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Yorkshire Diary: Lions roar in Leeds
A charitable organisation with more than a million members across the world has celebrated its 60th anniversary in Leeds.
The Lions Club raises money for charity and over the years has provided cash for schemes which have helped many people.
This year it chose to hold its British celebrations in this city.
Gary Marshall is a former President of Garforth & District Lions Club and currently in charge of public relations.
He explained some of the local community schemes: " We have recently provided a diabetic screening clinic in Garforth and have helped a number of local groups run race nights enabling them to raise valuable funds for their causes.
Supporting
"We are also supporting a Lions scheme called 'Message in a Bottle', which is a method of making sure crucial information is easy to find in your home by the emergency services. Your details are kept on a short form inside a bottle, which you keep in the fridge. The scheme is ideal for elderly or disabled people. Over 100,000 bottles have been distributed in the Leeds area over the last five years."
There are seven Lions clubs in Leeds: Garforth & District, Rothwell & District, Leeds Skyrack, Wetherby & District, Morley & District, Elmet and Leeds, with a further 54 clubs in Yorkshire the Humber region.
The worldwide group, Lions Clubs International, has a history which stretches back to 1917 in Chicago, America. The first British clubs were founded in 1950.
The clubs, whose motto is simply 'We serve', are made up of men and women from all kinds of backgrounds who undertake a range of charitable activities.
Gary said: "As part of the celebrations Lions from across the country gathered for the Great Britain and Ireland annual convention at the Royal Armouries and a special Diamond Jubilee event at the Queens Hotel in Leeds, which was attended by the Countess of Wessex, our Royal Patron. In addition, the Lions organised an international show at Leeds Town Hall.
"The diamond jubilee is obviously a big milestone. Lions is a voluntary service organisation with about 1.4m members worldwide. We undertake activities to benefit the local area and raise money, the majority of which goes back into improving the local community. All the funds raised go to supporting charitable works, all administration costs are met by each Lion paying dues to be a member of the organisation.
The Leeds Lions Club recently led the latest in a series of exchange holiday trips from Leeds to Bad Sooden-Allendorf, Germany, a tradition which itself dates back to 1969.
Leeds Lions club member Joan Elder-Kirkham said: "The exchange was started in 1969 when Leeds Lions took a party of about six disabled people to Bad Sooden-Allendorf by car. From this small beginning, 41 visits later, it has grown to what it is today.
Exchange
"There are now eight clubs in our area involved in this exchange and usually 15 disabled young people accompanied by seven helpers, including two trained nurses.
"In essence this is a holiday with a range of activities not greatly different from those that anyone else would take part in, the difference being we can cater for even the most severely disabled. When people visit Leeds from Germany they stay at Hinsley Hall, Headingley."
Mrs Elder-Kirkham added: "Over 300 people from Leeds have been on such visits. I would like to know where they are now, it would be interesting to hear their memories."
Lions are keen to hear from anyone interested in joining their local Lions Club.
Details of your local Lions club can be found at www.lions105c.org.uk. You can contact Garforth & District Lions for information via their website www. garforthlions.ik.com or on 0845 833 5825.
School stories
Your letters
The letter concerning St Stephen's School (August 7) brought back memories. I started there after leaving Beckett Street primary school along with my classmates in the late 1940s when I was eight. My brother followed a year later.
One memory stands in my mind. Some of my classmates moved up from primary and they had been taught how to do joined-up writing.
Unfortunately, we had only learned how to print. When the teacher wrote on the blackboard, we had no idea what she was writing and she was shocked when we told her. Anyway, we had to learn in a hurry and I thought I would never master it.
After that setback, I learned a lot in the three years I was there. I left when I was 11. At that time, we lived at St Agnes Street, behind the shops in Beckett Street, opposite the Beckett wing. I was one of three children but unfortunately my sister died in 1970 aged 32.
Jennifer Oddy, Saxton Gardens, Leeds
I am writing in reply to Mrs Bentley's letter (Yorkshire Diary, July 24) about St Stephen's School in Stony Rock, Leeds.
I started my school years there in 1944. The church Mrs Bentley refers to is St Agnes and is still standing today. Mr Wagstaff was the headteacher at that time, also Miss Smith was my class teacher. They were happy days at St Stephen's and at 11 years old I moved on to Primrose Hill School.
Approximately 20 years later my two sons started their education at St Stephen's, until it closed down and they both went on to the newly built Ebor Gardens Primary School.
Mr C Leeming, Main Street, Scholes, Leeds
This is the class of 1952-53, class 4a, Osmondthorpe Secondary Modern. We are holding our fourth reunion on September 27 at Christ Church, Halton. If any of the girls would like to attend please phone Audrey on 0113 264 3461 or Margaret on 0113 264 3695.
Audrey Clarke, Valley Drive, Halton
Guess the year
The M1 motorway celebrated its 50 anniversary last year. First opened in 1959, it was the UK's first full-length motorway and was modelled on similar projects in Italy and Germany. British politicians had been considering the possibility of building a motorway since the 1930s but the perilous state of the economy at the time made it remained just an idea. The motorway was eventually extended to Leeds but in what year? Answer next week.
Last week's question: Leeds Town Hall on The Headrow was built at a time when the city was undergoing great change, both in terms of its increasing wealth and the challenges facing society.
It was said to be the most magnificent town hall in the whole of England and cost 122,000. It was opened by Queen Victoria herself, during a royal visit to the city, but in what year? Answer:
1858.
Did you know?
A giant redwood tree grows in the grounds of Oakwell Hall, Birstall. The trees, which can grow up to 85m (280 ft) tall and several metres in diameter, are the largest in the world. The bark of the trunk of a mature tree can be up to 90cm thick. On America's west coast, the largest giant sequoia is known as the General Sherman, which stands at just over 83m.
Oakwell's giant redwood, is, however, much smaller at the moment. It was presented to park ranger Richard Aspinall by the Friends of Oakwell Park in May this year. Mr Aspinall, who moved to take up a new job at Lotherton Hall, Leeds, donated the tree to the park and it is now planted somewhere about its grounds. Perhaps in a few hundred years it will be a little more prominent...
EP 21/8/10
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Weather for Leeds
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -1 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 1 C to 6 C
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