Lions club struggles as numbers decline

A PILLAR of strength and support in the community for the last 50 years, Eaglehawk Lions Club is in danger of folding due to a decline in members.

After years of bouncing between 10 and 12 members, that number has dropped to only nine.

While by no means a new phenomenon, with service clubs across Australia struggling to recruit new members as long-termers disappear, club president Tim Miller said the Eaglehawk Lions too had been unable to buck the trend.

Arguably at its lowest ebb in his 10 to 12 years’ involvement in the club, Mr Miller said the lack of members had put a clamp on its work in the community.

“We had 30 or 40 members going back to the 70s and 80s, now we are down to nine,” he said. “And three of them are in the 80s.

“Nobody is getting involved (in service clubs) anymore and they’re all getting old.

“The average age at our club is in the 70s – there aren’t any people coming through.”

The club has not welcomed a new member to its ranks in nine years.

Mr Miller, a lifelong Eaglehawk resident, said the club had only two options left – merge with another club or shut down.

“I don’t really have an answer for it – it’s just a way of the times,” he said.

“We are not the only club in this situation, there are plenty of others … Lions, Rotary.

“I don’t like to speak for them, but the Rotary club out at Eaglehawk has lost probably 15 members over time.

“Our club is only going because there are three or four couples in it.

“Lose one or two more members and you start to wonder just what you can actually do.

“As I say, it’s Bendigo-wide. All up there is probably 50 or so members in the whole of Bendigo in Lions in a population (across the municipality) of 135,000 or so, and one of those clubs has only about three members.

“One club has about 15 members and you’d say that’s not too bad in the scheme of things, but you’ve got to have numbers to do work. And you have to have age on your side too.

“We don’t do things like our roadside clean-up anymore … I’m not putting 80-year-old blokes out on the highway picking up rubbish.”

While Australia has experienced a notable decline in volunteerism in the past 25 years, a study undertaken last year by the Melbourne Institute painted a perhaps grim future.

The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey found formal volunteering participation rates have decreased among individuals aged 15-40 and 41-65, while the rate among those aged 66 and above has gradually increased.

 

 

With a third of its membership over 80 and the youngest member in her mid-30s, the plight of the Eaglehawk Lions Club lends plenty of credence to the findings.

“The members who are here have basically been brought up helping people all their life,” Mr Miller said.

“They might start off in the Scouts or Guides and then they join a club.”

For many of them, they are following in a family member’s footsteps.

Mr Miller pointed to the club’s decades-long proud record of service to the community and pondered who, if anyone, would fill the breech.

In recent years, the Lions have donated funds towards the Eaglehawk Mulga Bill Playspace, including the Where Angels Play Zayden’s Memorial Playground and $11,000 to Bendigo Health for two oral maxillofacial sets for the hospital’s surgical theatres, among a swag of other projects.

Used for surgical procedures related to the face, jaws and mouth, the specialised equipment supports Bendigo Health’s elective list and emergency cases.

“The contribution from Lions plays a vital role in enhancing surgical care and improving outcomes for our patients,” a statement from the Bendigo Health Foundation said.

“We deeply appreciate your commitment to our community’s health and wellbeing.”

Just as much a staple of the annual Eaglehawk Community Christmas Carols as Santa Claus himself, the Lions cook up to 1000 sausages on the night.

Key fundraising initiatives include Bunnings sausage sizzles and the popular Lions Christmas cakes.

“We’d do a lot more if we had more people,” Mr Miller said.

“You wonder what’s going to happen if Lions isn’t doing it.

“If it weren’t for us, the hospital wouldn’t have that equipment to push more patients through.

“I understand procedures went up 30 per cent on that type of operation once we gave them the gear.

“So if it’s not us, everyone misses out.

“They have to wait for a government grant.”