Lions John Carter and Chris Muschamp of the Welfare Committee.

Distanced laptop presentation

We have also donated £500 to 4Sight as we have been unable to hold the usual fundraising dinners for them.

November/December 2020

The Club continued to vote on Welfare issues and the members agreed the following donations:

Roger Stevens 50 Year Award


August/September/October 2020

The Book Den opened again on 9th July to the pleasure of local residents under strict Covid-19 regulations but the Lions Club is not able to resume monthly meetings yet. However, the members have agreed to provide the following help:

Handover July 2020

The Handover of the Presidency of Burgess Hill District Lions Club, to incoming President Lion Ken Saunders, took place on Wednesday 1st July 2020 at the home of Lions Tony & Val Parris but because of the Coronavirus pandemic, numbers were limited so it was by invitation only.

"It has been a great privilege and honour to serve as your President for the 2019/2020 Lions year, although very strange to have nearly a third of my year as President spent in isolation and lockdown caused by the deadly Covid-19 virus. 

I thank the members of the board of directors who have been so helpful during my term of office and every one of you for being kind and understanding when I frequently made mistakes.

The Book Den has thrived under the guidance of The Book Den Committee led by Lion Alan Ranger, going some considerable way towards enabling the club, in its 65th year, to donate over an astounding £75,000 to good causes and needy individuals.  How brilliant is that?

Thank you all for allowing me to be your President.

Long may the club continue to succeed in its endeavours – We Serve."

Lion President John Rankin.

April/May/June/July 2020

Since early March, the Club and the Book Den have been closed for safety due to coronavirus. Despite the closure the members of the Lions Club have continued to respond to requests for help and donations have been made to support the following causes/projects:

January/February/March 2020

During the first quarter of this year, the members of Burgess Hill District Lions Club have agreed to provide support for the following causes/projects: -

October/November/December 2019

Since September, the members of Burgess Hill District Lions Club have agreed to provide support for the following causes/projects: -

July/August/September 2019

Working full time and at the same time, caring for a teenaged relative, tends to put a bit of a brake on my ability to fully operate in the function of President for the 2019/2020 Lions Year.  However, I have taken this honour on board and hopefully will be able to give support to all the wonderful fund raising and support events to the best of my ability.

This is the 65th year of the Burgess Hill District Lions Club and I am delighted that in my year as President, our budget for Welfare proposals has been increased to an astounding £65,000!

So, since 1st July, we as a club have approved the following donations:

An amazing total of over £22,728 in just three months!

In addition, the club has held several fund-raising evening meal events in support of various Lions supported charitable organisations.

All the above makes me very proud to be a member of the Burgess Hill District Lions Club and more so to be President for this Lions year.

Lion President John G Rankin

Handover July 2019

Past Lion President John Gee hands over to new Lion President John Rankin (on left)


Members and partners at the Handover Ceremony

June 2019

The Lions end of year will shortly be upon us and on the 30th June I will hand over to President Elect John Rankin. 

Whilst I am sad to go, it gives me great pleasure to be able to inform you that over the past 12 months your generosity in providing book donations has enabled us to assist various local charities to the tune of £40,000.

You can all be proud of what you have help us to achieve.

Being the end of the Lions year will not mean an end to the Book Den: it will carry on as usual and, with your continued goodwill, maybe we can beat this years total.

Lion President John Gee.

April/May 2019

The Book Den continues to thrive and we are very thankful for your support and continued custom. Over the Easter period we have worked to expand our storage capacity at the rear of the shop making life a little easier for all concerned

We have during the last 4 weeks made a number of financial donations to various causes, amongst which have been:

Now did your child scale our climbing wall, the one erected by the Help Point? If so we hope they enjoyed the experience our Lion Mascot did - see the picture here!

March/April 2019

A busy month in which we have been able to donate funds to the young and old and other good causes. Two projects are for Scouting and Rides for the Elderly.

You may have seen in the press that a local scout troop had their equipment stolen. We have along with other organisations pledged funds for them to replace stock.

How many elderly people need transport for a relaxing local half day out. Fancy a quite short bike ride driven on a Trishaw by your own experienced PILOT or a run out to the pub with your own chauffeur. This worldwide scheme is happening near you. We have just agreed our biggest project of the year and will shortly be providing a new Trishaw to enable more elderly or infirm citizens the opportunity to get mobile in style.

Look up Cycling without Age Hurst-Hassocks on a computer to discover more or click here.

Thank you for your continued book donations which enable us to do more.

Feb/March 2019

This month we have made numerous donations to worthy local causes. The local radio will be attending Burgess Hill Youth's Birthday Party celebrations in respect of Paul Myles. 

We have agreed to part fund a long term major restoration project of Hurst Players Theatre.

Assist with the funding of the Maple Drive Community Group's Summer Fayre.

Provide specialised headphones and music licences for individuals experiencing memory loss in the Mid Sussex area.

Give better equipment to Sheddingdean Strummers for their performances to the residents at local retirement homes.

Make a donation to Burgess Hill Town Council to run an event for children during the Easter holidays.

Dec 2018/Jan 2019 

Shop-wise: Our closure over the Christmas/New Year period allowed us to undertake some much-needed shop maintenance and shelf re-stocking. We also sent our Bears on their annual 11 month holiday and, thank you for the Christmas Cards and your continued support.

Club-wise: This month we have agreed to donate towards some Lions International Projects, one in conjunction with UNICEF to provide access to water, food and healthcare in the Yemen, and, also, a project for eye screening in Indian schools

At home we presented a cheque from the 2018 Bike Ride to Chailey Heritage, agreed to assist with stonework repairs to a local grade II listed structure, fund - along with other local Lions Clubs - the annual "It's a Knockout Competition" for young adults with learning difficulties, and donate £1,000 to Breast Cancer Research at Brighton.

LASTLY: If you have taken the time to read this, you may also have read the notice relating to new members welcome. Why not give us a try? A little bit of your spare time could help improve somebody's life locally.

Oct/Nov 2018

Another good month in the Book Den has enabled the club to once again commit funds to local worthy charities.

This month with the festive season on the horizon we have agreed to contribute towards the cost of helping three organisations provide a Christmas meal and entertainment for the elderly/lonely.

In addition we have agreed to improve the quality of life for a single parent family by installing basic furnishings in their accommodation. 

Looking ahead to next year's Summer Fayre, we will again be working in partnership with your Town Council to provide facilities in St John's Park for youngsters during town week.

Following the tragic loss of a local youth earlier this year we are assisting graduates from a local training centre raise money for the charity, Young Minds.

LASTLY: Did I see SANTA down by the Radio Station, somebody told me he's there every Saturday and Sunday. Have you seen him yet?

It has been a great privilege and honour to serve as your President for the 2019/2020 Lions year, although very strange to have nearly a third of my year as President spent in isolation and lockdown caused by the deadly Covid-19 virus. I thank the members of the board of directors who have been so helpful during my term of office and every one of you for being kind and understanding when I frequently made mistakes. The Book Den has thrived under the guidance of The Book Den Committee led by Lion Alan Ranger, going some considerable way towards enabling the club, in its 65th year, to donate over an astounding £75,000 to good causes and needy individuals.  How brilliant is that? Thank you all for allowing me to be your President.

PRIDE IN THE COMMUNITY

LeftB