Service with banter from faithful Lions Club

Hidden away in their caravan, the Ohaupo/Ngahinapouri Lions Club have been faithfully cheeky for the past few decades at Fieldays.

Some of these men have served in the sweltering van for over 30 years, always serving up a smile and a laugh on the side with your hot chips.

The Lions Club raise money for their community and endless amounts of planning goes into it.

One guy stands at the front serving the long queue. Another club member stands at the back of the caravan”quality controlling” the hotdogs.

The van is half the size of the one that they started out with. They had to tow the old one down with a tractor.

Secretary Bruce Thomas joined the club in 1976 and was a charter member. He says that since he started it hasn’t really changed much.

“From my point of view, I thought I’d give it 20 years and I still haven’t got away from it,” said Thomas.

Year in, year out the Ohaupo/Ngahinapouri Lions Club show up to support their their community.

“Our main aim is to look after our own people, we don’t give money outside of the area,” Thomas said.

“It keeps the club together. What else would you do? We’re getting too old to chop firewood.”

The Lions Club is mainly made up of farmers and retirees from the local area.

“I’m not quite sure when I started, but it goes back a bit,” said treasurer Ross Karl.

“I remember one year, we were trying to get out, all sitting on the back of this bloody ute, Trying to find a quick way out – there was no way out. There was this tractor in the tent next door to us which was like a supercharged tractor and someone fired it up and it took off. It went flying through the back of the bloody tent. Lucky someone wasn’t killed.”

Thomas also has many memories from over the years at Fieldays but there’s a few things that keep him returning annually.

“It’s the camaraderie really and we do raise some good coin.”