THE END OF AN ERA, AND A NEW BEGINNING.

Every story has a beginning and an ending. Sadly the ending in this case is the start of the story, and I'm not Irish. We have had numerous years of being on the receiving end of Lion John Matic's fine sessions. His research and humour are unmatched, and there are precious few who have managed to escape his grip on our pockets. His dalliance with the DG Elect Lion Dale Crawford didn't save his pocket either, so I don't know why he has such a wide smile on his face unless he was dobbing me in for some caper I was involved in. John chastised me when I stated that he was a "lousy" Tail Twister, nothing could be further from the truth, I was just giving him more ammunition to get his teeth into. Lion John you have set a bench mark that is going to be difficult to surpass. Now it is your turn to be on the receiving end of "Leonora's" gaping mouth.

2011 - 2012 and we "welcome?" a new Tail Twister. This Lion with divine help from above will try to reek havoc upon us lesser souls. So why don't we welcome him with a little verse to mark the occasion.
Old King Cole Poem.

Old King Cole was a merry old soul, and a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe in the middle of the night
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Every fiddler had a fine fiddle, and a very fine fiddle was he;
Oh there's none so rare as can compare
With King Cole and his fiddlers three.

In Humour: In the 1970's, the American comedian George Carlin offered this alternative, and now somewhat altered to suit the occasion.

Old Lion Brian Cole was a merry old soul, and a merry old soul was he; He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl - I guess we all know about Old Lion Brian Cole.

Any guesses as to who gets tuned up over this? Maybe we should all welcome him with a rendition of the well known rhyme.

LEARNING ABOUT LIONS

After the Information seminar in Melbourne in May, those who attended received two CD's. One was relative to training with tutorials and information for presenters. The second one was for the use of Membership Chair persons and also, new members for orientation with excercises that they can do in their own time on a Laptop or PC.

This disk is not limited to just the afore mentioned people. It is available to the long term club members as well and could well surprise many with what they don't know about the organisation they have been a member of for many years. To this end I hope to carry out a litmus test on my fellow club members to assess the value of the information that Past District Governor Russ Connelly has gone to great trouble to produce for the Lions of the Multiple Districts use.

I must admit to being a long term friend of Lion Russ after we first met in Darwin in July 1989 when he was DG of the NT, and part of SA. I was surprised to learn that he had been part of the old MERL training group and is associated with "Swiftsoft" who package the disks.

For more information regarding these disks, please feel free to contact me training@lionstasmania.org 201T1 Lions only other district contact your District GLT Co-ordinator.

For Tasmanian Lions the disks will be available from your Regional representatives.

North West: RC Lion Anne Fagg.

North: RC Lion Derek Fellows, or ZC Lion Amanda Olson.

South: RC Lion Sue Johns.

These Lions will have available a copy of both disks that can either be copied and burnt to CD, or downloaded direct to your laptop or PC after the District Governors Change over and Cabinet meeting 24th July 2011.

LIFE MEMBERSHIP FOR CLUB STALWARTS

At the last dinner meeting in May 2011 two of our number were to receive the honour of Life Membership of the City of Burnie Lions Club. Both have given valuable service over more than thirty years.

Lion John Matic has had numerous years as a member of the board serving with distinction as a Secretary and also as Treasurer, Bulletin Editor, and a "lousy" Tail Twister. Not to mention his outstanding management of the Mint and Christmas cake committee. John also has been awarded a Melvin Jones Fellowship. Strangely, he has never aspired to become the President of the club and shies away from the idea. His history in brief: 34 years in total as a member, nine of those years as a member of the Renmark, South Australia, Lions Club before his employer transferred him to Burnie. A club board member 16 years, 15 years consecutive. Secretary 6 years followed by Treasurer 7 years. Tail Twister 6 years. and Bulletin editor 5 years.

Lion Ian Lancaster on the other hand has been around the traps as the saying goes for thirty two years. He first joined Lions as a member of the Ulverstone Club, then transfered to St Mary's, later he was transfered again in his employment and joined the City of Burnie Lions Club. Ian has been involved for a number of years with Youth projects including Youth of The Year quests, Youth Exchange on two occassions (I think). In recent times he has devoted a lot of time to the Tasmanian Cystic Fibrosis organisation that has no Government assistance and was instrumental in District 201T1 conducting the tin rattle project at the end of May each year for the past few years. When time allows you will invariabley find Ian and partner Aileen assisting with catering in the food van.
Congratulations Lions John and Ian on a job well done. They both now join Lions PDG Roger Groom, and PP John Packham as Life members.

THE NEW LIONS YEAR 2011 - 2012

GLT and GMT. The way to the future of Lions Clubs and Members.
The year 2010-2011 has all but departed into history, and perhaps the most pleasing thing that happened was the hosting of our District Convention in November 2010. It was most gratifing that the whole event was so well organised that no one hitch eventuated.
I must say that the hard work by the organising committee did the club pround just as those members who pitched in to do the small jobs that needed attention.
It was unfortunate that our candidate for 3rd Vice Governor was unsuccessful due in part to the fact as club President he was unable to put in the ground work required to lobby support. Congratulations must go to Lion George Bugeja of the Ulverstone Lions Club on being elected. Lion Michael macLaren has already been given the green light by the club to renominate again this year at Spring Bay. This time around Michael has another year as a member of the district cabinet as a Zone Chairman, and in the coming year has been appointed The District Health port folio. All good experience for the times ahead.

To the incoming board of my home club, congratulations on you election, I just hope that you enjoy the challenges that await you in the year ahead. President Michael has steppd up again as President as well as his appointment to the District 201T1 Cabinet as mentioned above.
Perhaps something of a surprise was my invitation to become a member of DGE Dale Crawford's team as the new District Co-odinator of the Global Leadership Team (GLT). What I thought was a one year term. This turned out to be the start of a three year journey to encourage leaders in our mist, to take on board training so that we as Lions will have a membership that will adopt the 21st century methods of doing things.

We must change to survive, and no doubt I will say more on the subject later.

May 21st, 2011 took me, as well as three other District Lions to Melbourne to learn more about the new system that LCI, MD201, from there to our District, and lastly Lions Clubs membership were to take on board. Our two VDG's David "Dickie" Daniels, and George Bugeja were kept in order by David Triffett District Co-odinator for the Global Membership Team (GMT) and myself. No mean feat I might add, especially "(Trickie) Dickie". At the end of the day all four of us came away more than happy with our input, plus the fact we had done our homework. One could suppose that out of the 40 plus attendees more than half were left with their collective mouths open. The Tassie Lions were in town and let them all know it.

I read recently, that if we don't change our collective modes of operation by the year 2022 service club organisations will cease to exist world wide. A terrifying thought that all the good work done by those over the years, no longer available to those who need it most. Programs such as Sight First, River Blindness, the help and assistance to communities after natural disasters. The list is endless.

One can only hope that this was a figment of some persons imagination based on what has happened over the past few years. This then is the part reason I would suggest for the creation of the GMT - GLT teams that will replace Membership, Education, Retention, & Leadership (MERL) as of July 1st 2011. This will be a very real challenge in the three years ahead for all involved.

The term that Tasmanians are born with two heads could have an element of truth. We are after all twice as smart as mainlanders, and you had better believe it. The image is of legendary King Wilbert thought to have been born in the Emu Bay (now Burnie) area around the year 1864, and his genes have been passed on over the following generations of Tasmanians. It is a good story and I'll stick to it.

The image of King Wilbert was taken in the Centro Plaza Burnie some years ago. It is the result of the warped humour of a Rotary member who owns and operates Austins Caravans. Bass Highway, Somerset, Tasmania.