Garforth and District Lions Club - CIO

Two more Lions join the club! Welcome to Graham and Sally.
Don't worry, there is still room to come join our amazing club and make a difference in our local community, just ask for details! Lions District 105N

We’d love to hear from people in our area about volunteering with us

We meet twice a month in Garforth and ask volunteers to help with events, as they are able

New ideas for events and ways to support our local community are always welcomed 🦁

On Saturday Garforth and District Lions were delighted to be supporting fellow Lions at the Fun and Sports day for people with disabilities.
It’s always a great day and we love taking part 🦁

We’re ready! Ball Race Cargate Hill Filey. Now

Garforth and District Lions Club - CIO having a day at the seaside! There's still time to get your ticket for Filey Lions ball race, 7:30, Carr gate Hill, Filey

Dear residents of Garforth and our surrounding district,

Our club has been providing activities in Garforth and our surrounding district for 52 years.

It is our great joy and passion to use the phrase ‘we serve’ - the motto of Lions Clubs International.

Therefore, it is incredibly difficult as a club to have to report that we will not be progressing with our annual community bonfire and firework display.

Residents may recall that two years ago the event was significantly marred by antisocial behaviour, including the incredibly dangerous practice of throwing fireworks into the crowd.

Since the local authority took the decision to cancel their bonfires, it was clear that in 2022 many people from across the city descended into our area and, simply put, the event became perilously close to being unmanageable, placing the public at risk.

Last year, the event had to be cancelled because we could not secure a police presence due, again, to the massive spike in antisocial behaviour across the city around the bonfire period.

We do not say this to be critical of the police, that was the reality of both of their situation and that of the fire service.

Since January this year our club have been looking for any form of viable solution to change the event, make it safe for the public to enjoy and we have looked at a whole range of options to facilitate that.

Not least, to have a ticketed event with a greater standard of security, security fencing and controlled access and exit points.

This work has been ongoing for several months but, with regret, the simple reality is the logistics have become untenable.

Having explored the feasibility of event management, from every possible angle, we simply cannot guarantee the safety of the public - which has to be our priority.

We could not find a mechanism to fully deal with anybody wanting to engage in antisocial and dangerous behaviour.

We would not be able to guarantee there would be no antisocial behaviour in the area adjacent to the event or on Ninelands Lane and, again, the emergency services are simply not available to support a community event on one of their busiest nights of the year.

In addition, please remember, we are a club that relies on your donations around such events as Christmas and the community gala and that money is both precious and scarce.

Because these events are causing so much of an issue to the broader authorities the insurance implications were enormous to the point of being both insurmountable and unaffordable.

We do not mind sharing with our friends in the community that the event would have cost us in the region of £8000 in EXCESS costs, which we simply could not justify when there still have been significant question-marks around guaranteeing the safety of the event.

It is deeply saddening that a much loved community event has been lost to antisocial behaviour but, in the troubling times we live in, we are not immune from that and we have to respond sensibly and pragmatically by putting the safety of the public first, second and last.

We are very sorry to have to relay this news and hope the community will accept it in the spirit of community safety being our absolute priority against the backdrop of a small minority who seem hellbent on spoiling wonderful community events for the majority.

Garforth & District Lions Club.

Some of our Lions will be joining Doncaster, for their annual fun and sports day on Saturday, it’s always a great day for all 🦁

Come along with your family and friends. A day of inclusivity, fun and friendly faces 🦁 from 11am onwards!

Garforth and District Lions Club - CIO proudly supporting the community in our part of Yorkshire. Happy Yorkshire Day! 🦁😁

At Garforth and District Lions we like to have a good day out, so yesterday a group of us enjoyed a great day on the canal with Safe Anchor Trust followed by a BBQ 🥂 🚤 🦁

Our president Lion Kathryn Nelson also promotes lions and the great work of other lions across the country through New Voices 🦁

Over the next few days we will be introducing the District New Voice Leads- starting with N!! 🦁🦁

My name is Kathryn Nelson from Garforth and District Lions Club, within 105N. I have 2 young children and work full time, as a head of school, in a special needs school. I have been a Lion for 5 years, 3 of those as club secretary and I am currently new into the role as president for my club. I became more involved in new voices in 2023 and it has been a great way to meet members across the multiple district; sharing ideas and being able to ask questions with such varying responses from across the country has been so interesting and inspiring. I am really keen to support others in Lions to get involved and have a positive impact in their local communities.

A date for your diary in 3 weeks as our annual beer festival kicks off on Friday 16th at 5pm as part of the FEVA festival. Free entry, a fantastic range of drinks plus live music each night and Sunday lunchtime. What's not to like? More details of acts and what's on the bar to come closer to the date :)

🦁 A big thank you to Knaresborough Lions for allowing us to visit their meeting last night.

🚗 As part of the Travelling Lion initiative we visit other clubs to meet fellow Lions and share ideas.

🛏️ 🍻 It was great to see what they do in their area; we heard about the great success of the Knaresborough bed race 🛏️ and the plans for the upcoming beer festival - 16th-18th August!

Just in case...

🦁 Lions were out and about this weekend, helping Friends of Ninelands PTA at Ninelands Primary School fair on Friday
🥂We were pleased to be able to provide the bar and gazebo and that our members were there to help on the day
🎉 We hope you had a great event, we certainly had a fantastic afternoon

Thank you to West Yorkshire Police - Leeds East for joining us last week 🦁 👮🏻‍♀️

Wow, just got some of the pics in from Gala day on Sunday, we love getting out into the community, meeting people and raising money along the way for local causes.

Thanks again to all who came, stall holders, arena acts and our wonderful club volunteers.

Watch this space for details of next years event, plans have already begun!

🦁🍦🤸🏼🕺🥋🎯🚗📚🎡🎺🎨🚒 🐕 🏰 🤡

Being a Lion can be glamorous at times, at others it’s just great fun, from changeover to clowning about in 48 hours!

We hope you got a chance to stop by the Lions gazebos at our gala. We’re a friendly bunch and always welcome new members or those who want to help as a ‘friend of Lions’, just pop us a message or ask next time you see us out and about 🦁

Thank you for coming, it’s been a great day 🦁

More from Phoenix Karate at 2.30 🥋

Wise Moves Line dancing on now and again at 3.30 🕺

Rothwell Gymnasts at 1.30 🤸🏼

Garforth Brass Band 2.00 and 3.00 🎺

Join us for entertainment from 12.30 with Phoenix Karate Association

We also have Line Dancing, Gymnastics and Music throughout the afternoon.

Audience participation welcome…..

We are here at the fabulous Garforth Gala organised by the wonderful Garforth and District Lions Club - CIO! Come play guess the bee’s name and guess the seed! 🐝🌱 Free seeds to sow and take. So many things to see and do here including archery, karate, ice creams and a bar!

Just some of the people joining us today, looking forward to a great day

We’re here 12-4.30 🦁

The car boot is coming to a close but everyone is busy getting ready for the gala to start at 12, come down to Glebelands at Garforth for food, drinks, entertainment, crafts and other stalls for all the family.
I e also have Athas funfair, here all afternoon until 4.30
🦁🍦🎯🎡🥂