Lionhearted John Peck calls it a day

LIONS Clubs International’s motto is “we serve”, and over the past four decades few have served the Torquay community as wholeheartedly as John Peck.

Mr Peck retired from Torquay Lions Club after being a member for 35 years and fondly remembers simply joining the club in 1980 for fellowship.

“One evening there was a knock on the door and it was a guy collecting for the Apex Club. He invited me to join and I thought, ‘yes, that would be a good chance to meet people’.

“I was in Apex for a few years, became a president at one stage, then when you’re in Apex when you’re 40 you are ejected. But by then I was known by several members of the Lions Club and they said, ‘why don’t you come to the Lions Club?'”

Mr Peck did just that and soon became an integral member of the club.

“I sort of went up through the ranks, I did all the vice president jobs, secretary, treasurer, and finally president.”

Mr Peck eventually had his contribution recognised with the Melvin Jones Fellowship, the highest award Lions Club International offers.

Torquay Lions Club president Bill Ferguson described Mr Peck as always being eager to help.

“When a job was there to be done, John was usually one of the first Lions to volunteer.”

These were not always small jobs either. Mr Peck helped build the Elephant Walk Playground, ran the Lions Youth of the Year award for five years and was a key member of the Lions Village Project team, which oversaw the construction of the award-winning Torquay Lions Village in Kooringa Place.

Mr Peck said contributing to the latter was one of his proudest memories from his time at the club.

“The Lions Village was a highlight. I was responsible for the village centre and worked with the architects and the builders to get what we wanted.”

While the community has benefitted greatly from Mr Peck’s commitment to the Torquay Lions Club, he said he got a lot out of his time at the club.

“I guess it’s the sort of warm feeling you get from being members of an active group and helping the community.

“We’ve donated something like $50,000 a year to the local community, which gives us all quite a lot of satisfaction.”

Mr Ferguson said while Mr Peck may be formally leaving the club, he would always be a welcome guest.

“We will miss him from the Club, but we hope to see him and Sylvia back at our dinners, whenever the current coronavirus restrictions are lifted.”