By Andy Hirst
Santa has helped Holme Valley Lions to raise more than £2,800 for charities and good causes in the run-up to Christmas.
Each year the jolly fellow joins the Lions as they pull his sleigh through towns and villages throughout the Holme Valley from Brockholes and Meltham to Hade Edge and Scholes, collecting cash as they go.
Every penny goes to help residents in the Holme Valley including food banks, people in crisis and groups supporting initiatives for young, older or the disabled. In 2022 the Lions will also be working in partnership with River Holme Connexions to plant trees in the Holme Valley and help with river clean ups.
Holme Valley Lions president Gill Greaves said: “Every year for 30 years Santa, the sleigh and his elves have been travelling around the villages of the Holme Valley raising money to donate back to vulnerable people who live in the Holme Valley. Thank you so much for the people of the Holme Valley for supporting us again this year, especially in these very challenging times of the pandemic.”
Holme Valley Lions volunteer at the Covid vaccination centre in Honley and surrounding areas.
They also run projects like ‘message in a bottle’ with the emergency services. This is a brilliantly simple scheme. Vulnerable and older people may have difficulty communicating so in their homes details of their medication and where it is kept are written on a note inside a special bottle in the fridge with a sticker on the outside of the fridge letting the 999 services know it’s there.
It means that in an emergency paramedics or other services will look for a sticker on the fridge door so they can find the bottle and discover what medication the patient is taking and can give faster care.
Gill said: “Everyone has a fridge so the emergency services will quickly be able to spot a sticker on it which is why the bottle is kept in there. It’s a very simple scheme but one which is saving lives. It’s important paramedics know what medication people are taking before they start to treat them. We give the bottles out for free.”
Holme Valley Lions are always looking for new members – and people only need to chip in with a few hours a month. For more information phone Gill on 07841 955066.
* Written by former Huddersfield Examiner Head of Content ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging and copywriting.
