50 Years of Service

GLOUCESTER LIONS CLUB HISTORY

Club Charter 1968

 

The Gloucester Lions Club received its Charter in 1968,  The sponsoring Club was the Metcalfe and District Lions. The Charter President was Fred G. Barrett.

 

 

Charter members were:

Fred G. Barrett         William Augey     Bill Bonsall

Emile Brousseau      Roy Depper         Eldon Dunning

Ed Gravell                 Oliver Hibbard     Rick Hughs

Kenneth Johnston     Fred Johnston     Robert Kemp

Rene Lepage             Eldon Lough       Fraser MacDonald

Russell McAllister      Bev Meldrum      Fred Meldrum

Irv Taylor                    Paul Turgeon      George Urquhart

Cecil Cameron           Allen LeBreton    Glen (Bud) Tanner

Robert Scharfe           Harry White         Frank Cousineau

For many years the Club made its home in the banquet hall at the Fred G. Barrett Arena at Leitrim, which has been renamed the “Gloucester Lions Hall”.  The Gloucester Lions had equipped and operated the canteen for many years, and held fundraising dances and bingos there.

 

 

 

 


Leo Club 

A “Leo Club” was formed and for a few years served our youth volunteers and community very well.

 


Governor of District A-4

Until present,  three members of the Gloucester Lions Club have served as District Governor.

1978  Bev Meldrum,  —  1983 Lloyd Craig —  2000 Dave Haines

 


International Life Membership Awards

Over the years the following members received International Life Membership Awards
Roy Depper, Eldon Dunning, Bob Kemp and Bud Tanner.

 


New Club Sponsorships

New Clubs that have been sponsored by Gloucester Lions were:
Blackburn (closed), Nepean, Manotick and North Gloucester.

 


Gloucester Lions Club Fundraising Activities

Christmas Tree Sales

This method of fundraising started in 1973 when a hardy bunch of Lions members would travel to Kaladar and over a full day would fill two tractor-trailers and bring them back to Ottawa.  One of the original members of this group remembers this as excellent team-building and recounts many amusing stories and anecdotes.  Over the years, trees have been purchased from Riceville, Ontario, Kaladar, Ontario, Danford Lake, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Thurso, Quebec and Kemptville Ontario, Gloucester, Ontario, Buckingham, Ontario. Toronto, Ontario and Ottawa, Ontario.  Also the sales locations of these trees have changed:

1971-1972 – Dairy King, Bank Street and Kingsdale Boulevard, Blossom Park

1972-1973 – Knippel Nursery, Bank Street and Queensdale Avenue, Blossom Park

1974 – 2000 – K-Mart at Blossom Park as well as Doug Woodburn’s on Innes Road

2000 – present – Capital Golf Course on Bank St. as well as Apple Saddlery on Innes Rd

 

Loading Trees in Kaladar

 

 

Tree Lot Blossom Park

 

 

Tree Lot Innes Road

 

 

Tree Lot Capital Golf

Flea Market

This was one of the first fund-raising activities for this new organization and they approached it with great gusto by collecting all sorts of used items and opening a booth in the Byward Market across from Ritchie Feed & Seed.  Aside from the fun and showmanship required to sell these items, this project did not have a long life.

 

Snowmobile & Bike Show

This event was held at the Leitrim Arena and over 2,000 people attended.  Features included displays of motorbikes, and snow equipment, safety films, motorbike riding demonstrations, performances by the Gloucester majorettes and rides for the children.  Gloucester Police and St. John’s Ambulance showed films and held demonstrations on T.V. screens located around the arena.

Hockey Rink Canteen

In 1969 a new arena was completed in the community, and the Gloucester Lions made a commitment to look after the operation of the canteen and the working schedule involved every member of the Club.  The profits from this project went toward the installation of the first lit baseball diamond on the west side of the old Leitrim arena.

 

Bingo

Bingo was another fund-raising project that the club undertook starting in 1977.  Games were held all year long on Monday night from 7:00p.m. to 10:00p.m. at the Leitrim hall above the Leitrim Arena.  Lion members Phil Illott, Jenny Craig, Lloyd Craig, Rene Lepage, Gene Demers, Doug Bailey and Dave Haines were the main players on this project.  The rest of the club members provided secondary support.  This project provided revenue for the club for many years until 1999 when the last bingo was played.

 

Special games at a number of seniors’ homes were also a favourite for Lion Phil Illott and company.  They were held in the afternoons at the following homes:  Carlsbad Seniors Club, Laurier Manor Seniors Home, Rothwell Heights Seniors, 2080 Russell Road Seniors and Gloucester South Seniors.  These games provided great entertainment for all, including our members Lion John Gougeon, Lion Frank Sarault, Lion Gerry Henri and other Lions mentioned above.  Thanks to all who helped bring a smile, laughter and enjoyment to our seniors in the community.

Pancake Breakfast

Over the years the club has held a number of pancake breakfast, usually associated with another event.  These events have included garage sales, ho key tournaments, Open House at City Hall and the Gloucester Fair, just to name a few.  In recent years we have enjoyed being a part of the Findlay Creek Community Association “Meet Santa Claus” pancake breakfast where we feed up to 300 people from the community.

 

Night Golf

Starting in 1995 and lasting for eleven year, the Night Golf Tournament was a tremendous success.  This tournament was sanctioned by Lions Foundation of Canada which is responsible for the training of Guide Dogs, for the blind, the hearing impaired, persons with mobility issues, Autism Assistance Dog Guides, Seizure Response Dog Guides and Diabetic Alert Dog Guides. As the name implies, the games takes place at night using material such as golf balls with an inserted luminous stick, luminous collar rings for the players and hole marshals, flashlights and golf tees.  In the latter years of the life of this project, Gloucester North Lions helped us, and of course, shared in the profits.  Over the years approximately $50,000 was raised.

 

Lil’ Red Express

This project was the brainchild of Lion Doug Sherwood (because he found this vehicle on his car lot) – Lion Bob Kemp (because he knew the value of this vintage of car, and had the business location to showcase this vehicle) – and Lion John Endicott who looked after the tickets sales, and found locations to take the vehicle to for marketing. Some of the locations were the Ottawa Velley Farm Show – Ritchie Feed & Seed Store – Canadian Tire Stores, – the Stittsville Flea Market and the various locations where devotees of antique vehicles would gather to show off their own “pride and joy”.  Finally the draw date arrived and the Club realized a profit of $3,200.

 

RCMP  Musical Ride

In 2009 the Gloucester Lions Club was proud to co-host the R.C.M.P. Musical Ride at the Rideau-Carleton Entertainment Centre.  Other performances in this family day outing included the R.C.M.P. Pipe and Drums Band, the Ottawa Police Choir, the Ottawa Police Tactical Team and the Ottawa Police K-9 Unit.  This event attracted approximately 2,500 spectators and raised almost $12,000.  A cheque for $5,916.42 was presented to T.R.Ott (Therapeutic Riding Association of Ottawa Carleton Inc.  The remainder went to the various activities that were supported by the Gloucester Lions.

 

Fashions Show

2012 – An enjoyable Sunday afternoon in the Gloucester Lions Hall, located at Fred Barrett Arena, was spent seeing fashions created by Judy Joannou, a local fashion designer.  Models were “friends of the Gloucester Lions” and proceeds went to Crime Stoppers.

2013 – Once more, Judy Joannou, local fashion designer came to our assistance with another marvellous showing of her latest collection.  This time the proceeds went to Women’s Breast Health Centre.

Elvis Night

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proceeds to The Greenboro Pavilion & Food Bank

Dinner & Murder Mystery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proceeds to Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides & Ottawa Therapy Dogs.

Gloucester Fair

In the l970s the City of Gloucester held its annual fair at the Earl Armstrong Arena and the Gloucester Lions decided to take on the operation of the beer tent.  This was quite a learning experience, brisk business, and also problems with revelers getting out of hand.  Due to the lack of security and risk to our club’s reputation, a decision was made to change the role of the Gloucester Lions Club to that of operating the roulette wheels on the midway on a profit-sharing basis with the Gloucester Fair Board.

Navan Fair and Metcalfe Fair

In 2000 Lion Al Whitson took over the huge task of manning all entrance gates, and collecting and counting the Fair admission costs for four days.  This was done by partnering with Gloucester North Lions, Ottawa West Lions and other organizations and each Club received monies for their hours worked.   Huge hours were donated by Lion Graham Ritchie, Lions Howard and Vivian Keck and Lions Lloyd and Jenny Craig.  The monies were to be placed in our Administration account to offset any increase in dues for the coming year.

In later years, the same plan was set in place for the Navan Fair, but this time it was led by Gloucester North Lion.

International Plowing Matches

These events took place in l983 in Richmond, Ontario, in 2001 on Navan, Ontario and in 2003 in Lanark County (just outside of Carleton Place)

This was a great project that combined the membership of many Lions Clubs in the area.  The main tasks were the collection of admission tickets, and the manning of the parking areas.  Again, the Clubs received monies for the hours worked by each of their members.

 


Gloucester Lions Club Community Service

Lionel I, Lionel II & Lionel III

During Gloucester Safety Week in 1973, the Lions Club and the Gloucester Police Department unveiled their new School Safety initiative, “Lionel the Talking Car”.  Lionel was a unique little Volkswagen Beetle Police Car, fitted with a large red key on the rear that turned a large lions head on the front, police lights and a siren on top.  This unique little car was the brainchild of Lion Bob Kemp and Constable Bob Scharfe of the Gloucester Police Department.  The large lion’s head was constructed of paper-mache and covered with fur from an old fur coat.  The eyes were made to flash and a large red tongue inside its mouth would move on request.  This was mounted on the hood and was powered by an antique washing machine transmission and a windshield wiper motor.  The head could turn 90 degrees in each direction.  A hidden microphone and speaker were concealed behind the car’s bumper.  The operating system consisted of several relays, switches and one hundred feet of cable to be controlled from a hidden location by the operator.  Safety messages coming from Lionel would include a question period for children to speak to Lionel.

Lionel 1

The original Lionel car was not roadworthy and had to be towed to every event, but because of the popularity of Lionel in the community and the number of requests for him to be at schools, in parades, etc., the Club decided to build a new “Lionel II” which was roadworthy and could be driven safely anywhere.  A new grill was fabricated to hold the microphone and speakers and the sound system was improved.  A tape deck was fitted to provide music for parades.  Year after year, Lionel performed in parades and events all over Ontario and requests even came from the United States for his appearance.  About 1990, Lionel was showing his age and the Club decided to “retire” him and replaced him with a small robot police car, build to look like the original “Lionel”.

Lionel III was used extensively by the Gloucester Police Safety Unit, but did not have quite the same appeal and was not as popular as our old “Lionel”.  Our Lionel was touted as “The Friend of the Community” wherever he travelled.

School Safety Program

The Gloucester Lions provided ponchos for the School Safety Patrollers.

Bluebird Bus

This vehicle was originally purchased in 1976 to provide transportation for seniors and boys and girls groups that required transportation.  The Club also used the bus for inter-club visits.

The bus was kept at Kemp’s Service Centre and Lion Bob Kemp looked after the driving, the scheduling and the maintenance of the bus.  Lion Bob would take time away from his very busy schedule at the garage to drive seniors to their weekly bowling and for trips for other various activities.  The bus was used for several years then traded in to purchase a new Minivan for the Gloucester Police Crime Prevention program.

Support of Brian MacDonald

In 1978 young Brian MacDonald was a very active and vibrant young man  when a diving accident in a backyard pool broke his neck and placed him in a wheelchair.  Lion Ted Pasch proposed that the Gloucester Lions have a fun day and dance on the ice surface of the Leitrim Arena (now Fred G. Barrett Arena).  The committee extended the activities to include a baseball game in the afternoon before the dance.  Members of the Ottawa 67’s played against members of the Gloucester Lions Club.  It was a very successful event.

Support of Jason McDonald

A rite of passage for many of our youth is found on the hockey rink, and so it was with Jason McDonald, a teenager from Metcalfe.  On September 20, 1997, Jason was at the Earl Armstrong  Arena where he was trying out for the Gloucester Rangers.  A light body check from one of his friends, and Jason went head first into the boards.

What followed was months of rehab and of course a total change in how the family was to live, as their current home was not accessible.  A team of trustees was set up with Lion Mike McIntyre representing the Gloucester Lions Club.  A benefit dance and auction was held at the Greely Legion which netted close to $27,000.  Then with the support of the Ottawa Senators Alumni and  assistance from the Ottawa Senators team itself, the Gloucester Lions organized the “Ultimate Sweater Draw:”  Game sweaters from each of the NHL teams were autographed by the players and included as prizes.  Don Cherry also mentioned it during “Coaches Corner”. The draw was a huge success and $40,000 was deposited into the trust fund.  At the end of four months the club raised in excess of $66,000.

In April, 1998 construction began on a custom-made house in the village of Metcalfe .  In June a couple of team of Gloucester Lions volunteer painters completed the priming and painting of the whole house.

Support of Local Sport

Carlsbad Ringette

Gloucester South Ringette

Gloucester Men’s Softball

Gloucester Girls Softball

 

Adopt a Highway Program

This is a project that was started in 1998 with Lion Alex Caldwell at the helm.  The geographical area was Bank Street between Leitrim Road, and Albion Road.  It was an excellent opportunity to involve high school students who required their 40 hours of volunteering before receiving their graduation certificate.  This event happened four times a year on a Saturday and started at Lion Bob Kemps service station where we picked up our equipment and enjoyed a breakfast at Subway.  Each four-hour shift produced around 30 bags of litter which would be transported to an NCC laneway just north of Capital Golf, where city staff would collect it.

The project continued for 7 years, but in 2005 the newly amalgamated city asked the Lions Club to sign a contract that was too demanding and this put an end to another community project..

Youth-Police Mentoring

This was a program started in the year 2000 and was headed up by Lion Rick Webber, Lion Lloyd Craig, and Lion Jenny Craig.  It was part of a partnership with the Ottawa Police Service and the Orleans Lions Club.  In following years it included the RCMP, Gloucester North Lions Club, Navan Lions Club, Osgoode Lions Club, Manotick Lions Club and Cumberland Lions Club.

The program provided an opportunity for high school students who were interested in policing to partner with a police officer for a certain period of time.  The original program ran for twelve or thirteen weeks with the students, who were chosen by their guidance counsellors, and their matched police mentors.  The matched pairs would spend time on the police officers shift to get a real sense of police work.   Every two weeks the group would observe some kind of police interest like observing the Tactical team, the Canine team, the Dive team etc.  They also scheduled outings such as bowling, Laserquest to continue the team building atmosphere.

This program became very successful over the next three years with a graduation of ninety-two youth.  The program was cancelled in 2004 due to internal problems with the Ottawa Police Department.

Causeway Work Centre 

Causeway is a not-for-profit agency that empowers and supports people with mental illness and other challenges to held them find rewarding work and live more independently.  During the presidency of Lion Phil Illot, the Gloucester Lions Club raised over $5,000 and this went toward the purchase of a van which was much needed for the operation of Causeway.

Over subsequent years the Gloucester Lions have paid for courses, paid for driving licenses and other things which have enabled their clients to support themselves and therefore live a better life.  We continue to support them.

Gloucester Lions Club Support of Sight and Hearing

“Knights of the Blind” is the crusade against darkness started in 1925 with a speech challenge Helen Keller.  The Gloucester Lions Club has been a supporter of this challenge through donations to Lions Club International Foundation, the Lions Foundation of Canadad dog guide school in Oakville, Ontario, Canadian National Institute for the Blind, and the Blind Anglers tournament.

 

Lion Angele and Candy

Lions Foundation of Canada have a training facility at Oakville, Ontario and the mission is to assist Canadians who have a medical or physical disability by providing them Dog Guides at no cost.  The types of dog guides they train are:

  • Canine Vision Dog Guides
  • Hearing Ear Dog Guides
  • Service Dog Guides (for personals with physical or medical disabilities)
  • Seizure Response Dog Guides
  • Autism Assistance Dog Guides
  • Diabetic Alert Dog Guides

Lions Support of Paralympic and Hearing Impaired Athletes

Since the early 1990’s the Gloucester Lions Club has financially sponsored and assisted two local blind athletes in their venture as part of the Canadian Men’s Goalball Team representing Canada in the following games:

  • 1992 Paralympic Games in Barcelona, Spain
  • 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, U.S.A.
  • 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia
  • 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece, and
  • 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China

Before these athletes can attend the Paralympic Games, they must attend a number of competitions.  Our local men have attended training camps/competitions in Great Britain, Slovenia, Lithuania, Hungary, Denmark, Portugal, Brazil and the United States.

The Club has been also been very supportive with sponsorship dollars to help support the hearing impaired.  It has provided support for a local athlete to participate in IOC sanctioned Deaf Olympics in Davos, Switzerland in 1999, in Sundsvall, Sweden in 2003 and in Salt Lake City in 2007.  This athlete also participated in the world deaf golf championship in Dublin, Ireland in 2001 and in Stockholm, Sweden in 2003.  On behalf of Gloucester Lions Club, we salute and congratulate these athletes in their excellent effort representing their country – Canada.

Gloucester Lions Club involvement in Conventions and Parades

Gloucester Lions Club Support of Local Charitable Organisations

The Ottawa Food Bank
Ottawa Rotary Home Foundation

The Perley & Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre

Canadian Diabetes Association (Case for the Cure)
Gloucester Lions Hall renovation at the Fred G. Barrett Arena
Winchester Hospital Ophthalmology Department

Gloucester Lions Club Schoarships

Fred G. and Doris Barrett Scholarship, established in 2003, is presented to a student from Gloucester High School and is based on both academic and athletic achievements/participation.

Gloucester Lions Community Service Award, established in 2010, is presented to a student from St. Francis Xavier and is based on academic achievement and community service that involves activity outside of the school setting, as well as school involvement.