Our Club

Antrim Coast Lions Club was Ireland Club of the Year in 2009 and again in 2017!

Antrim Coast Lions have been chartered since 1976 and membership currently stands at 29.  We fund raise all year round but our major projects are our Charity Shop and our Charity Carnival run over eight days at the end of July/beginning of August. 

The Carnival has three main objectives; to provide activities and entertainment for all ages, to raise money for charitable causes and to enhance the profile of the village and the Club. Its unique selling point is that all the proceeds from profit making events are used to fund the activities of local groups or donated to nominated charities. Kids’ events are free, with the cost of prizes, venues, refreshments etc. met by the club or the event organisers.

Antrim Coast Lions Club delivers the Carnival infrastructure; advertising, insurance, technical support, administration, carnival lighting, PA systems, venues, statutory permissions, advice and mentoring, etc. It also designs and publishes the programme and raises the required sponsorship. Local groups, including the Lions, then slot their events into the programme shell. Core costs of around £10,000 are met by Larne Borough Council, local traders and the Club itself, in a roughly even three way split. The club also subsidises organisations and individuals that wish to run events, but have insufficient resources. The programme includes kids’ events every morning and afternoon, family events in the early evenings and adult events at night.  The Carnival closes on the first Saturday in August, finishing with a bang, a fantastic fireworks display.

To date, twenty-one Charity Carnivals have raised over £340,000. 70% of which has gone to larger charities such as Ulster Cancer Foundation, Action Cancer, Cancer Research, MacMillan nurses, Marie Curie, Meningitis Research, Trocaire, NI Hospice, RNLI, etc., with the remainder to local voluntary and community groups.

Our Charity Shop opened in November 2010 with the aim of raising £35,000 for Housing Aid Bosnia, a charity committed to building houses in Tasovcici Refugee Camp in Bosnia Herzegovina.  This target was reached in June 2012 when the house was named Antrim Coast and handed over to a family.  Since then the shop has provided a steady stream of income to be spent on local projects as well as international appeals.  We have a core of Volunteers who are not members who help our Lions with the staffing of the shop. 

Other activities include quizzes, carol singing, Christmas lights, parcels to senior citizens and donations to local groups such as the Community Nursery and Connect Youth group. 

We also present an award each year to someone, or some group, who have made a contribution to local village life.  It is named the ‘Bob Shannon Memorial Award for Community Service’ in honour of one of our deceased members.