San Diego

The San Diego meet-up brought together chairmen and members from throughout North America and beyond.  Cheers and thanks for Simon Tissington, Chairman of the San Diego Lions for being the point-person and host of this year's meet-up.  From the Shakespeare Pub on Friday night, to the Bluefoot Bar for the early morning match, to opening up his home for an afternoon of tacos and swimming, then a Sunday lunch gathering at the Wonderland Ocean Pub - it was a great time had by all!

At some point in the future, we will host an annual meet-up in Northern California.  Most likely in San Francisco.  August would be a great month to be in the City.  Weather is great and lots to do.

Next year's meet-up is already being discussed amongst the North America chairmen - with the location TBA early next year.

Inactivity here does not indicate Lions Club inactivity

I finally have a moment to post something about the tremendous activity of the Aston Villa Lions Clubs in North America and of course, here in the Golden State.

Lions Clubs continue to pop up across North America like wildfire.  The momentum from 2013 continued in 2014 with the help of pre-season tour in Texas (Dallas and Houston).  The current North America Lions Club roster looks like this (as of a couple of weeks ago):

Alaska (Fairbanks, Alaska)
Alberta (Edmonton, Alberta)
Arizona (Scottsdale, Arizona)
Atlanta (Georgia)
Austin (Round Rock, Texas)
Boston (Dorchester, Massachusetts)
Buffalo  (New York)
California (Castro Valley, California)
Capital (Washington D.C.)
Chicago (Illinois)
Colorado Springs (Colorado)
Dallas (Richardson, Texas)
Denver (Wheat Ridge, Colorado)
Detroit (Utica, Michigan)
Illinois (Geneva, Illinois)
Los Angeles (Lakewood, California)
Maryland (Glenn Dale, Maryland)
North Carolina (Waxhaw, North Carolina)
Nova Scotia (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia)
Philadelphia (Pennsylvania)
Queen City (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Saint Louis (Arnold, Missouri)
San Diego (California)
Seattle (Washington)
Space City (Cleveland, Texas)
Toronto (Holland Landing, Ontario)
Vancouver (Coquitlam, British Columbia)

Many thanks to Simon Leach of the Chicago Lions for keeping us coordinated and in communication with one another via Facebook pages and Twitter!

Texas Tour is Right Around the Corner!

Can't believe it is already June… which means the pre-season Texas tour is right around the corner.  I can already tell that a massive Villa following will be showing up in Dallas (really Frisco) and Houston in July.  A lot of things still to do - but things are starting to come together.

1) Texas T-shirts:  Working with the great Kurt Maciej, chairman of the Austin Lions, on getting some great t-shirts printed up to sell with net proceeds going to Acorns

2) I'm trying to put together some CA Lions Club caps.., also to support Acorns (hoping I can pull it off).  Its tough to do some of this stuff when you have to have some upfront $ to work with for production.

3) Acorns raffles are being planned for both Dallas and Houston.  Hoping to still get more raffle prizes. The more we have in terms of great prizes, it will encourage more people to by more tickets.

4) Supporters games are being planned for both locations.

5) Pub headquarters have been selected and organized:

In Dallas (Frisco) - The Londoner  http://www.londonerfrisco.com

In Houston - Lucky's   http://luckyspub.com/downtown/

Put in a great group order for Houston tickets - had people from San Francisco, San Diego, Denver, Toronto,  St. Louis, Florida, and the UK!

End of Season Trip to Brum and Upcoming Texas Tour

Enjoyed a May trip to Birmingham to converge with other Lions Club chairmen at Villa Park for the Hull City match, Chairmen's match, and an away fixture at Man City.  Great time was had by all and many North America chairmen made the trip this year.

Next is prepping for the upcoming pre-season tour stops in Dallas and Houston (July 2014).  Glad that the Villa is returning to the States, but Texas....in July?  It will be scortching!  Will see many Lions Club comrades from the States, Canada, and the UK - should be a great time. (23 July vs. FC Dallas and 26 July vs. Houston Dynamo)

Lone Star

It was really exciting to hear about Villa's announcement of a return to the U.S. for a couple of pre-season friendlies in July 2014 against FC Dallas (23 Jul) and Houston Dynamo (26 Jul).

Within hours of the annoucement, there has been all kinds of chatter amongst chairmen and members of the North America-based Lions Club branches.  Plans are underway to organize a foray of North America Lions to the Lone Star State for these 2 matches.

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N. America Invasion of B6  May 2014

A good size group from North America is also traveling to Villa Park in May for the last home match of this season (Hull City) and 2 away fixtures (Man City, Tottenham) + Lions Club Awards Night, UK vs Overseas Chairmen's game.

Match Programme vs Che$ea

Match Programme - Man City