A Monthly Publication

By Peter Mills

 The New Year has now set in and it’s time to look forward to the rest of 2010. 2009 was very successful for Hunstanton Lions as you will have gathered over the year. December is always our busiest month with our “Grotto” and “Craft Fair” as well as our new “Turkey & Tinsel” lunches which we reported on in the last issue. The “Grotto” was by far the best we have ever constructed. This was agreed by all the children and parents who visited. For the first time all the children went home with not only a really good present, but also a photograph of themselves with Santa. This really went down well.  Unfortunately the weather turned against us on the last weekend and Christmas Eve, so numbers were down on previous years, but those who did brave the elements had a great time. The ‘weather factor’ also affected the “Craft Fair” with many stallholders unable to turn up on the last three days, and again visitor numbers were down, but the stallholders who were there did a roaring trade, and have expressed  wishes to come again next year. That is a very good sign.

 Christmas is a time for giving, and every year we give to many local charities and clubs to help them with their work or have a party. Last year these included Dersingham Day Centre for the elderly, Hunstanton Day Centre, Dersingham Phobbies Club,  Docking Senior Citizens Club,  Hunstanton Monday Club and The Lavender Hill Mob,

Our Car Boot sales will start again around Easter, and when all the dates have been finalised they will be published in the Hunstanton Newsletter.

 Not only do we donate to people and organisations who need financial help, we also provide practical help ourselves. Among other things this year we are providing a new kitchen to a local Scout Group, and last October we laid out the back garden with two raised sandpits, pathways, and a paved area for children’s swings etc. at a refuge in our area. For this project we are extremely grateful to Messes Ridgeons of Snettisham who arranged at no cost to us the supply of nearly all of the materials involved. Without their great help this project would have been far more costly.

 Annually we sponsor a young child in Zimbawbe – Shepherd Tenser for his education, and we are helping build a school in Nepal. In future editions of the Hunstanton Newsletter we hope to give you more information about our International involvement.

 The lucky winners of our “200 Club” in January were :- Paul Beal, Jean Anger, Keith Dennis and Val Rybak. Well done all of you.

 Please remember that the area we cover ranges from Brancaster through Docking to Dersingham, and all the villages encompassed within, so as always if you know of anyone or organisation needing our help, please let us know.