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Lions Clubs International - Lion Phil Nathan |
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Show you care, get involved, let's enjoy ourselves |
Past International Director Phil Nathan
International 2nd Vice President Campaign
Autumn Adventures….
Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere is a time of shorter days, increasing darkness, of the environment closing down in preparation for winter, a time for sitting round the fire. Paradoxically, because of the way the Lions year runs, Autumn is a time for growth, for optimism, of looking for new ideas, of increasing membership.
Sadly, Autumn began with the funeral of a dear friend, PDG Ken Clarke MBE, with whom I served when Council Chairman, and I was thankful that I was able to travel down to Newquay to join the many family, friends and Lions who attended to show their appreciation for a life filled with service to the community.
One of my first visits this Autumn was to the 105M Forum, at the invitation of DG Neil, and it was a pleasure to attend, meeting old friends and making new ones as well as the opportunity to talk about the continuing work being undertaken by the Gift for Living.
The
2011 Europa Forum, was held in Maastricht, and apart from presenting one
Seminar,
which was very well received by the participants, certainly they all took part enthusiastically, I anticipated having little else to do, except enjoy the Forum and the company of friends.
How
wrong can you be! To my delight, PDG Ben Ancar, the Romanian candidate
for International Director, asked me if I would introduce him at the
final plenary session of the Forum. Then, because of my involvement with
the European Working Party, I was asked to speak on behalf of the Danish
Lions in presenting a Resolution for debate.
One
of my keen interests as a Lion has been our youth programmes and I have
been delighted with the way our Young Ambassador competition has grown
in Europe, thanks to the hard work of Lion Jane Armitage. Knowing how
important their presence would be to the Competition as a whole I asked
the International President and Executive Officers to attend the Finals
of the Young Ambassador Competition
In
recognition of her hard work, International President Tam presented Lion
Jane with an International Leadership Award and asked that I make the
introduction, which I was honoured to do.
Both
Heidi and I enjoyed the Forum and extend our appreciation to the Lions
of the Netherlands for the organisation.
Back home and it was off to Exeter at the invitation of the Exeter Lions Club to attend their 50th Charter Anniversary, the drive to Exeter from Earls Colne takes about six hours, or, to put it another way, about half the time it takes to fly to Anchorage!
At the end of October came another hectic weekend, beginning with a trip to Solihull for the first half of the Council of Governors meeting, followed by a family function on the Saturday.
In and around these varied events was my professional life and my commitments to Special Olympics, Medic Alert and Music and the Deaf.
Part 2 of the Autumn Adventures will follow shortly.
Part 2 of the Autumn Adventures will follow shortly.