HANDOVER – LOBSTER & STEAK

Members of Weymouth & Portland Lions were out in force recently at the Chatsworth Hotel on Weymouth Esplanade to celebrate the handover of the Club’s President and    Vice-President positions. After a torrid stop–start 18 months when all club activities including face-to-face meetings were  cancelled, members were keen to meet up again in person for this special evening. Although Zoom meetings have offered members some sort of respite and normality, which allowed the club to continue with regular monthly business meetings, it was the dinner meetings and social evenings that became the main casualties of successive lockdowns and restrictions.

Incoming club President Lion Kevin Brookes presented Ryan Hope with a glass spirits decanter and a surprise Melvin Jones Fellowship Award in recognition for his two-and-half years as Club President. Ryan had taken over the President’s position early in 2019 after the last President stood down and retired from the club. He then took on the role with great determination and has led the club successfully through what could have been an unsettling period by offering  outstanding leadership and stability. He agreed to stay in post in 2020 for a further year to avoid any further disruption and to see out the Covid-19 pandemic. He was instrumental in the introduction of Zoom business meetings together with online virtual help and advice to some of the more reluctant club members.

Lion Julie Storey has become the new Vice-President.