Horley Lions Club
Horley Lions Club CIO Registered Charity No. 1179840
PART OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LIONS CLUBS - DISTRICT 105SE ENGLAND
Lions Clubs International was formed in 1917 by a Chicago business leader, Melvin Jones, who wondered what would happen if people put their talents to work improving their communities. As a result of his inspiration, over 1.4 million men and women today are members of this, the world’s largest service club association, represented in over 200 Countries or Regions.
The Founding members of Lions International
HM the Queen Mother with the orphan children
The History of Lions Clubs
It was thanks to the support of Canadian Lions – and the intervention of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, that the first Lions club was founded in London in 1950. Canadian Lions had provided invaluable support for children orphaned in the Second World War. To thank them, the then Queen sent her equerry Colonel Edward Wyndham (later Lord Leconfield) to Canada.
He was so impressed, that Windsor (Ontario) Lions Club agreed to sponsor the first London club, with Lord Leconfield as its founding Charter President.
This has now grown to encompass thousands of members belonging to hundreds of clubs throughout the United Kingdom.
Today, HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh is a member of the Wokingham Lions Club and Royal Patron of the Lions Clubs of the British Isles. The support of the Duchess has included carrying out the opening ceremony for the Lions shelter at the National Memorial Arboretum.
As part of Lions Clubs International’s Centennial celebration in 2017/18,Lions around the world adopted the message: Where there’s a need, there’s a Lion, and worked to achieve a remarkable Centennial Service Challenge by serving over 240 million people worldwide.