Charity No 1173183
Santa’s elves have been really busy working on renovating and refurbishing Santa’s sleigh.
Some of his elves were at the North Pole last week, and managed to get some photos ahead of the big unveiling on Friday!
The sleigh has been fitted with state-of-the-art -Maxilux LED Lighting, and Santa can control the colours and brightness of the sleigh from a remote control by his seat!
Huge thanks to Maxilux LED Lighting for generously donating their talent, time, and resources to this magnificent project!
Santa will be starting his rounds of the village on Saturday 14th December. There will be lots more news to follow, but in the meantime, you can donate to our Christmas Santa campaign here :
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Annual Charity Fireworks Extravaganza
It’s been a couple of busy weeks in Balsall Common Lions Club, since the Fireworks Extravaganza. No sooner has the last firework gone, and the last of the litter picked up, and we are moving on to planning for the Festive Season.
Before we do , we must extend our thanks to everyone involved in making our Fireworks Extravaganza such a huge success!
Our Hosts
Berkswell and Balsall Common Sports and Community Association Berkswell Sports Bar Berkswell Cricket Club Berkswell Cricket Club Juniors Berkswell & Balsall Common Tennis Club Berkswell & Balsall Common Hockey Club Balsall Common Run Club, plus Heart of England School
Our Outlets - Oakes Farm Shop, Michaels Drinks World, A1 Motorstore
Thanks to the volunteers : FastAid - Solihull & Birmingham, 53rd Berkswell Scouts, plus Carl Hemming of Ginger Estate Agents
Great Food from : Burning Plough, Phoenix Rising, Lions Coventry Earlsdon' The Coffee Express UK
Thanks to all of the local businesses who so generously donated raffle prizes!
Major thanks : Balfour Beatty for the donation of crowd safety barriers.
A huge thanks to our sponsor Jamieson Christie
And finally, thanks to everyone who came along and supported our FIREWORKS EXTRAVAGANZA! , and helped make it into such a massive success!!
Annual Charity Fireworks Extravaganza - Grand Raffle, Thanks you to all our prize donors!
Thank you to all the local businesses who donated a prize this year (sorry we did not get around to asking all the local businesses this year) as well as our sponsor Jamieson Christie.
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Balsall Common Dental Practice
Autumn Foodbank – Saturday 5 October
The final stage of our Autumn Door-to-Door Foodbank Collection with the collection by / delivery to our four local foodbanks charities - Around Again Charity, Bethany Community Foodbank, Carriers of Hope, and Coventry Foodbank.
In our foodbank collection, last weekend, we were able to distribute approximately 250 carrier bags of food!
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It is still not too late to donate to this cause ; we will be keeping our online donation facility open until the end of October, here :
Huge thanks to all of our volunteers and supporters (Unity Automotive, and Balsall Common Village Hall), plus of course, the residents of Balsall Common, for their kindness and generosity.
Please welcome our 51st President - Lion Mike Edkins who received the Balsall Common Lions Club chain of office from our fiftieth President, Lion Andy Pemberton recently at a Handover Ceremony attended by over forty Lions and friends.Lion Mike was the president of Balsall Common Lions Club from 2020 - 2021, a period of COVID19 pandemic and lockdown, when Mike still managed to steer us through a highly successful year.Despite never having the opportunity for a face-to-face meeting, or an actual Fund-Raising event, he steered us through ...
•Supply of critical PPE equipment
•COVID Vaccination Clinics
•Critical foodbank collections
•We even managed to achieve an online Santa collection
At the time, Mike promised us that he would come back again for a real (as opposed to virtual) Presidential Year, and he’s lived up to that commitment, starting with our Annual Balsall BeerFest later this month.
Prostate Screening Event Update
Balsall Common Lions are very proud to advise that approx 350 local men received their Prostate PSA Tests at The White Horse on Saturday 18 May (see our news blog).
We would like to extend our thanks to Daejon and the team at The White Horse Balsall Common, hosting this event for us for the first time.
A massive thanks to the team of phlebotomists and the team from The Graham Fulford Charitable Trust (GFCT). GFCT has been supporting prostate cancer awareness and early diagnosis through PSA testing for approximately twenty years.
Thanks, also, to the team from the South Warwickshire Prostate Cancer Support Group (SWaPS) who were present at the event to provide help and support, going forward. In case you didn't receive the result that you had hoped for, SWaPS are a group of men and family members most of whom have direct experience of Prostate Cancer, and they seek to offer help and support to anyone in South Warwickshire and surrounding areas affected by this condition. SWaPS can be contacted here : https://southwarwickshirepcsg.org.uk/
Finally, thanks to our team of Lions volunteers and family members who volunteered on the day, and (very finally) to those who provided the inspiration to take on this challenge many years ago.
Serving our community for over fifty years ... come and join us!
We have an exciting year ahead, serving the local community, and raising funds for local good causes with some great events … there’s something for everyone. Balsall Common Lions Club are seeking community-minded people to join us and take us forward into the next fifty years.
50th Anniversary Charter Dinner
Many thanks to everyone that joined us for our 50th Anniversary Charter Dinner on Saturday night.
We received our Charter on the 26th of December 1973, and it was signed by Lion Alan Douglas who cut the cake and has now given over 50 years of service to the community.
It was a lovely evening - great venue, great company, great food, great music and bingo!
It's a great time to get involved with Balsall Common Lions Club.
Huge thanks to everyone who came out to see Santa in the last few weeks!
Thanks to all of our sponsors and volunteers …
Unity Automotive and Unity Automotive - Coventry for the loan of the tow vehicle and sponsorship of the Christmas cards
Mike Weaver Communications for the elves walkie-talkies.
Acclaimed Mortgage Consultancy Ltd
Our volunteers
Burton Green Residents' Association and Burton Green Village Hall
Berkswell & Balsall RFC Minis & Juniors
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Thank you to Balsall Common Scouts!
Thank you to Balsall Common Hornets!
Thank you to Balsall & Berkswell Rugby Minis and Juniors!
Thank you to Lily Mae Foundation!
Thank you to Berkswell Junior Cricket!
Thank you to Berkswell 53rd Scouts
(Beavers)!
Thank you Lions , family and fiends, and volunteers from the public!
Thank you Our unsung heroes …!
We couldn’t let this moment pass without expressing our gratitude to our volunteers who worked tirelessly behind the scenes.
Lion David Hickson - This year David was both our Chief Technical Elf, organising the sleigh, flashing lights, and the extra loud sound system ; in addition David and his wife, Sandra were the Chief Logistical Elves, organising the hundred-ish volunteers for all of Santa’s outings.
Lion President Andy Pemberton, Steve Meakin, Michelle, and more - our bean counters who, when the sleigh returns, patiently work through every note and every coin #everypennycounts.
Thanks to our drivers, Lion Norman Whitaker and volunteer Steve Porter, for the eight nights of driving Santa to your homes.
We really couldn’t have done it without them!
Lion David Hickson - David and his wife, Sandra, organised all of the elves ... AKA herding cats!!
Our bean counters - Steve, Andy, and Michelle - who every night ensure that every penny donated is diligently accounted for.
Our drivers - Norman and Steve - their identity is protected for obvious reasons - we cannot afford to lose them!!
