Thursday Night saw the night of the International President’s visit to England. Luckily, it was only around 40 miles away, so it did not mean a great deal of travelling. I was accompanied by Leos Clare, George & Abby from my club, and after only one wrong turn we arrived there early.

The hotel where the event was being staged was already full of Lions. Even in the car park, everywhere you looked all you could see was Lions. Clare had informed me that apparently we were the only Leos there tonight. We made our way towards the door, as a Lions Minibus pulled up. “Look, “ I said to Abby, “They’re shipping Lions in!”. It was then I noticed that in the midst of the minibus was the International President himself. I had always believed that he would turn up to events like this in a limo or something - not so - he probably had the most uncomfortable ride out of everyone there!

We went to the bar reserved for the Lions, while the international President was whisked to another bar with the Chairman of the Council of Governors, and the 105SE District Governor. That’s one thing that Leos & Lions hold in common - they all head to the bar first ! After the Leos & I had got our drinks we moved through to the other room (as the bar was packed) where rows of seats were set out with a table at the front with Lions Regalia.

By this time I had already spoken to one Lion and found out he was from the next club over from us (Surrey Border) and that his son was interested in joining Leos. Of course, the others found this amusing. “We can’t take you anywhere, without you recruiting someone,” Clare joked. We also found that we had been registered as Frimley & Camberley Lions, not Leos - our Lions club doesn’t like these type of functions.

We had seats at the front, which was good as after we had clapped the top table in, (which consisted among others, International President William H Wunder, 105SE District Governor Peter Drysdale and Chairman Council of Governors Tony Williamson) we found out that the microphone was not working. This meant that Lion Peter had to do his opening address without the use of a microphone, meaning those at the back couldn’t hear.

Luckily by the time it came for Dr Wunder to take the stage, a replacement microphone had been found. He was extremely charismatic, and all throughout the time when the microphone wasn’t working joined in with the Lions’ jokes. He also winked a lot when he joked, giving over the impression he was a man with a sense of humour.

His address began by telling the Lions he had 3 speeches, and took a vote on who wanted the 3 hour speech, the two hour speech, and concluded: “I guess you all want the 10 minute speech then!!!”.

After beginning with a joke he went on to speak about the Lioness movement, saying that it had now been decided that years as a Lioness would now count as years in Lionism. he said it was something he had been bothered about for years and was glad that it had now been rectified. He also went on about his project of ‘Leadership’ and why it was so important

After that, he asked for questions from the floor. He was asked about refunds for Lionesses that had had to pay to become Lions, The situation in trying to get China to have Lions Clubs, his movements over the next few weeks, which takes him to Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Jordan before returning home on the 24th November. He also talked about how International HQ is behind the times, and how he is trying to implement new technology into HQ. He was then asked about the Internet by one Lion, to which Dr Wunder replied that he still had to get them to stop using stubby pencils, and using computers first.

When he was asked whether Leos could carry their years of service into Lionism (for example, if you were a Leo for 2 years and then a lion for 3 years that would be 5 years of lion service, not 3), he said no and that the carrying forward of year’s service only applied to Lionesses. He then went on to talk about how the organisation was loosing so many potential members by Leos not becoming Lions. he told a story of how some Leos who had reached 28 years of age were upset to find out that their sponsoring Lions club would not except them as they were not old enough - apparently the Lions Club’s minimum age for a member was 40! He said that he didn’t care what we did to get Leos to stay on in Lionism, whether they created a ‘senior Leos club’ or what but we had to get them to stay on.

He also talked about some Leos being refused Lions membership due to the fact that they were female (Our MD is one of the worst for male-only clubs !!). He asked those Lions to consider whether the people we help really care the gender, or age of those helping them.

After the questions came the buffet. The organising Lions tried to ensure that there was not a mad rush for the food but that soon broke down. A crowd also rushed towards the International President to talk to him further. We had been chatting to a Lion from South Woodham Ferrers in 105EA, whose Leos we know fairly well, but I decided to leave them and approach the table to meet the International President. By the time I had got through all the chairs and joined the queue, the mass trying to speak to the International President, had organised itself into a queue that passed along the table and onto the buffet in a corner of the room.

When it came to my turn he shook my hand and said “Hello, young man”, glancing at my badges. I introduced myself as Leo Club Growth Chairman, as this was my ‘acid test’ to see if he was aware of what Leos are up to. He looked blank as if he was searching in his mind for what Leo Club Growth was about, but greeted me as if he knew- to which District Governor Peter Drysdale who was standing beside him said “This is the guy I was telling you about Bill”, or something like that. I presented him with copies of the first three issues of The Leo, explaining a little of what they were about, and mentioned about Leo Club Growth. He congratulated me on my work and told me to keep it up, and I moved on. I had always known that I wouldn’t get long to speak to him, but at least I managed to give him copies of The Leo.

As I went along I bumped into several District Governors and the Chairman of Council. I think some Lions, were amazed that a Leo was joking and on first name terms with these Lions, but I was told by the District Governor of 105EA that he “was aware of what I’m up to, keep it up”. He also gave me one of his pin badges, which I was glad to see also contains the Leo badge. I spoke to the Chairman of Council regarding the proposed Web Site for MD105, to which he said he was going to be at the District Meeting next weekend, and we would discuss it further there.

After getting my food and sitting down I saw that the International President had now sat down, and the queue was now purely for the food, with my friends at the back of the queue.

So what do I make of the International President? He is certainly a fun person with a real dedication to Lionism, but although he supports Leoism, I got the feeling that he sees Leos as children, and probably doesn’t realise the calibre of Leo that is out there. (Remember, he comes from the USA, where most of their Leo clubs are for 12-15 year olds). Still I would like to know whether he has read the copies of The Leo that he received so I can put - as read by the International President of Lions Clubs International - into the header.

It is now up to us, to use the Internet to the full, both in communicating ideas, recruitment and service activities, details of which I will include very soon. Next week I will have news on how The Leo can become an authorised publication, and within the next few weeks I hope to have an interview with a Past International President - who is very likely to become a staunch supported of Leos on the Internet. More news very soon.