LIONS Club members from Holsworthy and District Lions were invited to see the new Long House Centre — a project they have supported in a variety of ways over the past few years.

In May, the club donated £2,400 to North Devon Hospice — the largest cheque ever presented by the Lions. Last autumn they organised a barbecue at the Colour Me Happy event in Stanhope Park and donated all the profits of the day to the Long House. During the tour of the new building they presented another cheque, this time for £450. The money was raised by just two of the Lions, Peter Brown and Richard Hutchings, who still did the North Devon Hospice ‘Man Trak’ walk in March, even though the actual event was officially cancelled the week before.

At the previous week’s business meeting on September 3, the Lions also agreed to donate a total of £1,050 to various local good causes — £500 will be given to Bude and Holsworthy Ambulance Station to help fund the purchase of a ‘smart mannequin’ to be used for training purposes, and £200 will go to a Devon support group for young people with Tourette’s Syndrome.

Various other donations were also agreed: to Holsworthy Brownies; to a Devon support groups for those suffering with ME; to Holsworthy’s Lydia Furse ,who is raising money to fund a trip to Africa to help vulnerable children, and to Torridge Voluntary Services to help fund the purchase of Christmas presents for children in care.

Lions’ president Brian Withal expressed gratitude to the Long House for inviting club members to tour the building and said that combined with all the money to be donated in the next month it had made it a very good week for the Lions.