Taking the Lions' share in helping others

4:49pm Wednesday 14th May 2008

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From carol concerts to the spectacular Highland Gathering, one group makes it its business to do things for the community. Alex Lewis finds out about the work of the Harpenden Lions

THE almost universal complaint of today is "there's not enough time" - yet Harpenden is lucky enough to have a group of people willing, even eager, to give their time to help others.

What makes Steve Gledhill, who has a family and a marketing business to look after, spend - cynics would say squander - so much of the precious commodity on the Harpenden Lions?

"It's an old-fashioned word which sounds a bit corny," he told me - "Fellowship.

"Over the 25 years I've been in the Lions, I've made tremendous friendships.

"It gives a great sense of achievement and satisfaction.

"We see it as putting something back into the community, but we're not a bunch of po-faced do-gooders - we like to have fun and have a beer as well.

"In fact, if it wasn't there I'd really miss it."

While they may shun the curiously pejorative label, good is what the Lions indisputably do - since the Harpenden group's foundation in 1981, more than £400,000 has been raised to help people who desperately need it, from Batford to Bangladesh.

The regular calendar of annual events includes an Easter egg raffle, a spring concert which is usually sold out, a summer barbecue in a member's large garden, a team golf day, a dinner-dance and a pre-Christmas street collection.

Steve said: "One of our biggest fundraisers is our bookshop - that can raise £1,000 a week.

"Whenever a shop goes empty for a couple of weeks, we ask the owner if we can use it - the hard thing is finding the owner, but once we do they usually agree.

"We sell donated paperbacks for 50p, and hardbacks for £1 - some of them are almost new.

"And as people bring in books all the time, we sometimes end up with more stock than when we started."

But the centrepiece of the Lions' calendar is July's Harpenden Highland Gathering, which this year will have the Review as its main sponsor.

Steve's Lions colleague Bengie Walden told me: "It is just wonderful to have the Review on board - absolutely marvellous.

"It is not just the sponsorship itself, but hopefully you can help us sell more tickets, and make this year's Highland Gathering the most successful ever."

The event draws more than 5,000 people to Rothamsted Park, which resonates with the wail of bagpipes, the cheers of the crowds and the roars of the caber-tossers.

Thought to be the largest celebration of Highland culture outside Scotland, it was founded in 1946 and has a curious history.

Bengie said: "In the Second World War, a lot of Scottish engineers came to this part of the world to work for De Havilland in Hatfield. When peace broke out, they found themselves down here without work."

A local sympathiser organised a Highland event to raise funds for them, at first on a farm near Wheathampstead.

It later moved to Clarence Park in St Albans and then Rothamsted Park, getting bigger and more popular each year.

In the 1970s, however, the event ran out of steam and lay dormant for many years, only to be revived by the Lions in the 1990s.

The event on Sunday, July 13, will have four specifically Scottish elements, three competitive - propelling weighty projectiles such as cabers and hammers, performing solo on the bagpipes and Scottish country dancing.

Bengie said: "They are all taken extremely seriously, and the dancing contest is a heat for a national competition."

There will also be spectacular performances from four bands of pipers, who will both open and close proceedings.

A host of other attractions and amusements are sure to provide a big draw on the day.

Bengie said: "The turnout depends on the weather, which is why we try to sell as many tickets in advance as we can.

"But advance tickets are only £3 for adults, as opposed to £6 on the gate, while children under 16 are free.

"As the price includes nearly all the entertainment, at £6 for a day out for a family of four I think it's incredibly good value."

The event involves an enormous amount of pre-planning and year-round work, and the Lions committee in charge admit to being exhausted afterwards.

But with a profit for charity in excess of £8,500, financial spin-offs for groups like Scouts who are paid for helping out and thousands of smiling faces, there are plenty of pay-offs.

Three charities are selected every year to benefit - this time it is the turn of Life Skills Programme for training primary school teachers to teach their pupils about avoiding drink and drugs, the St Francis Hospice in Berkhamsted, and the Help 4 Heroes services charity When choosing which causes to support, the Lions are careful to maintain a mix of the local and the international - regular beneficaries include disabled social groups in Harpenden, and a project to cure blindness in India.

Steve said: "We normally fund two eye camps a year - they go into remote rural communities, screen everybody for eye problems, and operate on cataracts.

"It is very humbling to learn that for £500 you have saved three people's sight."

But fundraising is only part of the Lions' mission - equally productive can be their efforts to simply give their time to help out local people in need.

In particular, this means providing lifts around the area, especially for the disabled, who are taken to social groups and swimming sessions.

The Lions fund an annual day out on a canal boat for one Harpenden disabled group.

Steve said: "They absolutely love it, and we've got to know them really well over the years, with some really firm friendships built up."

Another regular service event is a Christmas trip to a Sue Ryder home near Hitchin, where the terminally ill residents are entertained with carols and mince pies.

Other initiatives require practical skills, such as installing equipment in local playgrounds.

The organisation, founded in the USA in 1917, is international, with a hierarchical structure.

This comes in handy when the Harpenden group organises events with others, as attractions such as theme parks offer substantial discounts for large groups.

Members discuss their latest activities twice a fortnight, in a meeting where the emphasis is on cementing friendships and having fun.

From carol concerts for instance a cup is awarded for the best joke of the evening.

• Watch our video of last year's event by clicking the link below.