History
of Maroubra Lions Club by Neville Symonds
The club was sponsored by
the then Lions Club of Randwick whose President was the late Frank Little (Keith
Royle’s brother in law).
Formation
was mainly due to the
efforts of Mervyn Swan and the writer who, after considerable pavement pounding
had convinced a new way of life to sufficient interested local people.
As far as can be ascertained
surviving Charter Members are the writer, Harold Black (a member of Bondi Lions
Club), John Brieger, Rod
Cohen, Vernon Groves and Roy Stack.
Charter had been set as
October 14, 1963, to be held at the Malabar R.S.L Club an evening never to be forgotten for many reasons, one
of which almost led to a disaster.
Invitations had been
forwarded to the District Governor,
Cabinet Officers,The Mayor of Randwick and the Lady Mayoress, the local press,
Presidents and their partners of most of the then 201N2 clubs, Rotary, Apex and
some one hundred and fifty people
were to be in attendance. Then came the calamity:-
The Licensing Police at
Kingsford, (for some reason), informed us two days before that we would not be
able to have the function at Malabar.
Fortunately Charter
President to be Clarrie Lucas, {the
then Manager of The Commonwealth Bank at Maroubra}
was able to convince the Directors of Maroubra R.S.L that they
should work in with their counterparts at Malabar to enable the function
to be transferred to Maroubra. (Apparently both R.S.L’s banked with the CTB
Maroubra }
Then followed what
must go down in local history as an amazing happening in the setting up
for the function at Maroubra, the transfer of the catering from Malabar, the
erection of street signs “ITS NOT MALABAR R.S.L its MAROUBRA” people
allocated at various points to help in the re direction and surprisingly the
evening started only 15 minutes late and turned out to be an outstanding
success. SO:- It all began on October 14, 1963 the date The Lions Club of
Maroubra was born.
The Charter President was
Clarrie Lucas, the Manager of the Commonwealth Bank at Maroubra Junction. He had
advantages over most Lions in that he was a fantastic raffle ticket seller and
organiser.
If you had an appointment to
see him at the bank, the first
thing to greet you was the tickets from the current raffle we were conducting.
“Don’t worry about the butts I’ll fill
them in for you, now what is it you wanted to see me about”?
The staff at
the bank knew who recommended them for promotions, etc. so when helpers
were required for activities he had no difficulty in finding
willing volunteers from the bank staff.
The main activity during his
term was a race game held at the
then Coogee Mardi Gras held over the Xmas/New Year period which consisted of 18
horses on a spinning frame where odds of 10 to 1 take your pick offered ensued
handsome profits
This ceased one night when a
person approached our stall and indicated what we were doing was illegal
and told us to shut it down.
Clarrie pointed out that we
were The Lions Club of Maroubra, a recognised charity and who the H*** was he to tell us what to do.
The reply was short and to the point “I don’t give a stuff who or
what you are, I’m from No 21 Division and when I come back in twenty minutes,
if you are still here I’ll arrange to lumber the lot of you”
We closed the game. Stuff
was a unusual word in those days but No. 21 Division was the Elite and Toughest
of our Law Enforcement Agencies.
Wal Allen was an interior
decorator by trade, so I suppose it was fate that in his year we undertook to
renovate an old decrepit building in the city to become Recovery House a home
for mentally disturbed people
The person behind this
project was Reuben F. Scarf, a Papal Knight who apparently had a close relation mentally disturbed.
Recovery House was, in its
original condition, a flea ridden filthy doss house and the work carried out by
the members under Wal’s guidance, cleaning, painting, wallpapering, etc was
enormous. We were much younger in those days
Shortly after his year Wal
died as the result of a fall from a ladder and his funeral was held at St.
Edmonds Church. It was an
overcast day when a sudden showing of the sun through one of the church windows
lit up the pew in which the Allen family were sitting. It was weird, almost as
if Wal was saying goodbye.
David Horne was a very
talented Commercial Artist who designed and made our bannerettes and was a Tail
Twister Extraordinary. He fined for fun and it -most certainly was
John Heaney, a Headmaster,
formed our Leo Club (some 60 odd
members) who had their moment of glory on the occasion of the Cyclone Tracey
Darwin Disaster. The seventeen and eighteen year olds manned street lights with
buckets and raised over $1,500 and
allocated streets to members to collect clothing, food, etc. which collection
virtually filled a pantechnicon.
One of our main fund raisers
was the Xmas Stocking which on this occasion won by a World War One Digger who
had purchased a ticket at Prince Henry Hospital,(we moved the stocking from site
to site over a two month period)
He advised that he did not
know what to do with it as he had no family and we suggested he might like to
distribute the contents amongst the hospital patients seeing as how he had
purchased the ticket there.
He turned out to be a bent
over aged man who we introduced to the Matron a Sister Symons,( no relation) who
kissed him as a thankyou. Throughout the wards he was received in a similar
manner and on the completion of the distribution of the stocking’s contents
we had with us a six footer divorced of ailments.
In 1973-4 Maroubra won the
award as the best club in District 201B which the writer was proud to accept on
behalf of the club at the Multiple District Convention held at Surfers Paradise
This was a convention
unsurpassed.
Motoring up with the car
decorated with a bannerette affixed to the wireless aerial and numerous other
decals we were stopped at Tweed Heads by a Lion virtually running in front of
the vehicle waving a flag which simply said “Next on Left for Reception.”
Reception consisted of a
huge marquee in which you were provided with refreshments, refreshments and
refreshments, etc and provided with a detailed map showing how to go to wherever
you were staying
A feature of the convention
was a night on the banks of the Nerang River
with tables of food, drink, etc spread out for consumption together with
entertainment by way of water skiing displays on the river.
When we thought the evening was over a floating barge stage arrived and
entertainment vaudeville style continued.
At one of our meetings the
guest speaker lectured on and displayed movies on a Jet Boat going up and down
the Colorado River. which led to thought “wouldn’t one of those be great for
Maroubra Beach”
The six thousand pounds was
raised by chook raffles every Friday night at the Pagewood Hotel which was an
excellent watering hole as General Motors was just across the road and we were
very well received
Another excellent and not
costly project was transporting
elderly deserving people to a holiday cottage which was run by the Lions Club of
Austimeer. We paid a nominal rental and
supplied the food etc.
For some people it was
something they had not previously experienced.
Bill Blake’s year was
highlighted by the donation of two oxygen monitors to the then Crown Street
Womens’ Hospital. These machines which cost about $8,000 each enabled the
painless monitoring of the oxygen content in the blood of babies whereas under the old method of pricking a
finger, taking blood and analysing it left the procedure capable of causing
blindness or other problems if the required oxygen was too high or low, etc,
In John McKeown’s term we
arranged a Run a Thon at the Long Bay Correction Centre which resulted in the
raising of $30.000 to enable a local lass to be flown to Gateshead
Hospital in the UK for a Heart/Lung Transplant.
The inmates at the centre
(sponsored by people and institutions we had signed up)
volunteered to run laps of the inner perimeter of the centre, in the
main, consisted of the worst type of prisoners, (those who you would not like to
come across on a dark night) literally ran their innards out in their endeavours
to help this young lass.
Perhaps it was their way to
repay society.
Bob Bunton, apart from his
many other achievements as a member, was the Nursing Home contact. He started
our association with these homes and arranged for the Telegraph Telephone at the
Eastgardens Library for deaf people.
We have won three Herald
Comminity Service Awards, one for a Diabetes Screening, the others for Elvio’s
Scuba Diving for the
Blind and Diving for the
Physically Impaired and Paraplegics.
A group of members and their
friends had breakfast in Centennial Park advertising Kellogs Corn Flakes which
was good fun and a fund raiser
We supplied the food and
conducted a BBQ for the Nomads Bikies A.G.M. at their premises at Alexandria and
found these rough and ready bunch to be charity minded
prepared to help projects financially
At the Maroubra Junction
Hotel Keith Royle, myself and David Horne conducted meat raffles for quite a
period of time which led to a big fund raising event realising $6,500 for a Bone
Marrow Donor and Transplant Appeal
Somewhere and somehow we
seem able to come across items which
are superseded and unwanted but yet provide us with a means of making money.
The initial items under this category came
through the efforts of Keith Royle who arranged the transfer to our club of
Brewery superseded T shirts and
singlets which sold for $2 each and Elvio who came to light with virtually a
garage full of battery operated Koala Bears, Rabbits, Panda’s etc. which were
fund raisers for quite a period of time.
So far mention has
been made of several activities and whilst this will disjoint the
continuity let’s go back to the sequence of Presidents:-
Paul
Schneider 1995-6 was the quiet achiever who cemented the club’s
foundations after the hectic start.
Wal Allen 1996-7 we’ve
previously mentioned
Nev Symonds 1967-8 was the
founder of our Christmas Stocking project and the organisor of charity golf and
bowling days. And proved to be a capable Secretary/Treasurer
David Horne 1968-9 apart
from his fantastic art work continued in the same vein and helped in financing
the erection of the 1st Kingsford Boy Scout Hall which had a
magnificent Mural which he painted on one of the interior walls
John Heaney 1969-70
The year was devoted to youth in the form of Youth of the Year and Leo
Club formation
Then followed Harry Dennison
1970-1 a builder who assisted in helping little old ladies with minor housing problems and garden maintenance
John Fuller 1971-2 The year
of the blood pressure testing and comfort toys supplied to the local police for
distressed children in accidents
John Kavanagh 1972-3 and
John Fuller were close friends and his year was a follow on one
Tom Screen 1973-4
This was the year when we did almost everything and won the District Club
of the Year Award, following Tom was Merv Gildea 1974-5
Keith Royle 1975-6 was a
master organising fund raising gambling nights and as previous had the knack of
coming across unwanted merchandise and coupling this with his ability to SELL
XMAS CAKES
Noel Screen 1976-7 and
Robbie Robertson 1977-8 had successful but uneventful years
Bill Blake (a Pharmacist and
former Charter Member of Kings Cross Club} in 1978-90 became our first two year
President during which period the club, not surprisingly, participated in many
medical projects.
Kevin Osborne (the quiet
one) was next 1980-1 and Kevin was a stalwart as the No. One Xmas Stocking
seller displayed at many locations
Tony Jarrousch 1981-2 was
a transfer member from New Guinea, followed by Harry Holtring 1982-3.
Big Harry was a warder at the Long Bay Correction Centre with a heart of
gold who came to Australia to fight Dave Sands.
Harry as he put it was a sucker for a sad luck story particularly
relating to kids
Abe Amores 1983-4 was an
import from the Phillipines and became our first singing president. Some of the
older members will remember his “I’ve got that Lions Feeling song” which
we sang at meetings
Jack Lopata 1984-5 was a
transferee from Bondi Club and a very welcome one when we were experiencing
difficulties with numbers, etc,
Peter Strong 1985-6 apart
from being President was instrumental in the formation of the South Eastern
Little Athletics
Then came the Irish
Leprechaun John McKeown. 1986-8 to
become the second two year president. Details are listed earlier
Bob Bunton 1988-90. Bob was
to become Mr. Project in that he has the happy knack of coming across cases
warranting assistance and being able (as an engineer) to arrange and carry out
the necessary work to alleviate the problem and without him as organiser and
transport manager our Xmas Raffles would possibly not have eventuated
1990-2
Dean Wakely covered the period of the social functions, the holding of
the night out for the interstate visitors at the Multiple dDistrict Convention
and being a printer by trade always had available the resources for any printing
associated with our projects.
Shortly after Elvio Munzone
joined the club we were to experience his capabilities, when in relation
to a proposed charity bowls day Elvio nonchantly came out with “I’ll get you
a sponsor” which he did to the extent of $500.00
His two years 1992-4 were to
become possibly two of the best Maroubra Club has experienced, name it and HE
and we did it.
Outstanding was his Scuba
Diving for the Blind project which won a Sydney Morning Herald
achievement award
1994-6
John White, for many years
our Secretary ,assumed the role of President and then began the onset of BBQ’s
and Golf Days coupled with our Train Project at Eastlakes which raised $1100 to
be donated to Eastlakes Public School. The Christmas Stocking raised an
additional $6,500
John was followed by Peter
McNae 1996-7. Peter was the computer wiz and his year, whilst a little quieter
than that of previous years, was productive
and in conjunction with Lion Bob he initiated our computerised bulletin
Sales of the electrical toys raised some $7,500 for Bear Cottage.
1997-8
John Stevenson a New Zealander presided and his musical background led to
social outings and get-togethers, a Citizenship Night where 11 new Aussies
pledged their allegiance. Help at the Greg Norman Golf Classic was an additional
project
1999-2001 The first lady
president Gail Hart . , A bigger and better Christmas Raffle conducted by Bob
enabled the purchase of a Hartwalker for a local lass, Nippi, a motorised
scooter for the transportation of Ed Maher and his wheelchair was put together
by the genius of Ben Bostick, The Botany Bay Gift catering organised by Dean
Wakely raised $8034 and Doug Smith outlined the need for the Point Zero Project
for young Adolescents
.
Hans Hildebrandt a
transferee from Paddington Club assumed the chair for 2001-2 . The Fun Run, Xmas
Raffle, Carols by Candlelight coupled
with BBQ,s and Sausage Sizzles were
amongst the years activities. And Bob organised a Voice Activated Switch (a Gewa
Unit) which enabled a Wayne Simpson ( a quadriplegic) turn on and off his TV and
carry out other impossible functions. Easter
Eggs to the residents of the nursing homes continued and Carol Marchandier
raised $500 in aid of Oxfam by walking 100K in 48 hours
Our French connection Alain
Chazelles followed for the 2002-4 period and witnessed the commencement of an
association with the local Chambers of Commerce and a membership drive
Our second Lady President
was Patricia Cummings (2004-5) who, being associated with education, steered the
club towards activities in that direction,
Our French connection Alain Chazelles followed for the 2002-4 period and
witnessed the commencement of an association wityh the local Chambers of
Commerce and a membership drive
Our second Lady President
was Patricia Cummins (2004-5) who, being associated with education, steered the
club towards activities in that direction The Youth of the Year was a successful
function
Another lady President in
the person of Kim Skrandies was elected for the year 2005-6 and she proved to be
a very dedicated and hard working member as there was hardly a function she did
not attend
BBQ’s and Sausage Sizzles
were becoming a Maroubra habit, so much so that the club was asked to officiate
at the Aristocrat Xmas function
which proved to be a lucrative fund raiser
Another transferee, Jennifer
Gamble became our leader for the 2006-7 year proved to be a very capable and
dedicated Lion who led by example, completing a year one would be proud of which
witnessed the completion of some of Lion Bob’s projects assisting disabled
people including the wife of former member and staunch supporter Reno Farrugia
This current year, our 45th.
Is to be guided by the recently married Sue
who married one of our most
eligible bachelors and behind the scenes helper at most functions, Neil Hudson
Sue, with us for a
reasonably short period of time, has already proved herself as a worthy member
and we look forward to a successful year under her leadership
And of course this year Maroubra Lions has provided the leader of District 201N5 District Governor Elvio Munzone !
Whilst it is dangerous to
single out members as all have , in their way contributed to the many functions
there are those who ,whilst not being in the list of Presidents have been of
enormous assistance to them.
I would refer to:-
Secretary Graham – A tower of strength, Treasurer Doug – Keen as they
come, Fran – One of our most willing workers, Gae – Always available to
assist and a great help to Doug, and Reno Furragia – The custodian and
superviser of our equipment