The ROMEO CLUB meets every second Tuesday of the month at the Mandarin Restaurant on Woodbine Ave. and begins again in October.Bring a good appetite, enjoy the company of your fellow Lions and don't forget to put your name on the sign-up sheet at the Thursday meeting.

Lion Grace Medland and her Membership Committee are back at it again this year and are planning another monstrous new member night where every member is encouraged to bring a friend, neighbour, or relative out to this special dinner meeting to enjoy the hospitality of the Markham Lions. February 5 is the night and we look forward to showing new people what the Lions are all about.

Congratulations to the Historic Committee, Chair Lion Jim Wicks and Project Leader Lion Jack Dawson for their success in receiving an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant of $71,700. These funds will be used to create a permanent display on the history of the Markham Lions Club,the merits of Volunteerism and a tribute to Helen Keller. The display will be housed in the Print Shop at the Markham Museum and itis expected that the project will be completed by late Spring2009.

The 65th Charter Night celebration on November 8 was a smash hit with 142 Lions and spouses in attendance. This success was due to the hard work and innovative ideas of the Charter Night Committee. Inspired by Lion Fred Scheehy and driven by Chair George McKelvey,the Committee had it's first meeting in April and met several times to plan every detail. Our hats are off to this hard -working committee of Lions Ken Harris, John Styles, Al Weber, Ken Tranter, Ken Drynan, Jack McBride, Fred Sheehy and Chair, Lion George McKelvey for their efforts to provide the Club with an entertaining program. All of our member Lions were very proud to celebrate 65 years of dedicated service to the Town of Markham and to hear Mayor Scarpitti and District Governor Mike praise the Club many times for its outstanding record of achievements over these 65 years. It was gratifying to hear that our dedication to helping others is recognized and acknowledged, not only by our senior officials, but by all 23 International Lions officers, District Officers and Lions Presidents in attendance.

The Social and Convention Committee took a gamble and won when it tried something new for our traditional Turkey Roll night. This year they invitied the spouses and friends to join the members in a pre-Christmas party featuring a pot -luck dinner,a little bingo,the District Governor and his wife and our usual games of chance. The comments after it was all over were very favorable and everyone had a great time socializing. Four lucky ladies were the bingo winners and took home $50 for their Christmas stockings. Thank you Chair George McKelvey for your new ideas and thank you Committee for your many hours of planning and setting it up.

Lion Bill Hosking, a member of the Community Committee, has been very active in December helping others. He presented a Markham lady who has difficulty in walking, with an electric mobility unit or scooter for her use. Later he arranged to ship over 1300 used eyeglasses to Calgary under the auspices of A16, to be sorted and graded at a local prison for shipment to third world countries. He worked with a cross -Canada moving van company to obtain free trasportation to Calgary. Nice work,Lion Bill.

District Officers Visitation Schedule
DG Mike Dec.4/08
RC David March 3/09

Joint Zone Meetings

January 14 Oshawa West
March 26 Markham

Salvation Army Kettles
December 8-24

President's Christmas Party December 14 2-5pm

Annual Card Party
January 25
Markham Lawn Bowling Club 7pm

New Members Night February 5
Every member is encouraged to bring a friend,relative,or
neighbour as a guest for dinner.

Bowling and Dinner
February 28
4:30pm Bowling
6:30pm Mandarin

A16 Convention
April17-19 Oshawa
MDA Convention
June4-7 North Bay
InternationalConvention
July6-10 Minneapolis