The Lions Club of Yeovil was formed in 1965 and the sponsoring club was Bournemouth. The person mainly involved from the Bournemouth Club was Kenneth Riley who became a Past District Governor and Past Chairman of Council.

He was a Quantity Surveyor who was friendly with Philip Cooper an Architect in Yeovil. The first preliminary meetings were held in March 1965 at The Mermaid Hotel and the Club was Chartered in October 1965 with Philip Cooper being it’s first President, an office he held for the first two years.

 

The club meets at

 

YEOVIL COURT HOTEL

West Coker Road, Yeovil, BA20 2HE. Tel 09135 863746

 

on the 4th Monday of the month, however on occasions this conflicts

with Bank Holidays. We have Dinner Meetings starting at 19.30hrs.

 

The club has a male only membership, currently at 18, but we would be the

first to say that we could not exist without the support and assistance of

‘The Ladies’. Our ladies help us on most of the events we hold (see ‘Fund Raising’) and play a large part in our Social occasions (see ‘Social’). Two of the original Charter Members are still in the club and holding key officer positions.

 

As collectively our membership totals 535 years in Lions, with 3 of

our new members only having clocked up five years each and one only

two years, it will come as no surprise that a high proportion are retired.

Being very conscious of this and finding it difficult to attract new younger

members, we were fortunate 7 -years ago to form a Branch Club

‘Yeovil Lions Branch Club (untamed)’, see Branch Club.

 

This is a club within a club with a much younger average age and is

performing well with 31 members which includes ladies.

Since the formation of The Branch Club we have had 4 new members join us.

 

We are therefore hopeful that this will ensure that a Lions Club will

continue to serve the community of Yeovil in the future.

 

In 1976 we were instrumental in forming Ilminster Lions Club and

they in turn formed Crewkerne Lions Club in 1982