Lions Club of Braintree: News

Lions have a Heart!

Braintree Lions as part of its ongoing fundraising efforts have this month donated a much needed portable heart defibrillator to Blandford Medical centre in Braintree.

When a person is in cardiac arrest, time is of the essence, minutes can be the difference between full recovery, death or permanent damage. For this reason, the portable defibrillator is a key piece of equipment in any emergency response kit.

Research shows that GPs equipped with defibrillators can improve survival by up to 60% if the patient is treated immediately or soon after entering cardiac arrest. For every minute that passes chances of survival decrease by 14 per cent. ^*

The machine which is fully portable and lightweight can be accessed within minutes at the centre and can be used time and time again.

The device which costs just under £1000 is a huge resource to the medical centre and not widely available elsewhere. Braintree Lions presented the defibrillator to Blandford House Centre Manager, Caroline Hird, Dr Williams and Dr. Thompson by Lion President Jim Cave.

Blandford House also distribute the Free “Message in a bottle” kits supplied by Braintree Lions to help with life saving information in home emergences, please contact the surgery to obtain one.

^* Information obtain from the British Heart Foundation

Haiti collection at Freeport- A Thank You

Braintree Lions and Freeport would like to thank everyone who donated on a very frosty Saturday to the collection for Haiti at Freeport Shopping Village.

A staggering £899.61 was raised within the 6 hours of collection.

You can donate in confidence to LCIF through Braintree Lions Club, as 100 percent of every donation will go directly to Haiti relief, as administrative costs are paid by interest earned on investments. LCIF just recently received a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, the highest rating possible from the independent charity evaluator. In 2007 LCIF was named the #1 non-governmental organization with which to partner, a title our Foundation still holds today.
The needs are great, but we can make a positive impact on the people of Haiti for years to come.

Braintree Lions Provide Relief for Haiti

The Braintree Lions Club has already pledged £250 to help support the relief efforts of Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) in response to the 7.0 earthquake that struck the impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti, on Tuesday, January 12.
Braintree Lions in conjunction with Freeport Shopping village will also be collecting on Saturday 30th January between 10am-4pm at Freeport. This will help boost the initial pledge and a further donation may follow once aid efforts are in full swing and more details are available about the actually requirements for an area or project.
Lions Clubs International Foundation is the charitable arm of Lions Clubs International. Established in 1968, LCIF is committed to providing humanitarian services to those in need, including providing disaster relief, saving sight, supporting youth and combating disability.
Lions in communities around the world are supporting LCIF, which is in contact with Lions in the immediate area, neighboring Latin American countries and area Lions leadership, to assess the situation and determine immediate needs and how Lions and LCIF can best assist.

“Lions are committed to bringing aid to those impacted by the earthquake in Haiti. Through support from people in our community, our club and LCIF will be able to help so many more,” said Lion President Jim Cave of Braintree Lions Club.
Within 24 hours, Lions worldwide have pledged nearly US$250,000 to the Foundation to help support relief efforts. In addition to Lions donations, LCIF has awarded a US$50,000 Major Catastrophe Grant to help provide for immediate needs for victims of the earthquake. Immediate relief efforts will center on providing water, food, medicine, tents and other essential needs.
The Foundation has experience in disaster relief, providing more than US$25 million for South Asia tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and China earthquake combined.

You can donate in confidence to LCIF through Braintree Lions Club, as 100 percent of every donation will go directly to Haiti relief, as administrative costs are paid by interest earned on investments. LCIF just recently received a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, the highest rating possible from the independent charity evaluator. In 2007 LCIF was named the #1 non-governmental organization with which to partner, a title our Foundation still holds today.

The needs are great, but we can make a positive impact on the people of Haiti for years to come.

Braintree Lions 2009 Christmas Collection

The Lions Club of Braintree would like to thank the people of Braintree for their genorousity in the build-up to Christmas. Our float has put a smile on many children's faces and raised in excess of £3000 pounds.

We are sorry that it did not manage to visit the people of White Courts and a section of Great Notley. Due to the poor weather conditions on the last few nights Father Christmas felt that safety was very important and he did not want to risk any of his Reindeer getting injured and therefore preventing Christmas presents being delivered in time for Christmas.

The Braintree Lions would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Safe 2010.

Local OAP Christmas lunch goes with a roar!!!!!

Braintree Lions on Saturday treated 19 Aged Braintree residents to a superb xmas lunch at the Bocking Village Social Club.

The guests were collected from there homes and taken to the club and treated to a two course Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. Each guest also received a gift from Santa. The event is organized every year by Braintree Lions Club and for some of the guests are one of the few times, they get taken out during the year as many have mobility problems. It’s a great chance for catch up with old chums and hopefully make some new friends. After dinner, mince pies and few odd Sherries they were chaperoned home by the clubs members. Who later that evening returned to the venue for there own xmas meal.

Braintree Lions would like to thank the Bocking village social club for all there hard work, help and kind Hospitality.

Braintree Lions Santa's first engagement.

Braintree Lion’s Santa 1^st engagement of the year was to switch on the Braintree Town Christmas lights.

This year involved switching Christmas lights on for the George Shopping Centre lights and the New High Street Tree Lights.

Santa had a great time, meeting locals before the big switch on. This was just a warm up for a busy few weeks for Santa as the Braintree Lions Christmas Float starts on Monday 8^th December through till the 21^st December, visiting all major housing estates within the town as well as a final meet and greet and Freeport shopping village on the weekend of the 20-21^st December.

Braintree Lions support Pudsey with £2646.44

On Friday 20th and Saturday 21st November Braintree Lions supported children in need by doing an early morning collection at Braintree Railway station and all day collections at Braintree Freeport Shopping Village.

£203.92 was raised from the very cold morning collection at Braintree Railway Station; £936.06 was raised on Friday at Freeport where the Lions were also assisted by Witham Lioness Club (the pink ladies). Saturday’s collection raised £1348.45.

Braintree Lions would like to thank everybody for their kind donations, as well as the staff at Braintree Railway Station and Braintree Freeport Shopping Village for their ongoing support. Our thanks also go to Witham Lionesses for their help on the Friday.

Shop on-line and raise money for Braintree Lions

Do you shop on-line?
Would you like to raise money for Charity?

The Lions Club of Braintree has set-up an on-line shopping link. All you have to do is visit our web-shop and from there you can visit a large number of stores. These include Amazon, Marks & Spencer, Asda and many more.

You shop like normal (and that includes the on-line prices) and we receive a commission. It costs you no more than normal and we could get up to 10% of your purchase price as a donation the Lions Club of Braintree.

Lost Specs Help The Needy Overseas

FIVE thousand pairs of lost spectacles will soon be helping to improve the vision of people in developing countries.

The glasses were donated to the Braintree branch of Specsavers, by Stansted Airport’s lost property department, which in turn is giving them to the Lions Club of Braintree to send overseas.

Mike Bromidge, store director of Specsavers, said: “We were contacted by a local charity which takes unclaimed items from lost property at Stansted Airport and sells them to generate funds.

“The charity isn’t able to resell glasses, so it approached us to see if we could do anything with them.

“Knowing how people overseas benefit from the glasses, we offered to take the specs off their hands.

“However, we weren’t prepared for the sheer number to arrive.

“We’re delighted with the donation, although our storage rooms are struggling to cope.”

Kelly-Marie Thompson, spokesman for Braintree Lions, said: “I’d like to thank Specsavers for its support for our work, which really makes a difference to many lives in the developing world.”

Braintree Beer Festival 2009 presents cheques to this year's causes.

On Wednesday 5th July 2009 Braintree Lions and North-West Essex CAMRA presented cheques totalling £5000 to the Alzheimer’s association and the Essex Air Ambulance at the Ambulance’s HQ in Chelmsford. The money was raised from the Braintree 5th Real Ale Festival held at the Braintree Institute in June which ran over a three day period. Members of Braintree Lions, The Alzheimer’s Society and CAMRA were given a tour of the Ambulance before the cheques were presented. Braintree Lion’s new mascot also attended his first public engagement.

Christmas Collection at Freeport 2008

The Lions Club of Braintree would like to thank the shoppers at Freeport Braintree for their generosity with this years Christmas Collection. Over the weekend of the 20th-21st December we were able to collect £750.62, that is 50% more than last year! This money, along with our collections around the estates of Braintree, means we have collected a grand total of £4322.20 this year. Our thanks goes to the staff and management of Freeport Braintree for allowing us to collect there. This money is/has been used to provide a little Christmas cheer to the people of Braintree who otherwise would have a less than Happy Christmas. Once again a BIG THANK YOU to you all.

Christmas Collection 2008

The Lions Club of Braintree would like to thank the people of Braintree for their amazing generosity with this years Christmas Collection. An amazing £3571.58 was raised this year when our Father Christmas sleigh visited the towns housing estates. This money is/has been used to provide a little Christmas cheer to the people of Braintree who otherwise would have a less than Happy Christmas. Once again a BIG THANK YOU to you all.

Children In Need Collection 2008

The Lions Club of Braintree would like to thank the people of Braintree for their generous support of this very worthy cause. Over the course of the 14th and 15th November we were able to collect £2339.71. We are very grateful to the staff and shops at Freeport Braintree who let us collect there, and placed our collecting tins in their shops. This alone raised £2140. The rest of our collection came from the early morning commuters at the Braintree Railway Station. Once again a big thank you to you all.

Braintree Real Ale Festival Cheque Presentations.

The hugely successful Braintree Real Ale Festival which was held in June this year raised a lot of money for two important local charities. On Friday the 8th of the 8th of the 8th a small ceremony was held in the Sanctuary at Farleigh Hospice. Cheques for £2000.00 each were handed over to the Hospice and also to the Essex Air Ambulance. The attached photo show members of the Braintree Lions Club and N-W Essex CAMRA, who jointly organised the Festival, presenting cheques to Vanessa Adams of Farleigh and Nezda Blyth of the EAA. Braintree Real Ale Festival 2009 is already brewing and The Braintree Institute is booked for June 11, 12 & 13th. The Braintree Lions and N-W Essex CAMRA intend to continue to raise money for deserving local charities.

3rd Braintree Real Ale Festival Cheque Presentation

The 3rd Braintree Lions Real Ale Festival was a resounding success with almost 900 thirsty throats downing about 3000 pints over the three day event. Local people turned out, often in pouring rain to enjoy the 42 real ales and 8 real ciders, very little was left when the festival closed at 11.00pm on Saturday. Thanks to local businesses almost every barrel was sponsored and it is this sponsorship which ensures that the festival is a financial success. Two vital local charities have benefited from all this effort and on Saturday 19th August we were pleased to present a cheque to Essex Air Ambulance for £1800 and another to Farleigh Hospice for £1800.

A New Riser-Recliner at Farleigh Hospice Day Centre in Braintree.

Getting down into a nice comfortable armchair and getting up again when it is time to go is quite a headache for many users of the Hospice in Braintree. Big and welcoming they may be but for many patients they are just too low down. The Lions Club of Braintree saw this as an ideal opportunity to help the local community with money raised by their Christmas sleigh. Riser-recliner chairs cost £1000.00 and delivery time is several months but in early July 2007 the Braintree Lions were able to present the new chair to the people who will use it. Matron of Farleigh Braintree, Liz, was delighted with the gift and said “This will make things so much easier for our patients, getting into armchairs from wheelchairs or walking frames has always been difficult. The local Lions have helped us solve this difficulty and we are very grateful to them.” Alice pictured enjoying the comfort could only smile and say “I love this chair” also in the picture, un-missible in their bright red lion shirts are Gordon Helm, Stan Davies and Malcolm Ward.