Newcastle Lions make donation to The Ark Community Garden

Newcastle Lions have made a presentation of £500 to the Ark in the town to assist them with repairs to their polytunnels which were severely damaged during Storm Eowyn. The Ark opened in 2015 to help men’s wellbeing through friendship, gardening and craft work. It now caters for women as well as men and each week the centre helps 60-70 adults. It. is financed by donations and by selling produce grown on site including vegetables and flowers. It is located adjacent to the Burrendale Hotel just off the Castlewellan Road and it is renowned for the lovely coffee and scones sold in its café which has great views of the mountains.    

The photo shows Newcastle lions president John McDonagh (with chain) presenting the cheque to Joanna McCaul with other Lions, Ark staff and volunteers looking on. 

Newcastle Lions presented Mourne Mountain Rescue

At their most recent meeting Newcastle Lions presented Mourne Mountain Rescue representative Martin McMullan with a cheque for £1,000 from the money raised during their Christmas fundraising efforts of collections at Eurospar, Barbican and Tesco as well as the raffles at the Burrendale Christmas dinner dances. Martin then gave the Lions a short talk on the history of the Rescue team’s efforts to have a new base in Newcastle. In 2012 50 years after the establishment of the team the decision was made to try and have a base of their own as they had always been “squatters” in other premises. This became really important when the premises they were in was condemned and they were moved to smaller premises which do not allow the full team to meet together never mind having room to dry out equipment after they return from a rescue. They were fortunate to link up with Lidl and a submission was made to Planning in 2019 for premises which were estimated to cost £650,000. They had raised £300,000 toward the cost of the building but due to there being issues at planning and due to COVID they lost 3 sets of funding which would have allowed completion. Hurdles have now been overcome but unfortunately costs have escalated to £1million.  The Group put out an appeal to the public which raised over £100,000 and this was added to the donations that they had gratefully received over the years of the project. Just before Christmas the group were notified that they had been given £1/2 million pounds from the Community Ownership Fund. With the contingencies built up this will allow the premises to be built without any debt and it is hoped to be ready in November/ December 2025 to allow the group to carry out their amazing work which has greatly increased due to the larger number of people visiting the Mournes. Martin thanked the Lions for their very generous cheque and in turn the Lions would like to thank the public who supported them very generously during their fundraising.

Newcastle Lions help homeless with donation to Belfast's Welcome Centre

Newcastle Lions  Club this week helped a homeless charity with a donation of  £250.00, following an attack on its Drop-in Centre which helps people affected by homelessness. On a visit to the Belfast based  Welcome  Centre, at Townsend  Street, Lion  Dan  O'Reilly saw at first hand the tremendous work the group does. As well as going out on the streets of Belfast  at all hours to help people sleeping out. The group provides support services such as housing advice or helping towards medical support.

The group are now in urgent need of toiletries and " brand new still in their packets men and ladies  underwear". The head of marketing and fundraising Kieran  Hughes, said of the Lions donation, " that this has had a real and positive impact on our work and in turn on the lives of the people we support. I am also very happy to say we have just moved into our new Daytime Support Hub – located at the Salvation Army’s Centenary House. Part of the work of the Outreach  team is to help people sleeping rough in  Belfast. The team are on the streets of the  city from 7am to 2 am everyday of the year. You can call them on 07894931047 (7am -2am) or 07851246814 (8am -2am)  In the interim we encourage anyone seeking support to contact us on 028 90 24 04 24 for advice and direction."

Newcastle Lion Dan  O'Reilly presents a cheque for  £250.00 to  Belfast Welcome Centre's Kieran  Hughes