ALTON Lions celebrated the centenary of Lions Club International in the run-up to Christmas with the building of a beautifully carved bench at The Butts.

Located at the town end of the green, looking across to The French Horn and the Mid Hants Railway steam line as it crosses historic Butts Bridge, the solid oak bench has a lions head centre piece with a lioness on one arm and her cubs on the other.

The work of craftsman Jonathan Cleaver, the bench was officially handed over to Alton Town Council on December 14 by Alton Lions president Michael Gwynne and received by town mayor Dean-Paul Phillips during a ceremony attended by a group of delighted children from Butts Primary School.

Lions Clubs International was formed in 1917 by a Chicago business leader, Melvin Jones, who wondered what would happen if people put their talents to work improving their communities. As a result of his inspiration, 1.4 million men and women today are members of the world’s largest service club association, based in some 46,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographic areas.

As part of Lions Clubs International’s centennial celebration in 2017, Lions around the world adopted the message ‘where there’s a need, there’s a Lion’, and worked toward the Centennial Service Challenge to serve 100 million people by the end of 2017.

Alton Lions Club was founded in 1972 and since then has made a substantial contribution to the community, not only in staging community events to raise much-needed cash but also by providing inclusive activities for many community-wide experiences.

The results of these events and activities enable grants to individuals in need, local charities, schools, organisations and for community events and facilities and also include such activities as message in a bottle, the Christmas gift project, tea parties for the elderly, young people’s projects including young leaders in service, sports student sponsorship, the children’s day out to Paulton’s Park, and Party in the Park.

One of the most recent projects has been the installation of a defibrillator outside of the Assembly Rooms for use in an emergency.

As well as enjoying these activities, Lions also enjoy a strong social programme.

Alton Lions can regularly be seen at events such as the regular craft markets, in their familiar yellow tabards. For more details, visit altonlions.org.uk.

Children from The Butts School are pictured sitting on the bench with Alton Lions Dave Crocker, Mike Baker, Pauline Folkes, Margaret Willoughby, Sarah O’Donoghue and Peter Bacon, town mayor Dean-Paul Phillips and wood sculptor Jonathan Cleaver.