## Biggleswade Sandy Lions Club (CIO) ## Minutes of the AGM Meeting on 6th August 2025 LP Keith opened the AGM at 8 pm. 16 BS Lions attended. Present: Lions Helen Bell-Day Ivor Dodgson Steve Foott Michelle Gray Mike Haslam Dave Jones Keith Lewis Peter Patmore Helen Robinson Cliff Thornhill Peter Twigg Derek Wright Jean Wright Apologies: Tony Guy Justin Levy Barry Livesey Pauline Livesey Jeanette Taylor Ian Williamson Guests: None ## The Reports all refer to the Lionistic Year 1[st] July 2024 – 30[th] June 2025 ## President’s Report In spite of the emigration of two long serving Club Officers & several members being adversely affected by health conditions, the Club has continued to have a successful year in respect of both Community Service & Fund Raising, due to the commitment & efforts of the Club’s Team of Members. Details follow in the respective Reports. The Club & Trustees held regular meetings. The Club now holds one business meeting &one social/speaker meeting a month. Community Service additionally holds one meeting per month. The Club welcomed a new member transferring to us from California Some Club Members took part in all Zone activities - Quarterly Zone Meetings, Annual Swimming Gala, Drop in Sessions and won the Zone Quiz. Some Members also attended the District Convention & various training sessions. The Club continues with its commitment of donating 10% of income to the LCIF Disaster fund a year. The monthly lunches, outings & activities are well supported, as was a relaxed anniversary dinner & Christmas Social. The Club thanks Trustees, Officers & Members for their ongoing efforts in ensuring that it is able to continue to Serve the Local Community as it has for the last 46 years. ## Treasurers Report This year has been a year of adjusting to having fewer active members which partly accounts for a lower income of £8,700. This is distorted somewhat by HMRC paying £5,112 in Gift Aid last year and none in this Lions Year. After running a very successful dance for many years this came to an end this year as falling numbers and the dance band ceasing playing means a good fundraiser has ended and been replaced by a barn dance with high hopes. ## Community Service Report This has been an interesting and productive year for the Community team. We have met regularly, a monthly basis, with each meeting marked by lively and constructive discussions around both new initiatives and ongoing projects. These sessions have allowed us to reflect on our progress, share ideas, and continue building momentum in delivering meaningful community impact. Donations for 2024/2025 totalling nearly £9000 Donations continue to - Café Mocha, Food for Maisie, EAAA, amongst others. ## Local Community Support Food Bank support: Donated £2,000 to Preens Food Bank and £1,000 to Need project. Home Farm Trust (HFT): CS attended a coffee morning in September, delightful to see the Rose arch and how the garden was coming along. Lion PP attended their Prom; feedback was all the attendees were having a great time. Wicksteed – 50 guests enjoyed thrills and spills and packed lunches supplied by Wicksteed, 2025 we are trialling Gulliver’s Land District Youth Party 50 guests enjoyed a fun packed afternoon. Sutton School – Donation for a mud kitchen – President Keith attended the opening of the nursery turning to a primary school, feedback was positive from KL Rhoda – paid for laptop to enable completion UK Doctor’s status and gain employment and was passed on to Kathy at PREEN for help with furniture Ukraine and Rohingya families – The Rohingyan family have now moved away from our area. The Club continues to support the Ukrainian family Shannon Express – We took 9 guests to watch followed by coffee and cake in a local coffee shop in Biggleswade – a delightful afternoon had by all. MIABs and Wallets handed out hundreds over the year. Spectacles – collected and dispatched almost 9,000 pairs as well as some hearing aids. Zone Swimming Gala - Supported with BS members assistance. Tools for Self-Reliance – continue to collect and deliver to Milton Keynes. Macmillan coffee morning donation given instead of hosting an event this year. Poppy collection and Remembrance wreaths laid in Biggleswade and Sandy. ROAR – Gamlingay School signed up for the year, with the prospect of two more schools. Individuals Helped various individuals by providing 2 special needs buggies (2 different families) curtains, carpets, beds, tv etc Donated £1,000 to LCIF, being the balance of the Clubs agreed donation of 10% of our income for 2024-25 year. It was agreed throughout the year, that this one-off donation to LCIF would be a fairer spread of support to disaster fund in the future. Speakers - it was agreed by Club to continue donations to speakers at Club meetings of between £150 and £250. Club continues to agree the community committee has authority to spend up to £500 before needing to seek prior approval of spend by full Club. ## Fund Raising Report Summer Fetes: we took part in 6 events, two fewer than last year. The total takings (not profit) was £2,571 compared to £3,336 for 8 events the previous year. The average takings per event excluding the outlier Ickwell was £340, up on last year’s £300. Ickwell this year was a magnificent £873 but down on last year’s £941. Throughout the year we sold an amazing 600 mugs. Our thanks to Preen Biggleswade, Wood Green Animal Shelter Shop Sandy and Barnardo’s Shop Sandy for donating the mugs. Christmas Dance: this was the last dance in this format as this was the last performance of the band “New Vintage +” before retirement. Thank you to them for many years wonderful entertainment. Profit was well down at £413 compared to £1200 the previous year due mainly to low ticket sales of 80 compared to 117 the previous year. It is planned to hold a Barn Dance in 2025. Christmas Collections: we did 10 tinshakes at 6 different locations taking £4,508 (£5,377 previous year) which was up 6% on a pro-rata basis. It would have been 11 tinshakes but the Sunday collection at Tesco Sandy had to be cancelled due to high winds damaging the barrier to the car park. This was a planned 3 tinshakes less than the previous year due to concerns about sufficient number of volunteers. Card payments once again amounted to approx. 8%. The tinshakes were eventful with the Sumup card reader failing after two collections. We were grateful to Langford Bowls Club loaning us their machine for the rest of the collections. The music packed up on the last day. The sleigh needs significant renovation. Special thanks to Derek who arranged for the sleigh to be stored inside the Lewis Wark & Luxury Living Unit in Eldon Way Biggleswade for the tinshake period. Unfortunately they are expanding their storage racking and so this will not be possible this year. Special thanks also to Tony for delivering the sleigh to and from each tinshake. Father Christmas appeared each day for a two hour slot. Biggleswade Town Council: we had a stall at the Christmas Light Switch-on on Friday 29[th] Nov. We sold all 130 Lucky Mugs and raised £261. We also acquired a new member, Justin, visiting the stall. We were booked again by the Council to be Father Christmas but stood down when found that a Councillor had asked someone else. Sandy Market: we had a stall at the Spring Market on 27[th] April raising £307. Jumble Sale 29[th] March: the date had to be put back one week at very short notice when a double booking was discovered at the Clifton Community Centre. The takings were £400 which was down on the previous year of £503. It was not known if this was due to the late change of date. Easter Eggs: we purchased 20 eggs as usual from John Bull Confectioners but one was broken and the replacement was also smashed on arrival. Hence only 19 eggs and we had to disappoint the White Horse at Southill which was consistently the lowest performing location. It was decided to increase the price to £2/square to counter the increasing cost of the egg. We made a record profit of £2,049 compared to £1,598 the previous year. However the price increase was not a success with pubs complaining about the difficulty in selling. Logo Quiz Sheets: we agreed to donate the proceeds for the first time to a third party, the East Anglian Air Ambulance. We sold 445 sheets compared to 420 the previous year and made a profit of £694. We received 43 sheets which were completely correct. It was agreed to increase the donation to EAAA to £1,000. ## Officers |Officers|| |---|---| |The Officers/Trustees are:-|| |President|Keith Lewis – Trustee| |Secretary|Helen Robinson – Trustee| |Treasurer|Dave Jones – Trustee| |Fund Raising|Ivor Dodgson – Trustee| |Community Service|Helen Bell-Day – Trustee| |Membership/Website|Steve Foott – Trustee| |PR/Facebook|Helen Bell-Day| |Social|Jean Wright/Helen Robinson| |Health & Safety|Helen Robinson| |Welfare/Gift Aid|Mike Haslam| Next AGM 5th August 2026 **----- Start of picture text -----**
Balance BiggleswadeSandy Lions Club 2023/2024
Income and Expenditure 01July 2023 to 30 June 2024
Income Expenditure
Subscripttions 1,381.00 Subscripttions 1,979.00
Charter/Socials 2,692.92 Charter/Socials 1,571.68
Fetes/Tin Shakes/Quiz 10,087.20 Fetes/Tin Shakes/Quiz 640.37
Dance 3,940.00 Dance 2,759.85
Easter Eggs 2,451.92 Easter Eggs 616.50
Donations 960.35 Donations 12,845.46
Sumup 628.49 Internet 65.00
Gift Aid 5,112.57 Rent/Storage 1,689.75
Admin/MIAB 433.96
Coach 1,271.00
Total 27,254.45 Total 23,872.57
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BiggleswadeSandy Lions Club
Bank Balance at 01 July 2023
Admin Account 946.60
Charity Account 12,594.63
13,541.23 13,541.23
Income
Admin Account 1,324.95
Charity Account 27,254.45
28,579.40 28,579.40
Expenditure
Admin Account 1,004.99
Charity Account 23,823.32
24,828.31 -24828.31
3,751.09
Bank Balance at 30 June 2024
Admin Account 0.00
Charity Account 15,976.51
15,976.51 15976.51
Profit /Loss 3751.09
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BiggleswadeSandy Lions Annual Report 2024 07 August 2024 This years report reflects how active the club has been this last year With total donations up by £3000 on last years total, While total income increased by£8500 expenditure increased by £3502 This number is distorted somewhat by £5112 received from HMRC on Gift Aid This number is from 2021 onwards therefore is larger than normal, Thanks to all members who work tirelessly to maintain this healthy balance for The club -"urdSC￿l ¢55. 5$50 t$> ¢1SJY&51 £J&49Q3Z t55. 136J15J2 15) l} jm7.ya Y¢ui É1¥•76Sk e>.