A Brief History of Wareham Lions
Club Chartered 29th June 1971 there were 22 charter members and one Honorary Member namely at that time The Lord Lieutenant of Dorset Col JW Weld. Two of the original members are still with the Club.
The Club became active immediately in raising monies to support local organisations and also funding their own projects.
The first Swimarathon as it was then called took place in 1981 and resulted in the purchase of the Clubs first 'Ambulance' in 1982.
Over the years the Club has organised to raise funds, Teddy bear stall, Dartathons, 50/50 sales, jumble sales, duck races, raft races, cream tea events, fetes, Car boot sales, Race nights, Dances and so on it has also assisted other organisations to run their events from which the Club has benefitted greatly e.g The Classic Car Rally.
Funds raised have gone to pay for, equipment at local surgeries, ECG machines for example, Life saving teaching aids for Purbeck sports centre, Seniors parties at Christmas, large event at Redcliffe Farm for over 20 years for Disabled people, Equipment for football clubs, rugby clubs, scouts, aid for social services, dozens of individual requests and of course the running of the Clubs Disabled transport.
The Swim for Charity (SWIMATHON) is primarily run for organisations or individuals to raise funds for their own chosen club or charity with the Lions taking a small percentage to cover the costs of administration and hiring the pool.
Wareham Lions is still some 50 years later a strong Club and over those years has raised over £400,000.
