Our Lion Randy Smith made the presentation.

Lion Elaine Leavitt kindly provided these pictures from her "Lions in Sight" trip to LaPiedad, Mexico, a village near Guadalajara. In two days, 640 people had their eyes examined so that those in need could receive eyeglasses donated by people in America.

The local Lions assist and act as hosts for the ophthalmologists and technicians who come from the United States at their own expense as members of American Lions clubs. These photographs so well illustrate the benefits to children and adults in the third world from the thousands of pairs of glasses collected and cleaned every year by Lions Clubs across America.

Lion Bill Schutt’s visit to Ely, a village along the River Ouse 14miles northeast from from Cambridge, coincided with a festival called the Eel Day Parade, and here are some pictures he took of these activities and of the Isle of Ely Lions Club.

What IS Eel Day? In ancient times and up to the 1700s when drainage was begun, the lands surrounding Ely were vast marshlands (called “fens”) that supported an abundant population of eels. Fen dwellers called “fen-slodgers” trapped the eels for food, trade, and to pay rent to the Lord who owned the land.

When the first abbey was built in the seventh century the monks paid the local citizens for building stone with eels and accordingly, the word "eel" became so associated with that particular community that the name Ely came about (Eel + Island = eli = Ely).

Richard I granted a charter to the Bishop at Ely to hold a fair and by the 1300's a license was granted to hold a fair on the vigil and day of Ascension and for twenty days following. This tradition, supported by local community groups including the Isle of Ely Lions, is now remembered via the "Eel Day Parade" that threads its way through the center of this lovely English town ending at Jubilee Park on the shoreline of the River Ouse.