AFTER the cancellation of our October Dinner Meeting because of the hailstorm, Lions Club Members and guests relished the opportunity to enjoy the hospitality of the Casterton Play Group at our March Dinner Meeting at the Masonic Lodge.
Our first course was delightful roast meats with plenty of vegetables.
For dessert we enjoyed pavlovas and Christmas cakes.
While we await the repairs to the roof of our Lions Clubrooms, we are indeed grateful to the Masonic Lodge for providing us with a very comfortable alternative venue.
During the Labour Day weekend, the Lions Club was one of a group of food providers at an enthusiastic gathering of Music people at the Sandford Music Festival.
It was our task to provide the meals for the late afternoon and evening people.
It was great to watch and listen to the performers singing popular songs and playing a range of musical instruments.
Thanks to the Lions Club members and other helpers who helped us with our barbecues and chips.
Some years ago the Kelpie Festival Committee approached the Lions Club to take over the organisation of the Poets’ Breakfast on the Saturday morning of the June long weekend.
At that stage previous Poets’ Breakfasts had been in a tent next to the Supermarket.
Lions Club members served the audience eggs, bacon and sausages during the course of the Poets’ Breakfast.
The nature of a ‘Walkup’ Poets Breakfast requires the advertisement of the event through the local media to encourage members of the public to turn up at 8am and recite and or read a piece of poetry.
Some readers wrote their own poems, others chose Australian Poets like Banjo Patterson and Henry Lawson etc.
Lately, thanks to the Clode Family, our venue has been the Fox and Lillie Showrooms.
While the readers performed, an audience of 80 plus sat down and enjoyed the meal and the entertainment.
To make the Breakfast a successful event in 2025, we need a minimum of 15 readers.
The Lions Club is trying something different this year.
We are asking prospective readers to register their interest in the event by ‘signing in’ as per the Lions advertisement in the Casterton News.
Deadline for the ‘sign-in’ is 20th April.
The format of the event will depend on the number of sign-ins we receive.
Our Lions Business Directory 2025-26 is about to go to the printers.
This year business entries have increased to 24 – an increase of three with the addition of the Flowering Gum Studios, Edgar House Medical Centre and Hey Jude’s Café and Restaurant.
Please support our local businesses.
Deliveries of the Lions Directory will be made to mailboxes in late May.
Dates for the Lions Young Youth of the Year Public Speaking Competition have now been finalised.
They are: Merino Consolidated School 29th April, St Joseph’s Primary School 1st May, Sacred Heart Primary School 5th May, Casterton Primary School 14th May, Coleraine Primary School 14th May.
Lions judges will visit each of the above schools to choose the two best performing speakers from each school.
These 10 students will be invited to an evening Zone Final on 28th May at Coleraine to decide which individual student and which school will receive the trophies.
After a break in 2024, the Lions Club Debutante Ball 2025 is on again at the Casterton Town Hall on Friday 23rd May.
First Practice session is scheduled for Sunday 6th April at 4pm at the Lions Clubrooms.
Other future Lions events include the Casterton Cup 18th May, the Zone Lunch at Digby Hotel on 25th May and the Casterton Changeover Dinner at the Bowling Club on 19th June.
– JOHN DONEGAN
