This evening at the Northcourt Centre in Abingdon, the Abingdon Lions Club were giving out cheques and prizes to other local community groups. The Abingdon Lions organise Santa’s Sleigh going around Abingdon during December. Other groups help by providing elves. So of the £4,300 raised, the Lion’s share will be used for a new defibrillator in the Abbey Gardens, to go with the toilet block when complete. The rest was shared between other groups for their own projects. They included:

Abingdon Sea Cadets,

Friends of Abingdon Community Hospital, Lowland Rescue (who find people who are lost), Abingdon Autistic Society, Kennington Memory Club, 2 Guide groups, and Thomas Reade School PTA.

The Lions originated over 100 years ago in the US with the mission To Serve, which they largely do by fund raising for projects and helping other community groups at events and with funding. There are 1.7 million members worldwide, and The Abingdon Lions are one of 46,000 local clubs. In recent years the Abingdon Lion’s have provided 11 defibrillators. They also provide the message in a bottle and message in a wallet which holds important personal information in case of emergency.

The Mayor of Abingdon, Councillor Margaret Crick, was there, and thanked the Lions for all their hard work for the local community. For more information about other projects visit Abingdon Lions Club.