Lions Club preparations for sale of art for N.I. Hospice proceeding

On  Tuesday  evening  last, Ari  Hodara took  a call from  Christie's to say  he had  won  a  E1m Pablo Picasso  painting  in  a charity raffle  to raise  funds  for  Alzheimers Research. While there  are no Picasso's available , Newcastle  Lions  Club are  inviting  the  public to purchase art at  greatly  reduced prices, which  has  been  donated  free of  charge by local artists, to raise  funds  for  the  Northern Ireland  Children's  Hospice  &  the  N.I. Hospice.

The  art  which  has  been  donated, is by  artists  from  Greece, Dominican  Republic and  County  Down. This will be on  display  in  Newcastle  library  from the  9th - 16th  May 2026.  All art will be sold for under £100.00.  In  no reflection of  the  work of  the artist, the lower price is to make art available to the  public, and  raise  funds  for the  Hospice. The  event  will be launched  on Tuesday  12th  May at  6.30 pm in the Newcastle library.

 Newcastle  Lion  President Beth Cairnduff would  like  to thank  each of  the  artists  for their generosity. On  Saturday 16th, the  Lions  will add to the Hospice  fund by hosting  a street collection in the  Main  Street.

Newcastle  Lion's Club members  display  some  of the  art  going  on  sale  for  NI Hospice ( in  photo  Lions Patricia Trohear,  Simon Capell, Dan O'Reilly, John  Mc Donagh, Club President Beth Cairnduff and Alison Whittall.

Northern Ireland sewing machines bound for Malawi and Tanzania

During  the last  few  weeks,  Newcastle  Lions  Club along  with  five other  Northern  Ireland Clubs, Banbridge ,Limavady, Newry, Downpatrick  and  Antrim  Coast held  a recycling day for  tools  and  sewing  machines.  The day  was  a great  success and  numerous  sewing  machines  and  tools were donated  by  the  public. The  Lions  then brought these to Belfast  and Downpatrick  based Tools For Solidarity, where  they  were  serviced and  the  tools  then  made  into kits.

Having  now  achieved   the  requested  number of  sewing  machines and tools,  TFS, arranged  a container  lorry  to load the  sewing  machines into, and also  the  tool kits. Volunteers  from  TFS   dusted off  passports and  then travelled with the donations to Malawi and  Tanzania. When they  arrived  at  the  TFS  training  schools in  Africa, over  a period  of  the next  three months they will teach a group of students how to use the  sewing  machines.  To help finance  the  training  school, the students  purchase the  sewing  machines. The  money  paid  for the machines goes  back into the  training  school to pay  for  electricity  and staff costs. It promotes empowerment through skills training rather than dependency and  helps  the  environment  by  reducing  waste.

Following  on  from their  recycling  day, Newcastle Lions  President  Beth Cairnduff  is asking  the public  to support a pub quiz, which  the Lions  are holding on  Thursday 16th  April  at  9pm in the  Anchor  bar Newcastle in  aid  of  Dementia  N.I.

Some of  the  recent  Northern  Ireland sewing  machines  being  loaded for  Africa.

Lions thank public for great response to glasses appeal

On  Wednesday  Newcastle  Lion  members  gathered  to sort and  box  donated  glasses. With  strong  cardboard  boxes  courtesy of  Saltrock  Newcastle, the  Lions boxed 3,805  pairs  of  glasses and  955 cases in  twelve  large  boxes. The  glasses  will be  despatched  to France and  then distributed  all over  the world  to help people in  need. The  glasses  came  from  a variety of  places, including  donations  from Newcastle  Library, local  GPs and our opticians.  The  glasses  were also collected from recycling  centres managed  by  Belfast  City  Council as  well as collections  by the  Lions recycling partner  Northern Ireland Resource  Network and 1847 from Limavady  Lion  Club who had  passed  glasses  to the  Newcastle  Club. A  fantastic  team effort  by the  Lions  and the  public has  helped  provide improved  sight to people in  need all over  the  world.

Photograph, Newcastle  Lion  members  sorting  glasses ( in  photo  Lion  President  Beth Cairnduff, DG Marian  Mc Greevy, Lions Frank  Mc Greevy, Graham  Dickson and  Michael  Niblett)