President Michael and Lion Ailsa visited the Great Western Air Ambulance’s new operational base at Almondsbury recently to present them with a cheque for £1,030.35. This amount included £780.35 raised at past president Robin Young’s funeral and a further cheque for £250 donated by Bradley Stoke Lions in remembrance of Robin. Thank you to all who donated money in lieu of flowers – Robin would have been so humbled by this response and so pleased that it went to such a worthwhile charity. It is hard to believe, when you recognise the amazing work the air ambulance does for our communities, that this is still a charity depending on people’s good will to donate. Our thanks to Joe Hughes, their community fundraising coordinator who showed us around the new base and introduced us to some of the crew just before they flew off on yet another mission.

Sadly, we bid goodbye to another Lion, Frederic, his wife Xiying and daughter Sophie, as they set off for Japan where Frederic’s work will take him for the next few years. We wish them well and hope they enjoy Japan.

If you would like to know more about the Lions, please get in touch with the Bradley Stoke Lions on 0845 8336745 or use the number given below. We would love to hear from you.

Lion Ailsa Young
Tel: 07737 10683

This article originally appeared in the September 2019 issue of the Bradley Stoke Journal magazine (on page 24). The magazine is delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH (except August), to ALL 8,700 homes in Bradley Stoke. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.

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By Ailsa Young of Bradley Stoke Lions Club.

You may have seen some of our Lions Club members at the Willow Brook Centre this Easter handing out our Lions’ ‘Message in a Bottle’. This is a small white and green plastic bottle which contains a form which someone on constant medication for any reason can fill in with their personal details, their medical condition, what medication they are on, any allergies, their doctor’s details and any health visitor’s details, plus a few other pieces of relevant information.

This essential information would then be readily available to the emergency services should the person suffer an accident or sudden illness at home and be unable to communicate with the ambulance personnel.

To ensure the emergency services know this information is on hand, the bottle is then placed in the fridge, a green label is put on the outside of the fridge and another label is stuck on the inside of the front door, at eye level, to ensure that any emergency services personnel are made aware the person has the bottle. This ensures that they can render safer and speedier first aid by short cutting time-consuming fact-finding enquiries about the patient.

Having this information available could be a life saver, particularly for someone who is frail or elderly, or for someone whose first language is not English.

This is a service the Lions provide free of charge in the hope that lives can be saved by having a simple little bottle of information in a fridge!

If you do not already have a Message in a Bottle and feel that you need one or know of anyone whom you feel may need one, then please get in touch with the Bradley Stoke Lions on 0845 8336745 or 07737 106836.

The Lions’ Message in a Bottle is supported by the ambulance, police, fire & rescue services, emergency doctors and NHS primary care trusts.

• Bradley Stoke Lions Club on Facebook

This article originally appeared in the June 2019 issue of the Bradley Stoke Journal magazine (on page 22). The magazine is delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH (except August), to ALL 8,700 homes in Bradley Stoke. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.

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By Ailsa Young of  Bradley Stoke Lions Club.

One of our commitments in Lions is to support youth and we were recently delighted to be able to host five youngsters from Avon Youth Club on a fishing trip to Clevedon Pier. Past president Robin supplied all of the fishing gear and the bait with support from Oliver’s Angling in Clevedon, for which we are very grateful. The guys and girls were hugely nervous of the ragworms and squid being used for bait, particularly as the ragworms have pincers in their mouths which pinch when teased by the unwary. Curiosity, however, took over and by the end of the session they were all quite happy to handle them.

We had a glorious sunny day, and everyone enjoyed the experience, despite the fact that the pier mistress Abbie was busy that morning and forgot to put any fish in the Severn for us. So no-one caught anything, only seaweed fish!

Thanks to Abbie at Clevedon Pier for giving us the opportunity to use the pier and thanks to Corrine Ainstey who runs the youth club, her husband Mark who helps with the club’s maintenance issues and volunteer Hayley who all assisted on the day.

The trip ended with an excellent fish and chip dinner sponsored by the Moon and Sixpence Pub across from the pier and for those who didn’t like fish (well, we didn’t catch any did we?) a plate of chips! A huge thank you to Anthony Antoni for offering this treat which ended a perfect afternoon.

We would like to welcome back into the pride any Lions who have left for any reason in the past, as well as any would-be Lions. If anyone would like to know more about the Lions, come to a meeting at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, Woodlands Lane on the second Wednesday of the month, 7.30pm start. Alternatively, contact past president Robin on 07712 046644.

This article originally appeared in the November 2017 issue of the Bradley Stoke Journal news magazine (on page 27). The magazine is delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to 9,500 homes in Bradley Stoke, Little Stoke and Stoke Lodge. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.

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Lions from Bradley Stoke have played their part in keeping the Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (GWAAC) helicopter flying.

The club raised £500 through a variety of fundraising events, and visited the GWAAC base at Filton Airfield to present the cheque.

It costs £2.3million a year to keep the helicopter operational, and the charity receives no day-to-day funding from the government or National Lottery. Therefore, the support of groups like the Bradley Stoke Lions is vital to ensure that GWAAC can continue to provide this life saving service.

GWAAC community fundraising coordinator Ella Mayne said:

“We’re so grateful to the Bradley Stoke Lions for their generosity and support. We rely on the people we serve to help us stay operational. The money raised will help us to provide critical care to those who need it the most – saving more lives.”

GWAAC has been providing an air ambulance service for 2.1 million people across the counties of Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire, North Somerset and parts of Wiltshire for seven years.

• Find out more at www.gwaac.com

• To join Bradley Stoke Lions, call 0845 833 6745.

This article originally appeared in the December 2015 edition of the Bradley Stoke Journal news magazine, delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to 9,500 homes in Bradley Stoke, Little Stoke and Stoke Lodge. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.

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