Way back in June 1969 a group of men and their mates got together and attended a “formation meeting” with the intent to establish a new Lions Club in Forest Hill. The Nunawading Lions supplied the knowledge on the workings of a Lions Club ……..and the decision was put to a vote.
The 17 attendees voted to form the Lions Club of Forest Hill, were then inducted as Charter Members and followed it all up with an election on the same night.
The first President elect of Lions Club of Forest Hill was Geoff Burrell – and he only knew one other person at the meeting! Just goes to show anything can happen when a few blokes get together.
The next step in the process was to get at least 20 members to “Charter” the club. The recruitment drive swung into full action and resulted in a grand total of 26 members when the Lions Club of Forest Hill was finally Chartered on 13 September 1969.
Some of these Charter Members heard about the new club over drinks with friends at the Blackburn (“Blackie”) pub, some via an article in the Nunawading Gazette, another fellow saw the Lions badge and wanted to know all about the organization behind it. They came from all over the place - mates, neighbours and even one member from another Lions club!
The club also needed to start work on helping the local community – and the first main projects were identified as a fundraising BBQ, Opportunity Shop and a Sportsman’s Night.
The search for a location for the BBQ led the club to a local orchardist, Len Stevens, who, after agreeing to provide the space for the event, parking and the cool store for provisions, quite rightly became Charter Member #26.
The vacant shop for the Op Shop wasn’t located until the morning of Charter Night (13 September 1969) and, as it was situated within the locality of the Nunawading Lions, it ended up as a joint venture that is still going to this day – although at a slightly different address.
The Sportsman’s Night was organized and became a much anticipated annual event that, over the years, raised well in excess of $600,000 dollars for Quadriplegics and Paraplegics.
Whilst doing some research on what running a Lions Club was all about the elected delegates attended a Convention where the Lions of Victoria were offered a project to establish a camp for underprivileged children at Licola - an abandoned timber town that had houses in disrepair but plenty of land and a great environment. The purchase was made - all the Lions of Victoria had to do was set about turning it into a viable camp. It developed into a wonderful project. We are proud to say that the Lions Club of Forest Hill got behind the project wholeheartedly - with members and their families turning up at Licola to renovate and have fun with those little kids, who are now in the 35 to 45 year bracket.
So that’s the humble beginnings of our long established Lions Club of Forest Hill. We are all proud to be members of this great club, which has managed to keep attracting good people to good causes over the last 40 odd years. Particular mention should be made of one of our original Charter Members who is still a very active member of the club today - Ross Beveridge,…now, that’s commitment.
The Lions’ organization has evolved over the years and all adults over 18 years of age are encouraged to become members – male, female, able bodied and not so able bodied. Our club is a team of like minded people bonding and working together to assist the community – who wouldn’t want to be part of that? It’s also a lot of fun and we can all do with a bit of that in our lives.
We are very proud of the original 26 club charter members from 1969.
Ross Beveridge |
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Alan Rawaday |
Geoffrey Burrell |
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William Robinson |
John Hall |
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Stanley Sarah |
Ronald Rose |
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Kenneth Sexton |
Leighton Jones |
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John Sherwood |
Ian Kennedy |
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John Skase |
Geoffrey Lawrence |
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Ross Smith |
Joseph Lee |
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Leonard Stevens |
John Loutit |
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Noel Swan |
Allan Maclean |
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Kenneth Western |
Joseph Moret |
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Edward Williams |
Roy McConnell |
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John Willoughby |
John Nicholas |
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Peter Wilson |
Info Coming Soon
