






What a week it has
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Ilminster Lion's Club entry this year at the Christmas Tree Festival in the Minster is supporting Baby Basics South West. The Festival runs until Saturday and is well worth a visit. Your donations matter and are very welcome. Thank you.





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Ilminster and District Lions Rally weekend. Sincere thanks to Lindsey Poole and her team for running such a successful event. Funds were raised for Medical Detection Dogs and Baby Basics, both very worthy charities, thanks to all the competitors for supporting both the sport and the charities. — with Lindsey Poole in Seavington Saint Michael, South Somerset.
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Ilminster Lions helping to count some of the £3745 raised from the Ilminster Carnival collection buckets, the morning after.
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Ilminster & District Lions helped raise circa £5000 at the Macmillan coffee morning on the 10th September at the Archie Gooch Pavillon.
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Our President Shirley Farley paid a visit to the Lamb and Lion in Hambridge last week, together with fellow Lions, David Case and Martin Smith for a double presentation. To present a £250 cheque to Taryn White for Swim for Stroke, in aid of Stroke Organisation for Local & National benefit. Also to present the Landlord Jerry Chedzoy with a certificate of appreciation for his help and support with our successful Ukrainian Appeal.
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Dear Lions of Ilminster,
We are thoroughly grateful for your donation of £1500 to Nightingale. The Lions of Ilminster along with the villagers of Chaffcombe have been so generous in supporting the Ukrainian humanitarian crisis and are helping those who have fled conflict to settle into life in a new country.
The war in Ukraine led to families in Chard and nearby villages welcoming refugees into their homes. St. Mary's church kindly offered their meeting rooms as a central safe place for hosts and refugees to meet. It soon became apparent that there was a desperate need for basic English language provision to enable Ukrainians to integration into our community and access jobs.
Nightingale was formed with the aim to meet this need as well as facilitating social and wellbeing opportunities, to build confidence and resilience amongst the Ukrainian refugee community in our town. The group also offers an opportunity for people in our town to volunteer their time in a variety of ways to help the Ukrainians.
The nightingale is the national bird of Ukraine, it is a builder of homes and creator of sweet sounds. Ukrainian refugees in Chard chose Nightingale as the name to represent our group, as a community we are striving to give them safe homes and a voice.
The money you donated will go towards paying for educational equipment, resources, books, and so on. We aspire to develop cultural understanding and language development in context, by providing educational opportunities through visits and planned events. As the sessions progress needs of the refugees are becoming apparent and the next phase of support is being planned. We would like to keep you updated on this.
At the beginning of this year, none of us could have imagined the situation Ukrainians are in now and we are all finding their resilience and courage remarkable. Please know that your fundraising efforts are making a real difference and that you have our heartfelt thanks.
On behalf of all at Nightingale,
Ingrid Edginton and Vera Marques
(Chair and Vice-Chair)
Ukrainian refugees, hosts and our team of volunteers.
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Shirley Farley, President of Ilminster and District Lions had the pleasure of presenting a cheque for £500 to Sandra Parsons representing Somerset and Dorset Air Ambulance yesterday evening. £215 was raised by Wessex Dog Training Club running a training event, topped up by Lions to £500.
