I must keep my mouth shut

We have a Lions' business meeting tomorrow and I must make sure I keep my mouth shut. Far too often I seem to be the only one to put forward new (or new to us) ideas and I really must let other people have their say. Trouble is, there are several projects knocking about in the back of my mind that I would like the club to take on. There's the motorcycle run I have mentioned elsewhere in this blog. Actually, I will speak in favour of that - and I will almost certainly offer to be on the organising committee. But I would also like the club to think of offering the appropriate schools in our area the latest Tacade material (Life Changes) at a reduced price. The production of this resource was funded by Lions Clubs and it has received rave reviews from teachers across the country. The price from Tacade is £34.95 and I would like to club to offer schools in our area the chance to buy a copy for just £5 with the club paying the difference. I think it better that the schools pay something towards the cost or they will all say ‘yes please' and half of the packs will end up unused in cupboards. But there are no fewer than 35 infant, junior and primary schools in our part of the city - and those are just the state schools: the figure doesn't include private schools. Having only last month persuaded the club to commit £6,000 to the Lions' St Dunstan's project, I don't have the nerve to ask for another £1,200 for this. Besides, I suspect that if the club did agree, it would have to be me organise it, phoning each school to ask the name of the appropriate teacher and then writing to each of them. I already have enough to do without that.

In my opinion, we don't do enough to promote Tacade. What I would very much like to do is organise a series of twilight sessions for PHSE teachers where they could browse through samples of all the Tacade materials and place orders which would be subsidised by the club (subsidised for the same reason I mentioned above).

I would also like to suggest that the club make a donation to the Australian flood appeal - minimum £500.

And then there is the little matter of the young carers that has only just come to my attention.

Maybe I will attempt to prioritise these matters and bring them up one at a time over the next two or three months.