President's Blog - September 2021

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for visiting our website. It has been a difficult 18 months, not just for ourselves but all volunteer organisations, many events have been unable to go ahead. We were very pleased that we were able to go ahead with our ball race at the beginning of August, our first fundraising event since December 2019. We followed up with stalls at the Emergency Services safety awareness day at Clarence Drive Playing Fields, and good weather and an excellent attendance ensured that a good day was had by all.

It is with regret then that we have had to take the decision to cancel our bonfire and firework display, when everything is booked and in place to go ahead with it. Central government have talked about a possible lockdown at the end of October. That together with the fact that, following large numbers attending events elsewhere, positive Covid cases have risen dramatically, and with the Safety Advisory Group asking us to ensure crowd safety, it is an impossible ask for us. A firework display, without the bonfire, stalls etc just wouldn’t create the same atmosphere, and we therefore had to take the difficult decision to cancel. We hope that by next year, we will be somewhere near normality, or at least more able to control and live with Covid, and many more events be able to go ahead.

In the meantime, we continue to serve our community, supporting local schools and sports teams, and individuals with grants and funding for projects.

Keep safe everyone.

Lion President John Sellers.