Tuesday 23rd December: IC in place of Michael Gillon who has to go to a funeral. The route is my estate and there as loads of children as well as the usual party at the top of Lonsdale. We stop here for a load of Santa visits, as well as wine and mince pies.

We run out of time and have to miss out Harrington, Noel and the bottom of Braunston Road, but we do finish at 18 Glebe Way with more mulled wine and mince pies courtesy of Lorna.

My main impression this year is the number of "friends" that have come out to help get Santa round his routes. Some are potential members, others just keen to help us where they can.

Bart Taylor-Harris, Ian Canadine, David Couldwell, Keith Humphrey, Bob Wallace, Tim & Maggie Ellwood-Wade, Graham Charity, Adrian Rawlings, Anna Constable, and on Christmas Eve, a couple of friends of David Thompson's, sons of Mike Cropper and Paul Mills.

Sunday 21st December: On the sleigh as an elf tonight, MO in charge. Hilltop start down to Parkfield, plenty of children.

Saturday 20th December: The Furleys static, and although everyone thinks it is quiet, we collect over £500. James Tyers collects the sleigh to do a Lyddington tableau in the evening. I take a few photos and send them on to the mums, and am allowed to use one of them for publicity purposes.

Thursday 18th December: My first outing with the sleigh, and I'm IC for the Birdie Estate, Barmstedt, Queens and Willow Crescent. It seems a quiet evening with fewer children than expected around Willow. We manage to finish only five minutes late, better than in previous years.

Gordon is my excellent driver, and the set up at RPC is good and straightforward, well done Charles for getting it set up, and Lorna brings sustenance out which we take at the end of the Willow Crescent section of the route.

Two or three guests, and I have to keep them on their task more than usual, but a good result is achieved with £333.63 collected.

Monday 8th December: The sleigh has its first outing at late night shopping in Oakham and we have three guests helping Charles. A new Santa, Bob Wallace, Adrian Rawlings and Anna Constable. I take some photos and then have a stroll. I bump into Laurence Howard and ask if he has received my communication. He says he has but has been very busy, and I guess he doesn't like to commit too early, anyway he has to acknowledge now!

Nigel plays the child catcher and parades around with our sandwich boards.

Saturday 6th December: The Christmas bash at Normanton Park, and a disappointing 46 people attending, Mike Saywood's words not mine. Actually for those that attend it an enjoyable evening, although for a while we wonder if we will have a disco, as the usual guy breaks down, and the hotel have to call for a sub, who does a good job at short notice.

During the period between dinner and the disco starting, I initiate a game of "Just a Minute" which gets a few laughs, DL talks about boiling and egg, CR about life in Bradford (not the topic I gave him), BS does about 10 seconds on Austin Healey, and Julie tells us about trolley buses in Amsterdam.

A good chat with DL who suggests speakers, and I ask him to follow them up.

Which Members Attend:

Allan Grey, Bob Fisher, Nigel Campion, Martin Thompson, Mike Saywood, David Thompson, Rob Wilkinson, Brian Skevington, Mike & Margaret Owers, Gordon & Julie Rolland, Peter Jones, David Ford, David Lovering, Paul Brook, Charles Robertshaw.

Total: 17

Which Members Do Not Attend:

Robin Bickers, Monica Compton, Mike Cropper, Alf Dewis, Eddy Dorman, Michael Gillon, Margaret Heath, Peter Hems, Steve Jarvis, Graham Kent, David Kirtland, Bob Lucas, Paul Mills, Shane Reed, John Reid, Roger Rowell, Fred Stace, Chris Wallis, Verney Wood, Iain Reeves, Adam Lowe, Mike Crosland

Total: 22

Ten of 13 with under three years service do NOT attend, two of 13 them are married to longer service members, leaving David Ford as the only under three year member to attend.

If Rob Wilkinson is under 60, he is the only under 60 that attends!

Discuss!

Thursday 4th December: More angst over entertainment for our 40th bash when Mike Saywood informs everyone that we have ruled out music or singing due to the acoustics. The man just does not get the message and feels that a magician would be fascinating, entertaining and amusing.

My response is brief, and is supported by Mike & Charles.

Clem Johnson contacts me following my enquiry, and confirms that he could make 6th June. I also make an enquiry for Bill Callaghan as this would be MC's preference.

I decide that the best way to move this forward will be to have a draft programme for the evening prepared for the Officers meeting on 5th Jan, where we can make some final decisions.

Wednesday 3rd December: A good turnout of 27 members and one guest for the feedback from the recent questionnaire. It is presented by Michael Gillon, who does an excellent job. The atmosphere is good, and many good comments are made in the Q&A at the end. So none of the fears of upset are manifested, or so it appears; David Ford tells me on Saturday evening that David Thompson has written to him asking him not to change anything, ironic really as it was during David's presidency that we really began the long process that led us to this point.

Keith Humphrey is the guest, and he looks like he would make great addition to the club. I receive an email the following thanking everyone who has made him feel welcome.

My favourite comment from the evening is from John Reid, who talks about a refreshed programme with fewer Whipper meetings, since Allan gave us all a kick up the backside!!

Monday 1st December: The zone social and quiz evening, Gordon & Julie join us and it is beyond parody. The food is good, but it's unclear if the starter is a starter, or a main course given the variety and volume available.

Jayesh has decided he is the question master, and we have to raise our hands to answer his questions, Julie acts as score keeper. After an hour of of this knock about, we begin to wonder if the starter was the main course as well, Jayesh disappears to find the main course. It appears ten minutes later, brought in by a little Chinese man in his coat, bizarre.

I meet Aarti from Leicester Lionesses, DG Alan Hall is there and a lady called Madelaine recognises me from Petfoods, she used to be one of our nurses. MM Lions are well represented, but all by ladies, and they say that the male/female ratio at their club is around 50/50, mmmmm!

Not sure I would encourage our members to join this function again, but Jayesh collars me at the end and suggests that the next zone meeting is held at our club, not quite sure what he means, need to find out.

In the morning I deliver a food parcel to the young lady that contacted me via our new Facebook page, she has a 4 year old son with a rare genetic condition, and had asked whether they qualified. I tell them about our possible donation type support as well as Make-a-Wish.

Friday 28th November: Tonight I join the Social committee for further discussion regarding the 40th Anniversary event. Monica has to leave half way through, and I'm left with Mike Saywood & Bob Fisher. Needless to say I'm ready to slit my wrists at the end of the evening.

Bob wants home-grown entertainment, I do not, but as I don't like just blanking an idea, I say, "let's keep it our thinking at the moment".

I'm depressed again event writing about it. I take some sort of control of events, and in particular A&P, invites etc.

I've left Bob to think about entertainment with David Lovering & Brian Skevington, I need to get to Brian beforehand.

End of!

Thursday 27th November: An evening get together with David Ford & Mike Cropper, the aim being to discuss feedback of David's questionnaire. An excellent piece of work which Michael Gillon will present; we also agree that the SWAT analysis will not be included at this stage, and will be more appropriate as a guide for the next Officers meeting.

David tells us about the discussion at his committee meeting, which also included David Lovering. The knub of their discussion was the concept of "membership". The idea that there are "core members" maybe less than half the current membership that really drive the club and pay subscriptions to LI. The we could have "associate members", anyone who contributed any time voluntarily, for whom we would have a database, and effectively operate with them like a voluntary workforce.

Lastly we could have "friends of Lions", other organisations, partners, sponsors etc who support us in our good work.

The questionnaire clearly recognises that we have a spectrum of members, some for whom "fellowship" is the key ingredient, some for whom "service" is most important. The challenge will be to provide an environment for both groups and those between both ends of the spectrum.

David suggests that we need fewer Officers, and proposes seven, President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Head of Marketing & Membership, Head of Service and Head of Fellowship. Each would have a "second-in-command" who would become the next year's Officers.

We discuss how & when we might introduce this, and agree it should be for Mike's presidency, next year, which means we have to introduce the concept as early as April 2015. Our calendar has a meeting on 4th March where we would present proposals to the club, followed by an April business meeting.

I argue that this is a revolution; Mike wants to introduce many of the changes by stealth, but I'm not sure the new organisation can be done in that way. I also argue that we need a pretty compelling vision to hang this on, otherwise why go through all this upheaval, after all we typically donate £15,000 per year, and have a reasonable social calendar, why change.

The vision has to be to ensure the longevity and legacy of our club, by ensuring all members enjoy the experience and ambience the club provides, by providing the structure where many more people can serve the community alongside us, and by recognising that we can be more ambitious with our service provision.

So Wednesday is agreed, just questionnaire feedback, Q&A, no proposals at this stage, just let the findings sink in.

A long way to go yet, but quite an uplifting discussion, where David demonstrates his strengths.

PS! Charles has been looking at the service stats and one 33% of our membership has no more than three years service.

Wednesday 26th November: Paul & I meet two prospective members, Tim & Maggie Ellwood-Wade in Costa. They're new to the area, live in Edith Weston and made contact with us at our pitch at the Rutland Water Show.

They seem lively, but as a confirmed atheist, Tim is worried when I mention  the word "Fellowship", "you're not religious I hope". I suggest he substitutes the word Friendship, and assure him that we are Apolitical and Secular.

Later in the morning Paul and I give a talk to a group of people with dementia and their carers at VAR. The slideshow goes down well, as does the discussion we have afterward. A gentleman called Frank Foster declares his hand as a past District Governor, and at 92, he's looks more lively than some of our members.

Coffee with Paul & Charles, and then a call from Mike Cropper. He has done the job with Mike Saywood, and MS has agreed to the scale of the event, and that it needs a separate team to deliver it. Who should chair the team I ask naively, Mike confirms they both believe that I should, which is fine by me.

Paul also asks me if I would be interested in chairing Community Service next year, as it seems that Margaret Owers may be getting cold feet; I'll let him know.

So, all in all a good morning!

Tuesday 25th November: Successful morning delivery of 18 parcels to Beckwith Court.

Monday 24th November: Paul & I clear up at RAS and I load up with parcels for Beckwith Court in Empingham and eleven individuals in Ketton.

Friday 21st November: Our annual food collection starts a week early, and only outside Tesco. Tesco National cleared all their stores for the Food Bank, and we have decided to take their local offer of the earlier time. This has meant that we cannot cover the two Coops, but they only represent about 30% of donations.

I help set up at RAS, and do the 0900 to 1100 shift on Saturday morning. On Sunday morning Lorna & I go and help bag up, and then spend the morning distributing food parcels around sheltered accommodation in Uppingham.

Wednesday 19th November: The evening I have organised comes to pass, a visit to Rutland Plastics, and a meal at The Barn, with directors Steve Ayre and Stuart Johnson joining us as guests.

Twenty members in two groups of ten tour the factory, an injection moulding company founded in 1956 by Steve's grandfather. The company originally manufactured plastic toys, but with flow of manufacturing eastward, have re-invented themselves as a trade injection moulder. They run a very impressive ship, and invest in the latest technology, and in particular 3D printing both to prototype components and produce complex ones.

The Barn is fine apart from rubbery chicken, and the overall summary of the evening is most enjoyable, and that we should return to The Barn.

Tuesday 18th November: I write to Hugh making the donation offer and he replies, "what invoice, I didn't send one!" I would love to be a fly on the wall at Hubbard's Lodge this evening. So we wait some more and see what transpires.

Monday 17th November: More thought over the weekend about the 40th anniversary, and how to tackle Mike Saywood. In hindsight I'm glad I didn't rush to reply to the emails, it needed a calmer response and today I discuss with Mike & Charles. Both agree the Officers wanted a "gala event".

I suggest that in that case I need to talk to Mike one-to-one, but I really don't want to lose another Officer, one might be considered an accident, two would be considered a trend.

Mike offers, which I had thought might be a good approach in that it's not me and Mike is an executive member of the Social committee. So we will wait and see how he fares.

Emma Dodds had forwarded me an invoice from Hubbard's Lodge, £140 for stabling 14 horses on the night of the fireworks. I'm not surprised, the Major had suggested that we ought to pay for their extra work.

After some email discussion with David Wood, Mike Owers and Paul, I decide we will offer to make a donation of £250 to a charity of their choice.

Friday 14th November:

Then there is the series of emails from Social Committee members, wittering about the shape and detail of the 40th Gala Charter Dinner, or the Business as Usual Charter event if Mike Saywood and Bob Fisher get their way.

A large majority of the Officers were clear that we wanted a "Gala Event", anywhere between 120 & 150 guests, but Mike is clearly still uncomfortable with this, and it's time to lance the boil. I will have to speak with him.

I have a beer and a bite with Paul Mills in the Nelson, and I agree the one-to-one conversation is better than the email, I don't want to lose another Officer, one is an accident, two might be considered a trend.

Thursday 13th November:

On Thursday Emma forwards an invoice from Major Crouch, to no one in particular, for extra work incurred because of the fireworks, 14 horses @ £10 each, a total of £140. An insignificant sum, but a significant point. The major had commented in our meetings that we ought to be paying for his inconvenience, and he's now backed that up with this invoice.

Both David Wood and I don't believe it should be ignored, and David thinks the idea of Lions making a donation to a local charity of their choice is a good one. I make the point that even this should not be done without some assurances that we an injunction will not be sought next year, or to any fireworks that RAS or OFRC might organise; waiting to hear his response.

John Reid calls me and complains that we have allocated a Wednesday in March 2015, and he has agreed with Dick Maris for him to come as a speaker. We have a long discussion, and I tell him how I feel, how the committees don't work particularly well, and how the club relies on a few who actually "do stuff".

I tell him that I want a club where the Officers do have some executive clout, and don't just sit and listen to the same reports on a Monday and then on a Wednesday. I explain the blue/yellow imbalance of formal/informal meetings, and how we need a little more of the social able evenings. 

I explain why we need three meetings reserved to David Ford's work, and give time to members to absorb, discuss, and debate potential developments about membership and the way the club is organised. I think I may have made a little inroad, not sure. 

Monday 10th November: A quieter week with no Lions meeting. Several coffee sessions with Mike, Paul & Charles, even an afternoon session with Tim Haward, he's a strange old sod.

Friday 7th November: Paul & I visit Emma and agree the storage, packing and distribution of food collected from Tesco on 21/22nd November.

In discussions we find that RAS have decided that the County Show will be on Sunday 31st May, not 7th May, which of course means that we could revert to Sat 6th June for our Gala Charter, assuming Vic Hall is available.

It's good to talk, and Paul/Mike chew more fat in Costa for a while afterward.

Thursday 6th November: A good day for a brain-wave, why not ask RAS if we can use their space for our food collection. No problem, and no cost replies Emma; who's a clever boy?

Wednesday 5th November: Having made the decision not to travel to Ethiopia, naturally I'm available for our regular meeting at The Whipper. Charles informs me beforehand that Robin would like to make a statement, and that he has a Proclamation to make. Along with Adam Lowe's induction and a speaker from the LF&RS, it will be a busy night.

Robin's statement is basically that he has a lot of extra-curricular activities and would like to become a Lion at Large for the remainder of the Lion year, and then review what he wishes to do. He commits to events that he has already signed up for.

The Proclamation which is required to be brief, but impressive, and it certainly is. Apparently I have "successfully opened the door of Lionism" to at least two individuals, and I am thus awarded the Key button hole. It is brief, but party poppers make sure that it's also impressive.

The induction goes well, as it should as David, Charles & I liaise beforehand to ensure it does.

Our speaker is excellent, Ed Rogers, a fire-fighter from LF&RS, giving the talk/presentation he gives to 15-22 year olds concerning road safety in Leicestershire. he unveils some startling facts, such as one death every week, one life-changing injury every day, the most likely cause of death for a teenage girl is in an RTA where her boyfriend has been driving the car, and mobile phones/texting pose a greater safety threat than drink driving.........all great food for thought if you have a teenage daughter or granddaughter.

It's a good meeting, the food is fine, and everything goes according to plan, and Pail and I chew the fat in the Nelson afterwards.

Monday 3rd November: An Officers meeting at The Wheatsheaf in Oakham, where we have the back room to ourselves, thanks to MC and Dan, the landlord.

A good meeting with all ten Officers present, Mike Crosland joining us following Robin's resignation. We make a good fist of updating our event calendar, and I just about manage to keep the meeting on track. Two keys topics that take a fair amount of time are the rearranged Food Collection this year, following Tesco's decision to move our dates, and then the 40th Charter Dinner.

I hope we have offered Mike Saywood an alternative to his very conservative vision for the evening of just 70 people. If that's all we can manage, then Victoria Hall is the wrong venue. I think we might just have persuaded him to think about a bigger model, 150 people at £30/head, gives a budget of £4,500, and if a good meal can be delivered for £20/head, it leaves well over £1,000 for entertainment.

Mike Cropper has even gone as far as committing £200 to any loss that we might incur should we not get the numbers we will aim for.

Sunday 2nd November: Clear up morning and the rain sets in, but we're packed away by 11am, and I make sure the lock-up is well ordered, happy with that.

My hip is giving me increasing discomfort, and I hobble around for the morning. The afternoon I take the radio back to Hubbards Lodge and I meet Mary, the Major's wife and Hugh's mother. She assails me with all the hurt, the dogs, the horses, half an hour of unending verbiage. I make my escape and let Brian & Michael know that they owe me a beer.

Saturday 1st November: Well a busy day ahead which starts at the lock-up at 8am. The day continues well, and it is warm and by lunch-time tents are erected, catering tent organised, lighting erected, generators positioned, and we're ready to go.

Shane & Iain have decided to pre-cook food this year and keep it hot. This serves two purposes, firstly it will allow them to manage the peak demand, and secondly to use our usual burgers instead of the thin patties. It works well and there's not much left from the 700 servings Shane ordered.

I visit Hugh Crouch to collect the walkie-talkie radio, and he seems in good humour, and his wife, who I hadn't met before indicates that she thinks it's all a storm in a tea cup, and that everything will be fine. We agree the communication timing but as it turns out, the radio doesn't work well at all and I have to use the mobile phone.

The weather stays dry, but is cooled by a strong wind blowing in the direction of the studs, but the displays go off faultlessly, and over 2,000 people attend; we even sell out of tickets at Fords.

Two PCs turn up to help us with guiding the public into and out of the Showground, and the lighting works well. My role is a combination of photographer and liaison with the horse people, I also garble a thank you message over the tannoy between the two displays.

My photography is aided by a chance conversation with a local photographer in the morning, who tells me about the "bulb" setting, basically allows you to keep the shutter open with your finger on the button. Along with an ISO setting of 100, and the aperture set at circa f12, you can produce great firework images. The main tip is off course to use a tripod, but mine is broken, and I hand hold, but still get some great images, see below:

At the end of the second display, there's a mad rush for the exit, and we are able to get our tents packed dry, always a bonus.

Net profit, initial estimate, circa £4,500, not at all shabby.

Wednesday 29th October: I meet Judit and she tells me that The Whipper is again without a manager, Wendy not having been seen since pay day. As well as that, even though they have withdrawn her redundancy, Judit is so hacked off she is leaving to set up her own cleaning business.

I meet a lovely lady, Lion Sue Denton, Loughborough IPP, and District Liaison Officer for Youth. I'm interested in Young Leaders in Service, and she fills me in with the process. Nothing unexpected here but we cover some other ground and I get a few ideas.

Sue will be with us on February 4th 2015, presenting to our regular meeting.

In the evening Mike, Brian and I test some lighting and a generator along the drive, I think all will be well, especially now as the weather forecast has improved.

Monday 27th October: Further contact from David Lovering; his perspective is that it's sad, but he's not surprised. He feels that Robin was never prepared to engage with the Officers, and that he's a private person. David says he will contact Robin before our meeting next Monday.

Coffee with Charles and Mike, and a good chance to talk things through. Charles's advice is to endeavour to damp things down, and I agree two things. Firstly I will contact Mike Crosland, who had been elected Vice Chairman of the Programme Committee and invite him along to our Nov 3rd meeting.

I then send an email to all members letting them know of Robin's decision. I also phone Robin, who unfortunately hasn't received the letter I sent yet, I hope he does Tuesday.

Bob Lucas calles an impromptu meeting of the remainder of the Programme Committee for Wednesday at The Lord Nelson.

Friday 24th October: Robin's email arrives, copied to the rest of his committee ...and he couldn't even get my name right, wanker.

I choose to write privately, as befitting the president of such an esteemed organisation, when my heart is saying let him have both barrels via a return email.

MC replies to remind me and Paul that it's not my calendar proposal, but the Officers proposal, and that should be communicated sooner rather than later. I agree and pen a reply email, which currently sits in draft until the snail mail arrives.

My points are:

First and foremost, I am deeply disappointed that you feel the need to resign, not just from the Programme Committee, but from the club completely. I would have preferred the opportunity to discuss your concerns before reaching this stage.

Secondly, the "Shape of a Social Calendar" document, was not just my document, it was agreed by all of the club Officers that attended the Officers meeting before the last business meeting. Unfortunately you were on holiday and unable to attend either meeting. The document was deliberately not raised at the business meeting in deference to your absence, but circulated amongst Officers afterwards; you had plenty of opportunity to discuss it with me or any of the other Officers, you chose not to do so.

Thirdly, I am upset that you feel that the majority of the work of the Programme Committee falls on your shoulders, particularly at a time when you clearly had many other commitments outside of Lions. Even if you didn't want to discuss with me, could you not have discussed with any of them and obtained some help?

Lastly, you have been a conscientious and loyal member of the club, and I appreciate your support of the events you have already committed to, I just hope you will have a change of heart, certainly as far as leaving the club is concerned.

David Ford asks me is this will precipitate the combination of Programme & Social. I'm not actually convinced about this, it's not the combination, it's the committee system where only one or two do the work, while other just offer opinions, e.g.. Rob Wilkinson!!

The bigger question, is do we need everyone on a committee, I'm bloody sure I could do the Programme job by myself; I would just press gang club members for various visits and speakers.

We have an Officers meeting on November 3rd, so I'll wait and see what the consensus is.

Thursday 23rd October: Today I join a Programme Committee meeting at The Lord Nelson, back room, roaring fire, no one else, a good place to meet during the day. Robin, John Reid, Bob Lucas, Rob Wilkinson and Mike Crosland make up the quorum, and there is no hint of Robin's resignation the following day.

Shape of the Social Calendar is on the agenda, and I explain the basis of the framework. We also discuss and agree alternative venues to schedule business meetings, and I update on the visit to Rutland Plastics.

I lob a suggestion in that we might consider alternatives to Wednesday for some meetings which John immediately closes down. It gives me the opportunity to ask the committee to open their minds a little, as well as consult and involve outside the committee.

Given Robin's email, it's clear that apart from Bob Lucas, it's mostly down to him to get the programme together, negotiating with The Whipper in, sorting the menus out, how hard can it bloody be, might be OK if they actually wanted us there, unlike The Barn who would welcome us with open arms.

I'll paste in a bit of Robin's email here for future reference:

I refer to the Programme Committee meeting yesterday. Unfortunately the

discussion over your proposed “Shape of a Social Calendar” resulted in our

making little progress towards finalising the programme for the first half

of next year. I am very unhappy with the situation of having so many

unfilled gaps and consider that your guidelines are too prescriptive and

somewhat inflexible to implement. This difference of opinion and the lack of

a clear programme at this point in the year are not acceptable to me.

As President this year you appear to want to see a change in direction for

the Lions. You obviously consider that the Programme Committee is not

“open-minded, consult outside the committee, and shut down any new ideas

before giving them an airing”. I consider that to be a very unfair comment

on the work of our committee, which also involves liasing with the

Whipper-In to book dates and organising a menu.

So where to from here?

I visit Rutland Plastics and agree the timings and numbers with Steve Ayre, and he later confirms that he and his other director, Stuart Johnston will join us for the meal afterwards.

Wednesday 22nd October: Brian & I put up the firework banner, this year on the Burley Road roundabout, taking down Savvi Travel's out of date banner in the process; the "lost" banner was in the lock-up all the time.

Following Brian's concerns and sleepless nights, we also have a stroll and consider the approach of both cars and pedestrians to the show ground. We can put cones and tape to guide people, but in reality, everyone will have to take responsibility.

The other problem may be people thinking they can park at the show ground, only to be turned away by the heavy mob on the gate, Chris Wallis and Nigel Campion.

Monday 20th October: I attend Mike Saywood's social committee meeting, and the main topic is what shall we do to celebrate our 40th anniversary next year. Mike has consulted club members and got an excellent response, 20 members, and the almost unanimous response is a combined charter and anniversary event.

We conclude that Victoria Hall is the ideal venue, and we should invite a range of local "slebs". We will need further discussion regarding the entertainment, speakers, versus live music etc.

I think we have moved the entrenched approach of Mike & Bob a little, particularly in respect of consultation, but new member Monica seems disconnected from the others, with little attempt by Mike, or Bob to engage her.

Saturday 18th October: Embarrassment when I find out we have double booked this evening; it's a choice between Tigers at home versus Ulster in the new European Rugby Champions Cup, or a charter dinner at Oadby & Wigston Lions. O&W had not acknowledged my email of acceptance, but we had omitted the match from our calendar.

No debate really and I cry off the charter dinner, won't have made many friends there sadly.

Saturday 4th October to Friday 17th October: Out of touch for twelve excellent days in Zambia. No phone, no email, no internet, except that we learn that Tigers have beaten Harlequins and hope David & Mike enjoyed the match.

Friday 3rd October: Finishing touches before we head off for two weeks. It seems that all we do each year is to notify our insurance company and send their our risk assessments, no additional premiums are paid.

The insurance company view is that it is highly unlikely that we would have any liability in the event of a claim having notified people well in advance, and of course that we are not negligent on the night.

I write to Major Crouch and Hugh, and copy in our UKIP councillor, Richard Gale, only reply is MO who congratulates me on my communication.

Having asked the club Officers if they support a Wednesday presentation from Sue Denton about Young Leaders in Service; all agree and Robin has to include it in his draft programme. I confirm with Sue and agree to meet her for a 1 to 1 on 29th October.

Wednesday 1st October: A coffee with Paul & Mike in the morning, and Paul confirms that Chris Wallis will not be at the meeting this evening, he was not much taken with the last meeting.

Apparently Mike, Charles & I are known as the Three Wise Men, well at least they got something right.

We discuss a location for 3rd November meeting, and Mike gets a room at The Wheatsheaf FOC, thanks Dan Lacey. We also discuss our 40th event, and recommend that Mike gets a date sorted fairly soon; he's on the case.

In the afternoon I spend time on fireworks, setting up a press article in the Rutland Times, contacting Reverend Aldous who confirms that we may use Oakham School Chapel for our 2015 Festival of Carols, and contacting Jackie Friar and Fay Taylor at Lands End and Mecc Alte respectively, to see if they will allow their car parks to be used by the public on display night.

I'm just glad I'm not involved in organising fireworks this year.

Well the volcano erupted, Robin Bickers delivers a petulant performance after I try to talk to him. Your programme framework is too prescriptive, will make too much work, I won't do it...........and then storms out.

I had found out from Bob Lucas that there is to be a Programme meeting on 23rd October, which I can make, so I invite myself along, John Reid agreed that it would be a good idea, so Robin had little choice.

The man isn't engaged with Lions, certainly not with the Officers, and definitely not with me. I decide that I am not going to try and engage with him. A pincer movement with the Officers having more say over the programme and communicating with his team directly will hopefully marginalise him, he may even decide to resign, I live in hope.

He has a team of seven, Bob Lucas, who does contribute, Mike Crosland, who I suspect can contribute, and then John Reid, Rob Wilkinson, Nigel Campion and Graham Kent, the last four either unwilling, or unable to contribute.

I'm glad it has come to a head, don't need to pussyfoot round him any more.

David Ford and Michael Gillon deliver their questionnaire, and it is well thought out. Apart from David describing it as a strategy for the golf club, the evening goes as well as I could have hoped; Charles thinks it was brave of me to let it fly, but then people have to have their head.

John Reid thinks I'm trying to change too much, too quickly, after all I didn't give Jayesh five minutes to speak; he thinks I should have allowed Social & Programme the opportunity to read out their reports. I think John has a very rigid view of what should happen, and consequently any slight shift, is too much change, too fast. Actually John is very complimentary, and says I'm doing a good job, so I feel a bit like an X-Factor contestant, they only care what Simon Cowell thinks, not the others.

Monday 29th September: Brain and I meet David Wood, the chairman of the RAS trustees. A decent can do type of guy, with a vision for the development of RAS.

We discuss the location of the firework display, and walk a lot of the perimeter between RAS land and the adjacent studs. We appear to be 400-500 meters away from Hubbard's Lodge, the Crouch's stud.

In the evening Brian and I pay Major Crouch and son Hugh a visit, and we are pleasantly surprised by the hospitality, two bottles of wine and nibbles. Given that Brian declines and Richard Gale also declines I think, well they've gone to some trouble here, so I tuck in.

Richard Gale is there, as his shift on the High Street protest finishes some time earlier, but I find it difficult to take him seriously given his puerile, ongoing protest; needless to say he doesn't make much of a contribution.

The meeting is conducted amicably from start to finish, and it is clear that although Major Crouch feels very aggrieved that what he believes was a Gentlemen's agreement with Jeremy Skipper has been ignored, he recognises the good work Lions do and accepts that the display will go ahead.

The nub of there concerns are over the safety of their horses, and in summary they wish to ensure that we have insurance cover should a worst case scenario occur, and they have an injured horse, or even worse, a horse has to be put down.

They also request that we set up a communication link between them and the firers on the night so that before we start we can check everything is OK at their end, and that we can confirm when the display is completed.

I leave Brian with the task of checking our event specific insurance, and communicate to David Wood how the meeting went. In hindsight I think the fact that there was no one available from RAS was a good thing, otherwise I'm sure we would have got bogged down.

David will make some enquiries regarding insurance with some contacts he has, but it does seem to make sense that we ensure we are covered should the worst happen.

Tuesday 22nd September: I speak to Hugh Crouch again and he's much more conciliatory, we agree that we will pay a visit on Monday evening, 29th September. He's talking about the logistics of managing the situation on the display evening, not how he can prevent the display happening.

It's now clear that the display will go ahead, and we just need to make sure we have done all that can be considered reasonable in the event of any publicity. 

Monday 21st September: I forward a comprehensive package of risk assessment to Joanne Belcher, and her reply the following day suggests we are fine. She has no real power other than to ensure we are complying with the necessary H&S procedures. Hi-5s risk assessment is very comprehensive.

I also call Richard Gant, and he's excellent, offering a 50% share of any donation we may wish to offer; we agree a probably offer of £500, but will hold it in reserve rather than offer up front.

On another matter I contact Robin Bickers, ask if we can meet over the next two weeks. He's too busy this week, too busy event to agree a date, definitely not engaged, maybe upset with my paper, who knows. Need another strategy to handle him and his programme committee. He's also the only one who has not replied regarding November 3rd Officers meeting.

Sunday 20th September: Further contact, this time from Nick Wainwright, county councillor for the Langham area, and Joanne Belcher, RCC's EHO; they've certainly been spreading their complaint and angst around.

David wood, RAS's new President gives me a call and assures me that there have been no assurances given that there will be no fireworks, and we are welcome to continue with planning our display.

A conversation with Richard Ferrand, and he gives me the same story, saying he doesn't believe Jeremy Skipper would have assured Major Crouch that no fireworks would take place. He gives me some personal advice, given that we want to ensure as little acrimony as possible. He recognises that the horses will need to be boxed up, and maybe moved around for the duration of the display, and that there will be some costs involved in this.

He suggests that offer of money may help, or perhaps a donation to the pony club. It's an idea, but it all eats into our profit, which is always at the mercy of the weather. Richard says we're in the event game and those are the risks we take.

Friday 19th September: A call from Emma Dodds to tell me that the shit has hit the fan. Contact from Major Crouch, and he's not happy. I also receive a call from Hugh Crouch and Heather Horton, outraged horse owners from Burley Road Langham.

We have an issue on our hands, and we will have to establish if RAS have given assurances to Major Crouch that there will be no fireworks on their land. If that is the case, and I don't believe it is, otherwise why would he not have nipped our display in the bud when we met eight weeks or so ago.

Watch this space.

Wednesday 17th September: The big day and we have an excellent turn-out, 27 for dinner plus three arriving after dinner for the meeting.

I meet Jayesh in the rear courtyard as I arrive at the Whipper. He's a lovely guy, but he does like to talk, and I have to tell him that he's not getting any airtime tonight as we have a big agenda. He's fine with that, and we chat a lot over dinner and share some good ideas. Maybe a skittles match against his Charnwood club, and he recommends a lady from the Loughborough club to come and talk to us regarding Young Leaders in Service.

The meal is adequate, nothing better and the meeting goes well. After the usual comments that we've not done it like this before, one from Peter Jones regarding seconders for new members, and why no social report, we've always done it like that from John Reid, we approve unanimously the revised Award Guidelines and the New member Induction Protocol, which can of course now both be found on the website.

Charles effectively chairs the meeting, and rather overplays the comic routines, will have to slap him down next time. What does work I think is the flat table of six for the top table for a business meeting.

I deliver my talk and it goes as well as could be expected, no difficult questions at the end, even a little applause. Handshakes from several members including Shane, but also notable a few with their heads down, Bob Fisher particularly, but I expected nothing less.

John Reid comments that my observations on our social/programme are a little unfair, which gives me the opportunity to come in with my view on a small committee, sitting in a silo and delivering a 24 meeting programme without consultation with anyone and as a fait d'accompli. John retorts that the Programme committee always used to present their next six months programme to the Directors by September, so consultation has happened before, so it can happen again.

The evening finishes in the Lord Nelson, with a beer with Charles, Paul & Mike, and the consensus is it has been a very good evening.

Monday 15th September: Our third Officers meeting, in the back room of the Whipper. Robin & Mike have apologised, then Mike O is caught in a gridlock on the M6 and does't arrive until we're finished and Charles only manages to get back from his sister's funeral half way through the meeting.

Nonetheless in David, Mike, Paul, Martin, David and myself, we have a quorum and we construct an agenda for the business meeting on Wednesday. We're not planning to go with the traditional reading of reports, but to have specific items that need communicating/ debating/approval etc. David Ford also recommends that my script is the last item. As expected Martin thinks it's too long, but he would, the others are fully supportive, which is relief.

Overall a good meeting, a good "content rich" agenda for Wednesday, if only one or two would like the sound of their voice a little less.

Saturday 13th September: Rutland Water Day at Sykes Lane. We're car parking and running Dine for the Lions again. We set up the gazebo on Friday night and I've got most of it done by the time Steve Jarvis turns up around 9am on Saturday morning.

Steve and I along with Kate & Natalie get the show off to a good start, and Michael Gillon with the two Margarets finish the job. DtfL raises £355 which along with £600 for the car parking means funds of nearly a grand raised. Better still we are approached by four folk who are very interested in joining the Lions; we now need to follow up quickly.

So the day now has a dual agenda, fundraising and a good pitch for recruitment, it's all about those that walks, rather than those that talks.

Wednesday 10th September: Just when you've waited ages for a social event, two come along together, just like buses when I was a boy, probably still the case. Today we're off to Chatsworth House, courtesy of Bob Fisher who conceived the idea in order to invite the Lions widows along, and three of them, Sue Tyers, Joy Cant and Maureen Corcoran take up the opportunity.

Another beautiful day allows 23 of us to enjoy the house and grounds of Chatsworth to the fullest extent. We have a lively guide taking us round the house and Bob takes up the offer to play the piano; unfortunately no one can "name that tune", but it wasn't chopsticks, and Russ Conway can rest easily.

The Duke of Devonshire is a big advocate of modern sculpture, and there is a pretty serious exhibition around the grounds, "Beyond Extremes" by Sothebys. There are some weird pieces, and if you are far enough up yourself you can interpret them quite easily.

The coach is probably past its sell by date and the gearbox/prop shaft feels like it has a little too much by way of clearances, unless that is it's the drivers stomach after a heavy night.

Well done Bob, and enjoyable day.

Sunday 7th September: Today's the day everyone meets the President. It's a beautiful day, as good as we could possibly have hoped, warm, still especially in the Castle Cottage Cafe garden, and we have 46 people attending, an excellent turnout, and three Lions widows t'boot.

It's £10.50 per head for a full cream tea, scones, cakes, sandwiches the whole nine yards, plus a glass of Prosecco, courtesy of The President. The girls at the Cafe do a good job and everyone seems to have enjoyed the event, at least it wasn't another "sit-down" meal.

It's a good start regarding social events and there's a good cross-section of members present.

Saturday 6th September: The day has arrived when we move our containers from their old home in the corner of the rugby field across the road to the back of Navitron.

RAS had decided that our two containers were two containers too far, but Steve Knight and Trevor Ellis had stepped in, and a good temporary solution found. Turns out that the removal guy is none other than Mick White, who moved and stored a lot of Pedigree's equipment back in my time, and he remembered me although we never had direct contact, a pretty strait-laced guy.

Everything goes as smooth as a nut, and Crops even buys coffee from Costa for all of us. Richard Ferrand has organised it all and our share of the cost is £250, a to less than we had feared.

The afternoon foes pretty well as Tigers win their first match of the season 36-17 against Newcastle. My guest for the afternoon is Shane, and we chew the fat a bit over Lions, but without it getting too heavy; he admits again that his job will preclude him doing anything other than attending the occasional function.

Thursday 4th September: A call into Steve Knight at Navitron to recce the new location of our two containers. Four old tech keys cut for the gate padlock and three mobile numbers programmed to open the further new tech barrier, apparently you can open it from a beach in Ibiza. It doesn't work, so will check again tomorrow. This is a great location, on hard standing, much better than at the back of a field, and the move will only cost us £250, much less than Martin has budgeted.

The evening meeting has a fairly low attendance, 21 from memory, but all goes well, and the meal is notably very good, roast pork, crackling, and lemon tart for dessert, they can do it. The downside is the speaker and his talk, I should have expected it from something entitled "35 Years in Sewage". It could have been good, but it was the talk of an engineering nerd reliving his career in minute detail that ultimately bored everyone to death.

Brian Keegan met Robin on a holiday trip to India, told Robin that he gave talks about sewage, and the rest is history, he's in the programme!

Conclusion, speakers, we need to change the paradigm, what topics would be of real interest to us as a mature Lions club, identify them and try to seek out speakers to cover them. If we can't, then we do not need to fill the slot at all costs as seems to have been the case in the past.

Steve Jarvis is there, and he generously proffers a cheque for his missed meeting, but tells me that he has let Rob know that he has apologised for meetings en bloc, due to his work commitments I guess, hopefully not in collusion with Shane.

I offer up the spare ticket for the Tigers match as Lorna is shaking her MaW tin this Saturday. Shane is the first to reply, and confirms; it may be an opportunity to see where his Lion head is!

Wednesday 3rd September: Well a Lions rich few days, getting back up to speed with commitments I have made. First draft of my "Narrative", but not sure yet it it really hits the mark, will re and re-read for a couple of days. The event calendar now has some shape and looks forward to the end of 2015.

Monday afternoon and a visit to talk one-on-one with Robin Bickers, very amicable but not even the offer of a cup of coffee. After a long preamble I get round to the continuing sore that is The Whipper In. Robin does not believe that any change falls within the remit of the Programme committee, and should anyone, like a naive president, want to review options again it would not be treading on his toes, so a good start as that's really what I was angling for.

We discuss the 2015 programme and some progress has been made, but not too much that it is a fait d'accompli. Also Robin agrees that he will circulate progress to the Officers before our next meeting, ideal as Robin will not be there.

We discuss an evening specifically for the DG, Alan Hall and it's all agreed within 24 hours with Jayesh confirming he will visit on September 17th, and Alan Hall on Feb 4th 2015. 

We discuss apologies and which way round works best, i.e. apologising for an absence, or confirming an attendance. As I thought an assumption is made regarding Eddy Dorman and Verney and they were not asked for the cost of the meal recently, where four others were; this is not acceptable, different "assumptions" for different members.

I discuss this the next day with VP Mike, and we conclude that meeting attendance needs not to be an expectation of membership, but that all members should have a default position, either they expect to attend regularly and therefore need to apologise, or they do not expect to attend regularly and need to confirm attendance. At least this would be explainable to prospective members.

Mike has several ideas having read his Lion magazine, and we agree a Community Day would be a great idea for our 40th Anniversary celebrations; I ask Mike as VP, if he will lead a project to consult, plan and deliver our 40th celebrations, he cannot say no!

Thursday 28th August: A visit from Brian Skevington to discuss fireworks; I commit to produce the tickets and posters again, but challenge the pricing. I suggest we raise the cost of entry on the night from £4 to £5 but leave the cost of pre-bought tickets at £3.50. This should do two things, firstly increase the incentive to purchase beforehand, and hence reduce our bad weather risk, and secondly, ease the handling of money on the gate. Not sure Brian is convinced, but ask him to confirm with Mike before tickets and posters go to print.

Brian also wants to introduce a Carol Concert for 2015 at Oakham School Chapel, and asks me to pen a letter to the Reverend Alex Aldous, which I commit to.

I also mention the need to communicate with Major Crouch as fireworks is only two months away. Brian will write the letter, I will sign it as President.

We then chew the fat over various stuff including the enigma Shane. Brian says he was quiet to start with at David Ford's meeting, but opened up gradually and contributed well at the end; all team members have actions from the meeting. Brian also thinks my proposal to move from apologies to confirmation of attendance at Wednesday meetings a sensible idea, we'll see.

Wednesday 27th August: The first wedding of two current Lions in the club's history........Gordon Rolland and Julie Hargreaves. They get married at Oakham Castle and I go down for their departure from the castle and take some photographs which are shared around the club; this gets the usual one comment on-line and one by word of mouth from Brian Skevington.

The other major contribution is the chaffer, one Peter Hems and his Bentley which conveys the bride and groom to and from the Castle.

Gordon & Julie