A Norfolk vocal group will fill St Michael’s, Reepham, with love‑themed songs later this spring. The Leap Day Singers are set to perform their concert, All You Need is Love, at 7.30 pm on Saturday 25 April.

This ensemble meets once a year for a full day of rehearsals before presenting the pieces they have learned to a local audience. After covering costs, the group donates the proceeds to a chosen charity – and this year’s beneficiary is Reepham Lions Club.

Admission is free, although donations to the Lions will be welcomed on the night.

Reepham Lions member Brenda Gostling said: “We are so grateful to Carol and the rest of the Leap Day Singers for choosing us as their charity this year. The money raised will be used to support good causes in Reepham and beyond.”

Photo: Leap Day Singers

The post Leap Day Singers to present an evening of love songs appeared first on REEPHAM LIFE.

Following the success of the 2025 Reepham Christmas Tree Festival, Reepham Lions presented a cheque for £742 to Reepham’s Parochial Church Council (PCC). This was a half share of the total proceeds from the festival, once all the costs had been paid.

The cheque was presented at a recent Saturday coffee morning in St Michael’s by Michael Black, treasurer of Reepham Lions, accompanied by several members of Reepham Lions Club, including president Kevin Long.

The cheque was accepted on behalf of the PCC by Dr Jane McLarty, licensed lay minister for the Reepham & Wensum Valley and Matlaske Benefices, and Rosie Foottit, churchwarden.

Photo: John Tym

The post Cheque presented to PCC appeared first on REEPHAM LIFE.

Reepham Lions had a successful 2025 Reepham Christmas Tree Festival, with 26 trees being sponsored, of which eight sponsors asked a charity or organisation to decorate their tree on their behalf.

The festival recorded the highest number of visitors to the festival, with the Christmas in Reepham event on Saturday 6 December swelling the overall total.

The profit for the Christmas Tree Festival increased to £1,484, which was shared equally between Reepham Lions and Reepham Parochial Church Council.

As in previous years there was a wonderful display of decorated trees and the Lions received many compliments about the festival. Visitors also enjoyed the opportunity to vote for their favourite tree. The results were:

Adults’ section

• 1st: A Sustainable Christmas, sponsored and decorated by The Country Salon, Reepham
• 2nd: Cook, Craft, Grow, sponsored and decorated by Reepham Country Market
• 3rd: Breast Cancer Awareness for the Breast Screening Unit at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, sponsored and decorated by C W Johnson Chartered Surveyors

Childrens’ section

• 1st: Inspirational People, sponsored by Friends of Reepham Primary School and decorated by the primary school children
• Joint runners-up: The Little Robins Christmas, decorated by The Little Robins Football Club, and Be Prepared for Christmas, decorated by Reepham Cubs; both trees were sponsored by Barry and Liz Howes

Rosemary Black, Reepham Lions’ Christmas Tree Festival co-ordinator, said: “Without everyone’s support this event would not be possible, so thank you to the 18 sponsors returning from last year (three more than 2024) and the eight new sponsors who joined us in 2025. We hope many of you will come back and take part in our next Christmas tree festival in 2026.”

Above (left to right): The winning tree from The Country Salon, the runner-up from Reepham Country Market and the Memory Tree, which was decorated by members of the public throughout the festival, although this was not included as a tree to receive votes. Photos: Reepham Lions

The post Record support for Christmas tree festival appeared first on REEPHAM LIFE.

The money will be used to fund licences for a phone app that allows rapid communication between the emergency response controllers and the responder unit, ensuring that the responder has the support needed as quickly as possible.

The licences are paid annually and this is the second year that Reepham Lions has provided the funding to cover them.

The first responders are all volunteers who attend emergency situations in their local area, including Reepham, providing early care in the time before an ambulance or paramedic arrives.

Club president Kevin Long expressed his appreciation of the service that first responders provide and the many hours that their volunteers give to the communities around them.

Above: Members of Reepham Lions with Fakenham Area Community First Responders at their training session. Photo: Reepham Lions

The post Support for first responders appeared first on REEPHAM LIFE.

Reepham Lions manage local collections in Reepham with collection bins in the Bircham Centre and at Kings Opticians, as well as branches of Cecil Amey in Holt and Aylsham.

When we have amassed a sizeable quantity of glasses , we sort them and box them up, then send them to the Lions central depot in Birmingham.

From Birmingham, they are shipped to Lions Clubs and other charities working in developing countries such as Nigeria, the Philippines and Nepal. These glasses provide the gift of better sight in countries where spectacles can be an expensive luxury. We are proud to support this work.

Hearing aids can also be recycled and reused; we accept them in our collecting bins too.

In addition, we are happy to receive unwanted designer spectacle cases, which are sold to raise funds for Lions Clubs’ work in local communities.

Most of Reepham Lions Club’s activity is focused on our own local area with funds donated for good causes close to home. However, we are proud to be part of the worldwide Lions community and do our bit to support campaigns such as the Recycle for Sight initiative.

The post Your old glasses give sight to developing countries appeared first on REEPHAM LIFE.

The donation will help fund a large number of generators that have been gathered together and will be delivered to the country by North Norfolk MP Duncan Baker.

Mr Baker visited Ukraine in November with donations of food, clothing and other essentials, and became aware of the worsening situation there where families are struggling to cope without power in sub-zero temperatures.

The club has also helped with a need much closer to home: Scrapbox is a charity based in Reepham that promotes the reuse of reclaimed resources, selling materials for use in community art and craft activities.

It contacted Reepham Lions with a request to help fund an anti-fatigue mat for the staff and volunteers who man the shop.

The 14-mm thick mat provides a cushion underfoot for the volunteers who have until now been standing for long hours on a cold concrete floor. Lions Club members were happy to approve the request.

Reepham Lions meets on the first Thursday of the month, 7 for 7.30 pm at St Michael’s Reepham. Prospective new members are welcome to come along.

Above : Reepham Lions Barry Howes (left) and Kevin Long (right) handing a cheque to Rob Scammel (centre), who led the trip to Ukraine. Below: Left to right: Reepham Lions members Gill Long and Barry Howes presenting a cheque to the two members of staff at Scrapbox, Tula Chenery, manager, and Gina Bailey, assistant manager. Photo: Reepham Lions

The post Helping worthy causes at home and overseas appeared first on REEPHAM LIFE.

The raffle is one of the club’s major fundraisers for 2022, offering a first prize of £250 to the lucky winner, with other cash prizes for runners-up.

The winning tickets will be drawn at Reepham Lions’ charter lunch on Sunday 6 November. Members are hoping to sell more tickets during October.

Club president Ann Graham expressed the club’s appreciation of the support they are getting from the community.

“I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has bought a ticket,” she said. “The funds we raise go directly to help people in and around Reepham. We couldn’t do it without you.”

Reepham Lions meet on the first Thursday of the month at St Michael’s, 7 pm for 7.30 pm. Potential new members are always welcome.

The post Raffle tickets still available appeared first on REEPHAM LIFE.

Members spent the morning of Sunday 5 June preparing sandwiches and filling lunchboxes for the 250 residents attending Reepham’s Jubilee Tea Party.

The mountain of loaves in the town hall kitchen to be transformed into sandwiches was a daunting sight, but Lions members set to with gusto.

The boxes contained four different types of sandwich (cheese and pickle, tuna mayonnaise, ham and – appropriately – coronation chicken) plus a pot of crisps, as well as home-made cakes provided by Reepham WI, Reepham Tennis Club and other members of the community.

Sadly, plans to hold the tea party in the Market Place had to be abandoned because of the weather. The boxes were therefore distributed to the three wet-weather venues that had been planned in advance.

The boxes were appreciated by attendees at the town hall, St Michael’s and the scout hall, all of which were decorated by volunteers from many of Reepham’s organisations, including Lions, Rotary, WI, Scouts, Bircham Centre and the Church.

Brenda Gostling

Above: Members of Reepham Lions help with the preparation of 250 lunchboxes for Reepham’s Jubilee Tea Party. Below: Lunchboxes containing sandwiches, crisps and cake. Photos: John Tym

The post Sandwich-making marathon for Jubilee celebrations appeared first on REEPHAM LIFE.

This formed part of Central England Co-op’s annual toy appeal which helps less fortunate families in our local community who may be struggling this Christmas.

The Co-op was also working in conjunction with the Reepham Christmas stocking appeal which, following the success of last year’s appeal, was again collecting donations.

Without the support of the local community the Club would not be able to make these donations, so this comes with a big thank you from the members of Reepham Lions.

Liz Howes

Pictured above: Left to right: Brad Tuckfield, manager, Reepham Co-op; Kevin Long, Reepham Lions; and three of Santa’s little helpers. Photo: Reepham Lions

The post Santa gets a little help from Reepham Lions appeared first on REEPHAM LIFE.

It is lovely to be back, and I hope this finds you all well and enjoying the opportunity to get out and about more.

Earlier in the year a request was received to fund a small, above-ground swimming pool for a young local girl who has cerebral palsy, hypermobility issues and epilepsy.

Flissy (pictured above) experiences pain when moving but this is relieved when she is in water. In July, she was delighted to receive her Lions-funded pool and has spent many happy hours enjoying the freedom of easier movement.

Moving to stage four of the government’s roadmap on 19 July meant that the Norfolk Day celebrations could go ahead this year.

The Lions spearheaded Reepham’s celebrations in collaboration with the Bircham Centre. It proved to be a great success giving the local community, both young and old, the opportunity to meet up again in a lovely setting as well as enjoying games and refreshments.

In August the Lions ran a food-oriented tombola at the Reepham Food Festival. Despite the torrential rain at the start of the day, the sun came out –– and so did the local community.

The tombola proved to be popular and the small number of items remaining have been donated to the North Norfolk (previously Cromer) Foodbank.

Reepham Lions also ran a summer raffle with prizes donated by private individuals, as well as a voucher for a weekend away donated by the Original Cottage Company and a voucher from Woodgate Nursery, Aylsham.

Our thanks go to all of those who donated and to you, the community, who kindly supported us. Without your support the club could not continue to thrive.

September sees the start of the new football season and the local women’s football club, Cawston Red Rose FC, will be sporting their new shirts sponsored by Reepham Lions.

The Lions Club is now in the early stages of organising the first Reepham Christmas Tree Festival. Watch this space for updates on this event.

As a result of your continuing generosity, Reepham Lions is now in the fortunate position to be able to invite funding applications.

If you know of any local organisation or person you think would benefit from a donation, please ask them to make contact by email.

We are continuing to collect old spectacles and hearing aids, and these can be left in the collection boxes at the Bircham Centre and The Crown.

Why not come along to one of our monthly meetings to meet us, hear about the club and our plans for the future?

There is absolutely no commitment on your part. Look upon it as putting your toe in the water.

We hope to see you at our next meeting in St Michael’s on Thursday 7 October. Members start to arrive around 7 pm, have a catch up over a cuppa and biscuit and the main meeting starts at 7.30 pm.

Liz Howes

Photo: Liz Howes

The post Lions return with a roar appeared first on REEPHAM LIFE.