Lions set sights on growing suburb

MEMBERS of the Lions Club of Mount Bolton and District were at the Miners Rest Tavern on Sunday with the aim of engaging with the community and attracting new members.

Though their efforts saw no new recruits, club president Kevin Davies said it was important to formally introduce themselves to the community.

“We want to get the locals familiar with the fact we have a Lions club out here,” he said. “We’re always trying to find new members.

“Miners Rest hasn’t had a Lions club for about four years. It’s a big, fast-growing area and we won’t be stepping on anyone’s toes so we thought this would be a great opportunity to attract more members.

“People generally see this as more of a mature-aged person, and we want to get people to see it’s for everyone.

“While we didn’t have any success on the day, we’ll keep trying. We’re not going to get half a dozen in one go, it’d be more one or two people a year.”

The club primarily covers Lexton, Learmonth, and Waubra, and currently has about 20 members.

Mr Davies has been a part of the club for about four years, and joined as part of an active community effort to revive the group when its membership whittled down to three people.

He said the problem of attracting new people to Lions isn’t uncommon.

“Even places like Creswick are struggling with members,” he said. “Wendouree’s only got three members.

“Learmonth to Lexton is, I think, under 1000 people so there’s not many people wanting to put their hand up. You’ve got an ageing population, and kids and farmers out here don’t have the time.”

Miners Rest is often the location of the group’s regular community barbecues, which are held there roughly every three months.

The weekend meet was their first major attempt at recruitment.