Coventry: Coventry Mercia Lions Club celebrated 8th Annual Charter night at The Village hotel on 14th May 2022 where Councillor John McNicholas Lord Mayor of Coventry was the guest of honour.
Other dignitaries included Ms Angie Beasley Director of Miss England team, Ms Rehema Muthamia Miss England 2022-23, Ms Jennifer Carless International WASUP Queen and many other dignitaries and prominent members of community and faith groups. Lion Dr Rakesh Sachdev was the compere and did a fantastic job.
Father Ed read the Grace and mentioned Ukraine war and prayed for peace and end of the conflict. Lion Davinder Prasad JP gave a fantastic presentation about the achievements of his term as President of Coventry Mercia Lions Club.
He expressed his thanks to 52 members strong team of committed Mercia Lion who come from 13 nationalities making this club the most diverse in the Lions Club International District 105CW.
He announced that BOPA & Coventry Mercia Lions have recently won Gold Award from Severn Trent Water Authority to build a Community Peace Garden at Canal Basin. Mercia Lions Club was recognised for achieving excellence by International President of Lions Clubs International and Lion Davinder Prasad JP and Lion Amanpreet Rai were the proud recipients of Malvern Jones Fellowship (MJF) awards.
Lion Surinder Dhillon OBE and Lion Anita Bedi were given special President’s recognition – Excellence Pins for their excellent input to the work of Mercia Lions Club. Mr Resham Singh Sandhu DL Patron of BOPA was requested to raise the Loyal Toast to H M The Queen.
Entertainment was excellent with a well known young singer Mr Vikram Sreenivasan and some magic moments were provided by friends from a group called Magic Circles through a BOPA friend Mr Mick McCreath.
Food was arranged by Lion Pele Bains from Coventry Mercia Lions Club. Raffle draw was really impressive and many members of Mercia Lions club who are restaurant owners, donated vouchers for free meals.
First Prize of a mega hamper donated by Lion Dr Rakesh Sachdev was won by Lion of the month in February Lion Ebru Gokberk from Turkish community. Lion Manjeet Rai 1st Vice President gave vote of thanks and raised toast for Lions Clubs International.
The event ended with dinner and dance after the group photo of all the Mercia Lions present in the event.
Repot by S M Irfan Tahir Photojournalist / Member National Union of Journalists (NUJ) Birmingham & Coventry Branch.
