Bronwyn leads Lions Club of Cowies Hill
The Lions Club of Cowies Hills is involved in many community projects.
BRONWYN Paijmans was inducted as the incoming president for 2015 at the Lions Club of Cowies Hill’s 40th Charter Dinner and Induction at the Blue Zoo Restaurant in Durban on 23 May.
The Lions Club of Cowies Hill was chartered by the Lions Club of Westville in May 1975. When the club started they had no ‘home’ to call their own. The first meeting was held at the Park Lane Hotel in Pinetown with 22 members and the charter president was Ron Brenner, who now lives in Port Elizabeth.
In August of 1990 an informal meeting between the Lions Club of Cowies Hill and The Natural Areas management committee held a meeting and at this meeting dedicated themselves to building an Interpretive Centre at the Paradise Nature Reserve. The building would include a boardroom for use of the Lions Club for their meetings. The proposal was submitted to the Pinetown Municipality s management committee in August of 1991 and was accepted in August 1992, where the mayor of Pinetown, Alderman Oliver, turned the first sod. In August of 1994, Inkosi NJ Ngubane, Minister of Conservation and Traditional Authorities, unveiled the plaque at the completed building.
The Lions Club of Cowies Hills has many projects they work on. They have manned the Comrades Marathon refreshment station on the top of Cowies Hill for the past 35 years. They provide spectacles, depending on the circumstances, free of charge or at a low price for those who are unable to afford normal prices. They do food collections to feed the needy and provide clothing where they can for those in need. They entertain the aged by hosting tea parties or suppers and assist the blind or partially-sighted with hospital visits through the KZN Blind and Deaf Society. They adopted Grace Cottage at Ethelbert Child and Youth Care Centre, where they are redecorating the cottage and getting to know the children. They have also assisted at the Isipingo Xenophobic Camp by delivering clothing, food and assisting to organise their storerooms.
Fundraisers include the 300 Club monthly draw. This year they held a Miss/Mr Highway pageant and will run their annual golf day on Friday, 13 November. The club is looking for four-balls to take part as well as sponsors for greens and tees. The beneficiaries will be Ethelbert Child and Youth Care Centre, Fulton School for the Deaf as well as other Cowies Hill charities.
If you are community-minded and would like to get involved in changing the lives of people in your community, then you are the person the club is looking for. Contact the club president, Lyn Botha, on 083 262 9153 or membership chairman, Sandy Beykirch, on 082 577 7123, or visit the business meetings which are held on the first Monday of every month at the Paradise Valley Nature Reserve at 7pm.
