Focus on Littleborough: Littleborough and District Lions Club

Lyndsey Mullen (centre) at the Littleborough Lions Charter with the former Mayor and Mayoress of Rochdale, Councillor Keith Swift and Sue Etchells

When I set out to write features about Littleborough somebody mentioned the Littleborough Lions to me. The what? I asked, followed with a blank stare.

The Lions Club International is the worlds largest and most active service organisation. It has 1.3 million members in 44,000 clubs in over 200 countries, and they have been going for over 90 years.

The Lions are responsible for numerous things that we have all seen on a day to day basis but perhaps didn’t know where they came from, for example although it didn’t originate from Littleborough the Lions Club International are the creators of the white stick which blind people use, they are also the brains behind the ‘Message in a bottle’ capsules given to people to retain their medical information within the fridge in case of an emergency.

The Littleborough and District Lions Club has been going for 25 years, however, I knew nothing about them so I set out to find more…

I met with the current Littleborough Lions president Lyndsey Mullen, to find out what the club does, why, and who is involved.

“We have been going for 25 years,” Ms Mullen told me. “But unfortunately not many people know who we are.

“We meet at the Littleborough Conservative Club twice a month and we do activities which raise money for local and international causes. When the Tsunami happened Lions Club members were one of the first on the scene with the man-power and the financial aid.”

Ms Mullen told me more, “We, at Littleborough have supported many good causes, too many to name.”

The list includes, the Cumbrian Floods, Springhill Hospice, Haiti, 100 hampers for the local community, and helping with cleaning supplies following a fire at Happy Jacks Nursery.

The Lions motto is “Ordinary people doing amazing things.”

And, Ms Mullen said they certainly do. There are 17 members in the Littleborough Lions Club, and Ms Mullen has been involved for five years, but has known of the group for many years as her mother is also a Lion.

“I love the Lions, it is very rewarding and nice to get out and about,” she said.

The Lions fundraise throughout the year and they have a pot of money which they use to help people both local and international communities.

Locally they helped to provide a family in desperate need of a travel cot the cot they needed, they also supply books, soft toys and clothes to the Moorland Home.

“Of course we can’t meet all the demands but we meet as many as we can,” said Ms Mullen.

The majority of the money raised by the Lions stays in Littleborough to help improve the Littleborough community.

“You wouldn’t believe the poverty in this area – the little things really do make a difference.

“We distribute hampers at Christmas and one year we had a letter to say we had made that persons Christmas, with just ten pounds worth of shopping, we made a difference, only a small one, but it meant a lot to those people,” said Ms Mullen.

To help with the fund raising the Lions hold social nights, varying on all themes and these are open to anybody.

“We want to raise awareness of what we do and get our message out there – to tell people we are trying to do something for others. We do what we can to help others.” said Ms Mullen.

“We would love new people to join us, just come along, we have a social committee and we have a good time we are all about drawing the community together and developing new ideas.”

The next event to be held by the Lions is a Beetle Drive, quiz and supper on 25 September at the Littleborough Conservative Club.

To find out about more community groups in Littleborough visit:

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/community/groups/littleborough