The Pitt Meadows Lions Club is celebrating its diamond anniversary with a fundraiser pub night.
Chartered on May 7, 1951, after a meeting on April 5, the same year, saw 18 charter members present and the sponsorship of the Maple Ridge Lions Club.
They held their first club meeting at the former Wild Duck Inn, which was located by the Pitt River Bridge in Port Coquitlam, but moved over the years, using also the facilities of the Pitt Meadows municipal council chambers, the old recreation hall, the homes of various members, the old Anderson Store which is not the Pitt Meadows Museum site, and the old Pitt Meadows Elementary School.
In 1956, construction of the current Lions’ Den site on Harris Road was started with the purchase of building materials, and materials obtained by stripping of the old schoolhouse.
It was finished and usable by 1958.
In 1975, the Den was renovated under an extensive expansion and in 1998 it was renovated again.
Today the Den is not only used for Lions’ activities, but by other community service groups in Pitt Meadows.
The group has also raised more than half a million dollars that has gone back into the community or to the Lions’ provincial, national, and international commitments.
The Pitt Meadows Lions Club has donated to the Ridge Meadows Hospital, put in a chair lift at the old Recreation Hall, they have given to the Pitt Meadows Public Library, Pitt Meadows Fire and Rescue, Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue, the Lions Fun Park, local law enforcement, and helped with the memorial cenotaph on Harris Road by municipal hall.
Some of the things they also support are eye glass recycling; Guide Dogs for Diabetes, Seeing Eye and Autism.
Today there are 20 members of the club and they are hoping to encourage community minded citizens to serve the community with them.
A 75th anniversary celebration will be taking place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 7, at the Jolly Coachman Pub, at 19167 Ford Rd, Pitt Meadows.
All funds raised at the event will go back into the community.
For more information go to: https://www.pittmeadowslionsclub.ca/.