In the spring of 1977 Blyth Lions Club member Brad Kennedy set out to organize a new Lions Club in the community of Londesborough. A few informal meetings were called and a list of twenty-four men willing to join was compiled. The Londesboro Lions Club was chartered on May 31, 1977, with the Blyth and Clinton Lions Clubs as sponsors. Brad Kennedy was named as the charter president; Ellwood Mitchell was the first secretary and Tom Duizer was the first treasurer. In the early years many ventures were tried some successful some not, these include Kids Bike-a-thon, collecting newspapers for recycling, b**r tent at the 1978 Plowing Match, operating a food booth at the ball diamond, installing fences and major improvements to the local baseball diamond, eventually building a new booth. A “Tin Lizzy draw”, a Donkey baseball game, pig roasts, Valentine’s Day dances, pancake breakfasts, Halloween Children Parties, Vegas Night and later co-hosting this event with the Blyth Lions Club, Men’s Euchre parties, Motorcycle Rally, Car Rallies, Baseball Tournaments, Golf Tournaments, Pork Chop Suppers. A week-long food booth at the 1999 Plowing Match in Dashwood. (not so successful), Hospital Appreciation Day
Blyth Steam Show parking for 42+ years and we once tried a food booth but learned our lesson to stay what we are good at. Auction sale food booths, sponsoring a Leo Club in 1982. In 1986 the club organized the “Back the Biter” campaign raising $50,000.00 to put Lion Ron Nesbitt back
on the road again after a life changing accident. A fully accessible van was able to be purchased. In 1986 the club became incorporated thus changing its legal name to the “Londesboro and District Lions Club Inc”. In 1995 the club negotiated a ten-year lease for the Londesboro Community Hall from the Township of Hullett. Raising funds and renovating the basement of the hall completely over the next several years. To date over $150,000+ has been spent to update the building. Thirty years later the club still leases the hall from the Municipality of Central Huron. We hold all our Lions meetings there and allow the local Cub and Scout groups a place to meet weekly rent free. The hall is also rented to the community for Christmas and birthday parties, and we even had weddings upstairs. The club has been a big supporter of the Youth Exchange program sponsoring both incoming & out going youth over the years. Lions Don & Kittie MacGregor have had fifty different exchange students in their home over the years, along with being camp counselors and serving as youth exchange chairs. The club has also supplied lunch at the youth exchange camp whenever asked to do so. In recent times the club still holds four pancake breakfasts a year (October, February, April and June). We sell
Christmas trees in December, the last Sunday in May run a rubber duck race and host an annual Fish Fry the last Saturday in September serving 625+ persons. Over the years the club has produced six zone chairpersons, one district governor, a council chairperson, a cabinet secretary-treasurer, a district bulletin editor, and an international understanding chairperson and a youth exchange incoming chair. Membership numbers have fluctuated over the years, dropping to a low of thirteen in the early 2000’s to an all-time high of thirty-five members at the present time. (October 2025).
