Tathra Lions president Peter Davis and recruitment officer Anthony Dack are the group’s unofficial historians and have been busily reviewing the club’s minutes and newsletters, as well as speaking to the club’s “old timers”.

“Once you start going through it all, you realise how much the Lions Club in Tathra has achieved,” Mr Davis said. 

The first recorded meeting of the Tathra Lions was on January 2, 1974, at the Tathra Bowling Club, attracting 15 members and 10 guests. 

The charter was received the following day and the group had 27 official members. 

The Tathra Lions Club was busy from the get-go and in the first few years it assisted in re-roofing Tathra Community Hall, replaced the tennis court fence at Tathra Public School, raised money for the Cyclone Tracy appeal and facilitated the Lions Park in Mogareeka. 

Membership rose in the 1980s and the club worked hard to financially assist community assets in Tathra. 

The group, like many other Lion Clubs in the district, has been responsible for building bus shelters around the town. 

The Lions also started fundraising and planning the Lion Village, low-cost retirement housing, which opened in 1988 at Haven Place, Tathra, and has grown in stages since. 

A history of the group put together by members to celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2004 noted, “Haven Place will stand as a constant reminder to the club and its host of supporters that their efforts were not in vain.”

Over the years the club has donated the proceeds of its fundraising to local preschools, schools and high schools, local sporting clubs, Westmead Children’s Hospital, Bega District Hospital, Bega Ambulance Service, Tulgeen, Tathra Surf Life Saving Club, Tathra Community Hall and Tathra Rural Fire Service to name just a few. 

The Tathra Lions will be celebrating 40 years of community service to the Tathra and Kalaru communities on April 6. 

Members are inviting people to attend a free Lions Fun Day at Taylors Square in Tathra from 10am until 2pm. 

The day is for the whole family and includes jumping castles, face painting, zorb balls and a sausage sizzle. 

While the children are being entertained, the adults can browse through the memorabilia or view some of the DVD footage of past and present antics and projects carried out by the Tathra Lions. 

The Bega Band will be there to keep everyone entertained and the Bega Heritage Motor Club will have a display of vehicles. 

Learn about the great enjoyment that can be had by being part of this institution. 

Join the Tathra Lions Club on April 6 and help it celebrate 40 wonderful years.