{"id":114,"date":"2022-12-22T11:28:23","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T11:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staffordlions.co.uk\/?page_id=114"},"modified":"2025-07-23T11:48:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T10:48:13","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/staffordlions.co.uk\/?page_id=114","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"History of Our Club:<\/strong>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our club was started back in 1977 and has continued to work in the Stafford and surrounding villages for more than 40 years. Each year we hold a Charter to celebrate the founding of our club.<\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/strong> \u00a0Brief History of Lions Clubs International:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lions Clubs International started back in 1917 as the dream of a Chicago businessman, Melvin Jones, who\u00a0 believed that people with expertise and enthusiasm could use their talents to improve their communities or even the world at large.<\/p>\n

“What if these men,”\u00a0 <\/em>Melvin Jones asked, \u201cwho are successful because of their drive, intelligence and ambition, were to put their talents to work improving their communities?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Melvin was a member of the Business Circle of Chicago\u00a0 and they authorised him to develop the concept with other similar groups.\u00a0 Due to his efforts a first meeting of 12 was held in a local hotel on 7th June 1917.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Click on image for a video about the forming of Lions Clubs International<\/p>\n

\u2018Lionism\u2019, as it became known, came to Britain in 1950.\u00a0 During World War II the Lions of Canada had sent clothes and food parcels to the children in London who were affected by the Blitz. After the war was over the Queen Mother asked her equerry to go to Canada to thank the Lions for their efforts. He was so impressed by their work that he returned to London and setup the first Lions Club in England.<\/p>\n

Clubs then flourished throughout Great Britain and are now open to men and women who donate some of their spare time to helping those in need.<\/p>\n

Worldwide there are more than 1.4 million members in more than 46,000 Lion Clubs in over 208 countries and geographic areas all striving to fulfil the Lions motto of \u201cWe Serve\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong> \u00a0 Past <\/b>Presidents of Stafford Lions Club:<\/b><\/h3>\n

Sid Peplow\/Charles Kelly\u00a0 1977-1978\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Percy Grero 1979\u20131980
\nIan Sherratt 1980\u20131981\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0John Hughes 1981 \u2013 1982<\/b><\/i><\/u>
\nRod Niven 1982\u20131983\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Alun Jones 1983\u20131984
\nBryan Jervis 1984\u20131985\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Peter Dudley\u00a01985\u20131986
\nKen Gore 1986\u20131987\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Geoff Lunn 1987\u20131988
\nFrank Finlay 1988\u20131989\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Nick Oldfield 1989\u20131990
\nSteve Parrish 1990\u20131991\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Chris Hilditch\u00a01991\u20131992
\nKeith Thompson 1992\u20131993\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rolando Carrasco 1993 \u2013 1994
\nSyd Birkin 1994\u20131995\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jeff Dixon 1995\u20131996
\nIan Wrightson\u00a01996\u20131997\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Bill Bedford 1997\u20131998
\n<\/sup><\/sub><\/u><\/i><\/b> Allan Howells 1998\u20131999\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mike Halstead 1999\u20132000<\/b><\/i><\/u>
\nPaul Johnson 2000\u20132001\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John Kemp\u00a02001\u20132002<\/b><\/i><\/u>
\nKen Gore 2002\u20132003 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Geoff Mackenzie 2003\u20132004<\/b><\/i><\/u>
\nJeff Dixon 2004\u20132005 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Allan Howells\u00a02006\u20132007<\/b><\/i><\/u>
\nRod Niven 2007\u20132008 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Digby Gould 2008\u20132009
\nDave Lewis 2009\u20132010\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Maureen Gore 2010\u20132011
\nGeoff Mackenzie 2011\u20132012\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Geoff Mackenzie 2012\u20132013
\nRoger Gay 2013\u20132014\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Digby Gould 2014\u20132015
\nJeff Dixon 2015\u20132016\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Roger Gay 2016\u20132017
\nGlenda Chard 2017-2018\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Ed Rule 2018-2019
\nRose Cowley 2019 to 2020\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Rose Cowley 2020 to 2021
\nDave Lewis 2021 to 2022\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Dave Lewis 2022 to 2023
\nDave Lewis 2023 to 20224\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Dave Lewis 2024 to 2025<\/p>\n

Current President for 2025 to 2026\u00a0 \u00a0Carly Trusler<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Stafford Lions Club 2025<\/strong>.
\nWeb design Lion Dave Lewis with a great deal of help and tuition from his eldest son, Simon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

History of Our Club: Our club was started back in 1977 and has continued to work in the Stafford and surrounding villages for more than 40 years. Each year we hold a Charter to celebrate the founding of our club. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-114","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffordlions.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffordlions.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffordlions.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffordlions.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffordlions.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/staffordlions.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2335,"href":"https:\/\/staffordlions.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/114\/revisions\/2335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffordlions.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}