Lions Lady Mary and I trust that everyone returned home safely from Echuca after a very enjoyable Convention that was full of fun and fellowship. Congratulations to Convention Chairman PDG Barry Higgins, his hard working committee and all members of Echuca Lions Club for a memorable Convention. From the opening flag ceremony right through to the Sunday lunch, everything went like clockwork and all conventioneers thoroughly enjoyed the experience. What a novel and great way start the Convention by showing our Flags of Nations by mounting them in an arrangement resembling the flag set every Lions club displays at meetings. The entertainment was great on the Friday night, although the ventriloquist could have controlled his dummy a bit better (!) – and just as well the “bell-ringers” wore suitable protective gear. I doubt if St. Mary’s Hall had seen such an act like that performed before!! The music at the 60’s themed dinner dance was just what the occasion called for and was very easy to listen and dance to. Thank you to everyone who got into the swing of things by dressing appropriately as 60’s rockers and “flower people” hippies – and, just in case some of us “oldies” got too carried away, there was even an undertaker/grave digger to carry us away!! The guest speakers were varied, informative and entertaining. We had Rebecca Moore from Beyondblue who revealed her life story and how we can identify and help sufferers, Douglas Wood who told of his ordeal as a captive of the Taliban, PCC Lou Onley who addressed us on membership and Leah Evans from Lions Eye Health Program (LEHP) who spoke of the need to have our eyes examined regularly for early detection of eye health problems. All speakers held the audience attention right throughout their addresses and all conventioneers thoroughly enjoyed the subject matter. While there were only three Notices of Motion, the plenary sessions ran smoothly and I was very pleased to have the opportunity to introduce the portfolio members of my Cabinet and the Zone Chairmen to the Convention and for each to briefly outline their responsibilities. Now that you can put a face to a name and voice, I hope you will be more inclined to use their knowledge and experience in club matters. Thanks to our “enforcers”, Lions Greg and Joe, for keeping order and not letting speakers run overtime!! The Partners Tour was obviously a huge success judging by the comments of those who attended and much needed funds were raised for the cause.

The Remembrance ceremony was very dignified and respectful. Congratulations to Lion Alan Evans for his creative and artistic work in building a very impressive and spectacular backdrop for us to collectively mourn and remember our deceased Lions and Partners. I am sure the immediate families of those who had passed were impressed by the way in which we shared their grief and honored their loved ones. On that particular point, I must congratulate the Lions of Echuca for their magnificent professionalism in conducting the Convention at what was a very difficult and emotional time for them following the death and subsequent funeral of their much loved member and esteemed Lion PDG Peter Mitchell on the eve of the Convention. DG report cont….

And what about young Jack, our Junior Public Speaking winner!! Wasn’t he impressive? I believe PDG Barry has him lined up for Newcastle to give a presentation on Echuca for the MD Convention!! The Travelling Travel Gavel was won (?) by Lavington Club and will start its journey around the District from that point. A great result this year raising over $1000-00 for our V6 Foundation. The project is swiftly gaining acceptance and I thank all those clubs who got into the spirit of the project and visited neighbouring clubs and paid the “fine”. Let’s move it along even quicker this year and raise more revenue for our Foundation and enjoy the fellowship that comes with inter-club visits. A special thank you to my Executive, Secretary Judy, Treasurer Jeff and CBL Chairman PCC David for their guidance and assistance getting me through the experience relatively unscathed. Congratulations to DGE Stephen, 1st VDGE Peter and 2nd VDGE Norm on standing for office and accepting the responsibility of carrying our District into the future. Lions Lady Mary and I wish them and their partners every success in the coming years. Thank you to all who attended the Convention. It is through your enthusiastic participation that the Conventions of District 201 V6 are so successful and enjoyable. I am sure the 2015 Convention at Lavington will be no exception with you all attending and enjoying revived friendships and creating new ones. DG Peter & Lions Lady Mary

DG Kevin Tait and Lions Lady Coralie from District V1-4 and DG Ian Warren and Lions Lady Marilyn from District N-4 joined with conventioneers to enjoy the festivities. The opening flag raising ceremony saw members and partners of the Echuca Lions Club on stage with the flags, waving to the music of Jessica Mauboy’s “A Sea of Flags”

MD 201 V6 Convention at Echuca October 17th – 19th. Our theme was “Celebrate the Sixties” and celebrate we did. As Convention Chairman I am so proud of the way Echuca Lions and their ladies worked together to provide a weekend full of fun, food, entertainment, learning and fellowship on a wonderful sunny weekend. Friday evening began with the colourful Flag raising ceremony as Lions and their partners created a “Sea of Flags” supported by six senior students from our three secondary schools and our District Governor Peter Niall. A giant desk set of flags was built as backdrop for the weekend. The entertainment which followed was diverse with a very irreverent ventriloquist, Darcy taking the micky out of our DG Peter, using him as his “dummy”. So much laughter filled the room. The DG as you have never seen him before!!

This was followed by two young local singers, Abbey and Jefferson - very talented and very entertaining. Just when we thought decorum had returned to the hall, Barb, Morrie and the Lions Quartet presented a song for the DG with words re written to the Browns famous hit “The Three Bells”. Decorum once again disappeared and side splitting laughter filled the room as the quartet rang their bells.

This was followed by a delicious supper. Everyone left with a smile on their face! Saturday morning Key members breakfast was addressed by Echuca Lion Dr Peter Phillips. Lions Invocation was delivered by Lion Ian Turner, Lions Purposes by Lion Chris Mitchell, Lioness Pledge by Lioness Anne Flood and the Leos Pledge was delivered by Leo Emily Rigg (Cohuna). Plenary sessions commenced at 9am and over the day we heard some motivating speeches from the three Lions nominated to the following positions, District Governor elect Stephen Kazenwadel (Wangaratta),

Vice District Governor elect Peter Poels (Benalla) and second Vice District Governor elect Norm Walkington (Cohuna). DGE Steve said we need to look at other clubs and ask “Are you Ok”. They spoke about their visions for the future of our District and how important it is to keep our Clubs strong, through membership growth. First Conventioneers were recognised by members and presented with IP Joe Preston’s badge by Lions Lady Mary.

Rebecca Moore, a Beyond Blue Ambassador, gave an inspirational and frank talk of her experiences with depression, drug and alcohol dependency. Rebecca has worked extensively in the hospitality industry, spending most of her career as a Flight Attendant, her dream since childhood. She has been drug and alcohol free for 6 years after a 20 year battle with addiction. Rebecca spoke of her fight to overcome theses addictions to lead a normal life with a job, husband and family. She now works with Beyond Blue to “Pay it Forward” by encouraging others to talk to their friends or doctors if they feel they may have symptoms of depression or addiction.

This session was followed by a delicious lunch in the sunshine with entertainment and a vintage car display - provided by Echuca & District Historical Car Club. PCC Andy held a motivating forum in the hall on the benefit of CEP to clubs, how it can help Clubs to develop and find what their community needs are.

Also about the need to keep growing our Lions families, not just looking for new members, but retention of the members we have. Giving them a job, providing good orientation to new and existing members, “Strengthen through Growth” . Keynote speaker was Douglas Wood - in 2005, then 63 year old Douglass was kidnapped along with two Iraqi business associates and forced into a cell. Arabic television network Al-Jazeera broadcast footage of Wood pleading for his life. Six weeks after his capture, he was found and rescued by Iraqi army troops from a house in Ghazaliya, with assistance from the US forces. Douglas faced the possibility of his own death at the hands of his captures and endured much hardship, but still retains his sense of humour and strength of character. An inspirational man.

The ladies tour then left for a Mystery tour “Out of Africa”. They visited the trophy room of a big game hunter and heard his story, followed by a heart-warming story from a lady who has adopted a village in Uganda and began her own charity to support this by bringing goods back to Australia and selling them, with all funds returned to the woman who made them.

All agreed both had an interesting story to tell about their passion for Africa and how they support it. PCC Lou Onley in his speech about membership and the growth of our clubs, encouraged us to talk about Lions wherever we are, be proud to be seen His message was simple – just ask “would you like to join Lions”. PCC Lou recommended that we all have a look at our Clubs, and see if we can answer the question; “What can we do for your Community WITH Lions”? PCC Lou was presented with a picture of the steam boat “Emmy Lou” in a beautiful River Red Gum frame to remember his time in Echuca.

Lion Bill Ahern address the convention regarding the situation in Papua New Guinea. Port Moresby, the Capital, does not have a Lions Club! Members from Wangaratta Lions Club are travelling to PNG to assist with the upgrade of medical facilities on the island. A request for donations has gone out to Clubs to aid the work being done in PNG to develop new members and maybe a Leo Club. Lion Bill showed off the newly available PNG Lions Badge, a collectors item, which was available from the stand.

Junior Public Speaking winner, Jack Myers, from Numurkah, entertained conventioneers with his speech. The topic for Grades 3-4 was; “You are a tourist officer representing a region in Australia. You want to convince your audience to come for a holiday in the region you have chosen” By the time Jack had finished, we were all packed and ready to take a trip to Merimbula in Southern NSW.

Lots of information pamphlets were available to club to take back on the Australian Lions Foundation and the

VictorianLions Foundation.

If they weren’t enough, PDG John Beale was on hand to give you any further

informationClubs required.

DG Peter introduced all Cabinet members to the conventioneers and they gave a brief description of their portfolios. This was a first for our Convention, and proved very popular. It isn’t often that members get to put a face to a name.

Keeping to a timetable is always hard, so on a number of occasions the District Triad / Mafia were required to remove speakers who had over stayed their time.

Saturday night we danced the night away at Moama Bowling club to a great sixties band “The Hoffmans” Great food, fun dress ups, and some old time dances made us all feel young again.

Not, how did they die, but how did they live? Not, what did they gain, but what did they give?

These are the units to measure the worth Of a man or a woman, regardless of birth.

Not what was their church, Nor what was their creed?

But had they befriended those really in need? Were they ever ready, with words of good cheer

To bring back a smile, to banish a tea? Not what did the sketch in the newspaper say

But how many were sorry when they passed away

They lived the motto

“We Serve”

The highlight of Sunday morning was the poignant Memorial Service for the members of our Lions family who had passed away during the year. The haunting sounds of “The Soft Goodbye” by the Celtic Woman filled the hall. A beautiful giant dove on a map of the world was eventually surrounded by a flock of small doves with candles, one for each person who had died and then DG Peter presented a dove for all those who have passed away around the world. The closing song was “Wind Beneath my Wings” by Bette Midler.

DG Peter had the pleasure of presenting PDG Lynn Fredericks with the International President Appreciation Award, for a job well done during his term as District Governor.

Lion Raymond Munzel was posthumously awarded an LCIF Award by PDG Lynn Fredericks and was accepted by Club President John Pearson.

Leah Evans the National Program Manager for Lions Eye Health Programs, (LEHP - Australia). Leah was the Keynote guest speaker for Sunday, she is a young professional with a passion for community health promotion. Leah has been the National Program Manager from 2008 to 2013, operating from the Centre for Eye Research in Melbourne. Since taking on the role, Leah has introduced numerous initiatives, developed publications, created activities, all directed to the core attributes of the LEHP which is “Empowering Communities to Save Sight” Leah challenged us to take better control of our eye health and talked about the eye health program. As we age it is vital we have our eyes checked regularly to prevent avoidable eye problems.

The “Travelling Travel Gavel” has made its way around the District and will return home to Lavington Lions Club once again. DG Peter was feeling a little threatened after presenting the “Gavel” back to the Lavington Lions. The Club with the most members at the convention ‘wins’ the gavel. Each year it is either Kerang or Lavington who take it home. It would be really wonderful to see it go to another corner of the District at the next Convention.

The main purpose of the “Travelling Gavel” is to raise funds for the V6 Foundation. The idea is to pass the “Gavel” onto an other Club, the distance travelled is the cost of the ‘tax’. This gives Clubs the opportunity to visit other clubs around the District. Kerang Lions Club were the organisers of this project and this year Lion Greg Gin (Kerang) passed over a cheque to PDG Lynn for $1150.00 to go into the V6 Foundation. Lets make sure that it travels far and wide around many clubs till it makes its return to Lavington for the next V6 Convention.

The Zone Chairman are part of the District Governors team, they are the link between Cabinet and the Clubs, passing on information to assist the Clubs. The welfare of the Clubs is their main responsibility. Eight of the District’s eleven Zone Chairman were present at the Convention.

The time had come for the Annual Lions Childhood Cancer Research Foundation

raffle quilt to be drawn. This year the quilt was donated by

Beryl Tartaglia (Kerang) The winner was R McDonald from

Bamorwn, second prize was a $100 voucher for Bunning's, this was won by

the District Treasurer, Jeff Jackson and third prize a Lions Rose

was won by Carol Dickinson. Special thanks to all who sold tickets for

this worthy cause.

DG Peter made presentations to the successful District Governor candidates, wished them well for the future and offered his support and encouragement to each. Lions Lady Mary gave flowers to their partners knowing that the job is not done alone. The future of our great District is in their hands, with the support of all Lions as they work toward their year as District Governor.

It’s hard at the top... The only place these two DG’s could find to sit and have their lunch on Sunday was the

kids playground. At least they have a table.....

All too soon our Convention had come to an end. Echuca Lions Club members and partners were thanked by DG Peter, and presented with Certificates of Appreciation for a job well done. Friday night will live on as a great night of entertainment and a sensational way to start a “Celebrations of the 60’s”

Echuca Chairman PDG Barry handed to Lavington ChairmanPDG Charlie Leaney the small desk set of flags representing theflags of the world. Together with DG Peter, PDG Charlie marched through the crowd to the song “Let there be Peace on Earth” A fitting end to a successful Convention.

A delicious BBQ Lunch followed in the grounds of St. Mary’s beautiful school with entertainment. Lots of happy memories to take away until next year. My thanks to Echuca Lions Club members and their partners for all their work and support over the past three years of preparations for this Convention. We wish Lavington a happy and successful Convention in 2015 and remind everyone that Echuca will host the National Convention in 2016. See you at both!

PDG Barry Higgins Convention Chairman

Phew, almost over,. . . . . .

Well, that wasn’t so bad, when is the next one?

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