Morrisons Harwood

Harwood's got bottle!

Morrison's Harwood Store Collection - 9th October 2010

As normal, I was on the late shift for Store Collections, so I arrived at ten to three for my stint, with Lion Graham Pollitt already there and collecting. Going to Morrison's Harwood is always a pleasure as it is always our highest grossing supermarket, and the customers always seem to be happier (it must be someting in the Harwood air!).

Our store collections are always from 9AM to 5PM in four stints of 2 hours each, the photo on the right shows our first team from 9AM which is Lions Tony Murphy and John Fairhurst. A 2 hour period is usually enough standing for anyone, but sometimes the  period can seem a lot longer (especially if receiving few donations), but this is never a problem at Harwood, as we are constantly busy, and the time flies.

It seemed to fly even more this time, as we had taken some of our message in a bottle stock, and Lion Graham excelled himself in giving away all 40 bottles in our stint, all of which are given for free!

I did pass on several people to Lion Graham for him to tell them about Message in a Bottle, and so I am claiming so sort of credit for the 40 bottles!

Thanks go to Morrisons and the customers in their store for an excellent day, as well as to the other Lions who collected during the day.

Lion John Crompton

20th October 2010

Riding for The Disabled

Riding for the Disabled Event

Monday 30th August 2010

We were kindly invited to attend the Riding for the Disabled event (they were our Presidents Chosen project for 2009/10), and thought this would be an ideal day to see the work that they do, and raise some funds as well.

As you can see from the photograph on the right, the weather was excellent, and we were armed with our hook-a-duck game, win a lion tombola, and also the mind challenging dice game. The gazebo and our roll ups on the right, sparked in the sun, and whilst what money we made on our games was not massive, we were definitely an interesting attraction to the people attending the event.

Sometimes it is not about the money but more about raising the profile of Lions, and giving as well as taking. To this end, we had taken some of our Message in a Bottle stock, and we managed to give away several of these bottles, which we give away for free! We also met the local MP for the area, Julie Hilling, who is pictured with our President Lion Jim Wells on the right, and were able to give her some background on Bolton Lions Club.

The best part of the day was that we were situated next to the arena, where both disabled and able bodied riders, spent the afternoon showing the public just what they could do on the back of a horse. This was extremely impressive, and added to what we all thought was a great afternoon.

Thanks to Lions Jim Wells, John Fairhurst and Tony Foster for attending the event, and to the Riding for The Disabled for inviting us, we all hope to be there next year.

John Crompton
11th October 2010

The Ducks go Quackers

Great Lever Neighbourhood Event - Saturday 24th July 2010


Saturday dawned brightly in the Bolton Area, perfect weather for our hook-a-duck game at Bobby Heywards Park, Great Lever.

It was our second year of attending the Great Lever Neighbourhood Event, and the previous one had been extremely busy, achieving the record takings from the hook-a-duck game.

We arrived in plenty of time for the 12 noon start, and whilst the sky had clouded over, the ducks were still smiling (they have only one expression!), and they carried on smiling all afternoon, as once again they proved very popular as can be seen from the photograph to the right.

It is always nice to see so many families coming out on a Saturday afternoon, and although I had passed the park many times, this was the first time I had actually been in it, what an excellent park with many facilities.

The upshot was that we broke last year's record, and only had a brief shower, so it was an excellent day out. Thanks to my fellow Lions, Brian Mann, John Fairhurst and Tony Foster for attending the day.

John Crompton
7th October 2010