Tag Archives: Bert Mason

BELFAST LIONS SIGHT PROJECT

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Belfast Lions Club President Michael Fisher with Cllr Steven Corr & representatives of ArtsEkta & Extern Photo: Ken Oliver

Belfast Lions Club President Michael Fisher with Cllr Steven Corr & representatives of ArtsEkta & Extern Photo: Ken Oliver

Charity’s vision sees old spectacles recycled for foreign eye camps

We need your old spectacles! An initiative to recycle old or unwanted pairs of specs is helping people in countries as far afield as Africa and India. Belfast City Council is backing a Belfast Lions Club initiative to send old pairs of glasses to eye camps in developing countries and Eastern Europe where they are matched to the right patient.

Bowlers Jack Boles & Alfy Hanson join Bobby Duke (middle) at Ormeau Park to help launch the scheme Photo: Ken Oliver

Bowlers Jack Boles & Alfy Hanson join Bobby Duke (middle) at Ormeau Park to help launch the scheme Photo: Ken Oliver

Belfast Lions are co-operating with the charity Extern and social enterprise ArtsEkta on the project. The donated glasses will be shipped to a regional Lions Eyeglass Recycling Centre at Chichester in England, where they will be cleaned and prepared for distribution by Lions and other groups.  Helping to launch the scheme was Bobby Duke, a Lions Club member for nearly fifty years and a Past District Governor of the group. He is a retired teacher from Finaghy.

Past District Governor Bobby Duke, Belfast Lions Club

Past District Governor Bobby Duke, Belfast Lions Club Photo: Ken Oliver

The President of Belfast Lions Club Michael Fisher said the recycling scheme was a good example of how Lions could make a difference in their own communities and worldwide. “In most developing countries, an eye test can cost as much as one month’s wages and a single eye doctor may serve a community of hundreds of thousands of people”, he said. He also hoped the project would help to attract more volunteers to become involved with the work of the Lions, which started up originally in the city in 1959 through the late Bert Mason, a businessman who went on to serve as International President of the organisation.

The Chair of Belfast Council’s Health and Environmental Services Committee, Councillor Steven Corr, said: “This is a really great idea and I’m delighted the Council is involved in such a worthwhile project. We take a lot of things for granted here; people often have more than one pair of glasses and change them quite regularly so to be able to help others in developing countries have the gift of better vision, is really fantastic. I would like to extend my personal thanks to the Belfast Lions Club for taking on this initiative and hopefully through raising awareness, we can encourage people to recycle their old specs.”

Cllr Steven Corr & Extern help to launch the spectacles project

Cllr Steven Corr & Extern help to launch the spectacles project    Photo: Michael Fisher

To donate used glasses (including sunglasses and reading glasses), place them in the specially marked blue bins located in the Council’s four main recycling centres in the city. These are located at Ormeau (Park Road), Palmerston Road, Alexandra Park Avenue and Blackstaff Way. You can find out about recycling facilities in your area by visiting www.belfastcity.gov.uk/recycling.

President Belfast Lions Club, Michael Fisher, recycling spectacles at the Ormeau depot

President Belfast Lions Club, Michael Fisher, recycling spectacles at the Ormeau depot  Photo: Ken Oliver

Belfast Lions Club is looking for new members and meets on the first Wednesday of every month at 7:30pm at the Wellington Park Hotel, Malone Road. The next meeting is on Wednesday 4th September when a presentation will be made to one of the charities for which funds are raised, Diabetes UK (NI). Lions Clubs are a group of men and women who identify needs within the community and work together to fulfil those needs. They belong to the world’s largest service club organization with more than 1.3 million members in 45,000 clubs in over 200 countries. For more information about the project or the activities of Belfast Lions Club, contact Michael Fisher.

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SPEECH AT LIONS CONVENTION MD105

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LIONS-LOGO-720x682-150x150SPEECH BY MICHAEL FISHER,

PRESIDENT,  BELFAST LIONS CLUB

Multiple District 105 Convention, Waterfront Hall, Belfast,

Saturday 7th May 2011

Lord Mayor, Chairman of Council, International President, other distinguished guests, and fellow Lions. First I would like to thank District Governor Terence Mangan for asking me to perform this task. I am privileged to do so and it is with a certain amount of nervousness but also pride that I now welcome you, Councillor Pat Convery. Like yourself, I am a blow-in, who has been here only 26 years or so. Whereas you came from another part of NI, County Derry, I came from Dublin to cover the troubles for RTÉ News as a TV reporter. Both of us, I hope have come to admire this city which forty years ago was torn apart by violence and now seeks a new way forward in peaceful times. “Pro tanto quid retribuamus” is the motto: In return for so much, what shall we give back. A very appropriate one also for Lions, whose  function as a voluntary group is service to the community. That service was inspired in this city since 1958 by a businessman who many of you will remember, Bert Mason. He has a special place in Lions history as he went on to become International President in 1984. He was a founder member of the Belfast Lions Club, the third in this district to be chartered after Dublin and Cork. One of their first schemes was a meals on wheels service in East Belfast, which was later extended to other areas. From a small beginning a significant structure was built and lasted for over forty years.

Bert who came from Donaghadee passed to his eternal reward in 2007. It was his view that Lionism is one of the greatest unifying forces in the world, bringing together people from different cultures, politics and religions, all answering the call to serve.

I hope that spirit he spoke about will live on in the revived Belfast Lions Club. We were set up in February and our first public fundraising event was two days ago, a table quiz which has brought in over £1,000 to start our work of service. Various projects will now be considered such as the message in a bottle scheme and the collection of unused spectacles. There is also the service of a soup run performed at weekends by one of our members, helping the homeless, especially those from abroad. It’s the other face of Belfast but one to which this club must reach out if we are to live up to the early ideals of its predecessor. If there is any practical way in which we can work with Belfast City Council on some of the schemes then we would be interested to discuss this at some stage.

During your year of office you have focused on making Belfast a safe, clean, prosperous and a united city and attempted to revitalise it. I hope Belfast Lions will now be able to make a contribution to those important goals. I now call on you Lord Mayor to open formally the convention of multiple district 105, British Isles & Ireland.