Meetings

Local Club History

The Leaksville-Spray Lions Club was organized in April of 1938 at the historic old Leaksville Inn which was located at the end of Washington Street where Scotty's is now.

There were 26 charter members with D. Floyd Osborne being elected president. The elected secretary-treasurer reported a few days later that he would not be able to serve that office without payment for his services, so he dropped out of the club.
 
The newly formed club held its regular meetings at the Leaksville Inn for a short time, then moved to Roberts Cafe on Washington Street. It was while meeting there that plans were made to organize the Tri-City Agricultural Fair as a source of income for club members. The fair was a successful venture for many years, but as the years went by, it became increasingly difficult to obtain carnival operators and as fairs faded in popularity. Today the property is leased to generate income.
 
Important Milestones
 
         All members signed a note to purchase the fairgrounds in 1963 as a permanent location for our major project, the Tri-City Agricultural Fair -and what a relief it was to get it paid off in the 70s.
 
         Dr. C. V. Tyner, a member of the local school board, appeared before the club in the late 40s and stated that he was tired of getting beaten in basketball every year by Reidsville and needed $500 from us to help supplement a coachs salary. He received the money and hired coach Ray Rhodes, and
Leaksville High went on to win several state championships.
 
         Lion Robert Wall brought to the clubs attention that the schools had very poor lighting and he wanted to take one room at Burton Grove and try out the new fluorescent type lighting that was just coming out. Several members along with a GE engineer proceeded to get it done. It worked fine, the
teachers and principal were very impressed and as a result, the township schools were among the first in the state to get good lighting in the school classrooms.
 
         The club began a day-long clinic in the armory for glaucoma screening, which few people were screened for at that time. Lions members worked with physicians provided by the State Commission for the Blind. Many cases of possible glaucoma were discovered including some Lions family members. The clinic was held for several years until it was eventually taken over by the state.
 
The following photos are from old news articles from the 1970's.
 
Job Well Done - 1970 Eden News Article
 
 
 
New Officer - 1970 Eden News Article
 
 
 
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