Scarborough Lions: Over six decades of dedicated service to the community

A part of this worldwide confederation is the Scarborough Lions Club who celebrated their 65th anniversary in 2024.

In this second part of a feature on the group, Patrick Argent talks to prominent member Alan Deacon about the club today and their committed role in serving the many needs of the local populace.

In June of 1959, a contingent of local businessmen and professionals would convene to form a nascent Lions International presence within Scarborough.

Today that initial group’s successors, currently a 10-strong faction of contemporary local Lions, are a leading constituent amongst the various charitable organisations within the town.

The current membership comprises President Angela Kershaw, Alan Deacon, Alan Banks, David Hamilton, Jennie Hurst, Phil Kershaw, Jackie Peek, Colin Relph, Babatunde Titus Akin-Tepede and Chrissie Winspear.

Accordingly for a seaside resort, they are most widely known for their annual New Year’s Day Dip, its carnival-like atmosphere fuelled each year by the participant’s increasingly creative costumes.

For over two decades, this gathering has provided the group with a successful high-profile fund-raising event and also added substantially to Scarborough‘s array of traditional seafront festive activities.

Regionally, as with rest of the of the UK, the immediate North Yorkshire area is divided into various Lions ‘zones’: Scarborough, Whitby, Filey, and Malton/Norton etc.

Occasionally these various clubs will jointly collaborate on a specific ‘zones project’, yet predominantly retain their autonomy in concentrating the majority of their efforts in a focussed and very parochial way.

Many of these localised projects can arise from particular singular requests ranging from assistance with adapting housing for specialist needs, to disability aids and the urgent provision of essential domestic white goods.

“We take each individual request as just that- individual – with many coming via the social services” stated former President and veteran member of Scarborough Lions, Alan Deacon.

“We do also concentrate on youth, on the needs of those educationally and physically challenged, we have a number of requests for sensory cabins. Schools are particularly requesting these” he added.

In recent years the Scarborough contingent has also focussed on one particular public initiative, the result of which has been the installation of a number of life-saving medical defibrillators at various locations across the town.

Commencing with the Lifeboat Station in 2016, Falsgrave Road (in honour of the late Lion Christine Carr) in 2023, another being established in Manor Road last year and a further unit in memory of the late Roy Chambers, a recent former past-President of the local group, placed in Northstead this year.

Highly distinctive in its yellow and green protective casing, the placement of this vital emergency equipment is part of a significant long-term plan for the Lions group to assist in extending Scarborough’s network of publicly-accessible defibrillators.

Mr. Deacon points out that the Lions are structurally differentiated from other major charitable organisations in that they have no £160,000 per annum CEO or large administrative sector.

In the UK there are only three employed staff based at the organisation’s national HQ in Solihull.

All donations to the Lions going strictly to the causes. “We spend money on the public’s behalf, their money to be distributed in a correct way. 100% of money given to us by the public is money given out – nothing is taken for administration,” he said.

Looking to future development, on-going recruitment is an important focus for the local group and Mr. Deacon, a fiercely impassioned advocate of the Lions’ movement, encourages anyone who would like to become a member, to consider joining and to contact the club for more information.

He is keen to mention the club’s motto of ‘Family first, business second, Lions third’ yet highlights that volunteering as a member for even just a few hours each month, can be a highly valuable contribution in furthering their collective cause locally.

“It is giving something back to society, which is the basic ethos of the organisation’s US businessman founder Melvin Jones when he started in 1917. If you have that within you to give something back and help a bit. Giving is far more rewarding than receiving, it makes people happy,” he further emphasised.

Volunteer helpers (or Friends of the Lions) are also very welcome as their assistance is always invaluable at any time to the group’s work.

Regular meetings are held at Scarborough Rugby Club on the second Monday of each month at 7pm, with numerous associated social events staged throughout the year.

Additionally becoming a Lion also offers the opportunity to acquire new skills and responsibilities, make new friends and professional connections and ultimately become part of the largest charitable service conglomeration in the world.

In addition to the New Years’s Day Dip, the group organise other annual fund-raising activities prior to Christmas and at Easter as well as regular collecting drives throughout the area during the year.

“It is fun. A lot of it is working with other people for a common cause but also being diplomatic and democratic about it – it’s that simple” Mr. Deacon said.

Currently mid-way through their seventh decade, the Scarborough club continues to actively implement the ideals, aims and objectives of ‘Lionism’.

Their core community-minded approach, is summarised concisely by Alan Deacon, by him stating in conclusion: “That someone actually showing they care, is the main cause of what we do”.

Scarborough Lions Club can be contacted via their Facebook page, by email at [email protected] or on 0345 833 989.