Lions Club of Plymouth President Lion Jeff Horgan presented a 50 Year Award Chevron to Lion Walter (Wally) Parson to commemorate his 50 Years of loyal service to the local community of Plymouth and surrounds, as a respected and honoured member of the Lions Club of Plymouth.
Wally as many will know is a big hearted fellow who has an extremely good sense of humour which is enjoyed by all who know and meet him. He has served the Lions Club of Plymouth over the past 50 years as a very active member holding many positions to include being club President on two occasions, 1977/78 and 1999/2000, also Club Secretary 1971 to 1974 and again 2000 to 2002.
He has been relied upon to organise a good number of lucrative fundraising events as Chairman of Activities 1976/77 and 1993/94, to name a few, Amateur Boxing, Plymouth Sound Appeal, and Xmas Hamper Appeal for the elderly. He also served as Chairman of Lion Community Service from 1983 to 1988. In addition he has chaired sub – committees such as Social, Membership, Minute Secretary, Lion Tamer, and Tail Twister.
The annual Jumelage event with the Morlaix Lions club from France, was organised by both he and his wife Jay, they were wonderful hosts, always inviting the French and British Lions for lunch in their garden and always made sure the cabaret (Wally’s Magic!) went off without a hitch, but with plenty of appreciative laughter!
Whilst things normally went well, there was one occasion when Wally had a very unfortunate incident in a hot air balloon, he was invited to join a couple of friends for a balloon adventure, as the balloon was taking off, both friends the pilot and navigator fell out of the basket leaving Wally ascending into the sky alone, fortunately Wally didn’t panic, (not in his nature!), he used his knowledge on aircraft design to work out how to bring the balloon down safely, not a pretty landing, the basket collided on landing and Wally injured his arm but lived to tell the tale, …… often!!
In 2004 Wally elected to continue his service to the Lions Club of Plymouth as a Privileged Member and still attends a good number of the clubs main social events and functions.