With a new baker, the traditional Lions Christmas Cake is currently being baked and shipped by the hundreds of thousands to eager customers around the country.
Tony Fawcett drops in on the cake bake.
It’s raised more than $60 million for worthy causes, been savored by our troops in Afghanistan and other war zones and become an icon for generations of Australians. For hundreds of thousands it’s a festive must. It is the Lions Traditional Christmas Cake.
Biting into a luscious, moist slice is an occasion to be savored. Yet despite it phenomenal fundraising record, the cake might never have been but for some early Australian Lions who played a hunch. It’s all part of the cake’s colourful history.
First released in 1965, clubs are annually flooded with requests for deliveries of the cake, and some of those requests are far from ordinary. Overseas emails regularly ask that cakes be delivered to loved ones around Australia, and many Australians send cakes to friends and family overseas.
Saving sight
While the cake largely sells itself, in its half century-plus history Lions have excelled at promoting the project in many inventive ways. In 1992 a TV advert queried, “Did you know that eating a Christmas cake can prevent blindness”, a clever reference to Lions’ SAVE SIGHT initiative.
There have been Lions Christmas Cake decorating contests and cakes are regularly served to dignitaries at official functions, making it as synonymous with Lions as the Bunnings sausage sizzle.
Biggest bake names in Australia
While the cake’s traditional recipe has barely changed over the years, it has been produced by the biggest names in Australian baking history, brands such as Big Sister, Arnott’s and Top Taste.
A year ago when Top Taste, the cake’s baker for 35 years, announced it was going out of business some alarmist sections of the media foreshadowed the end of the much-celebrated cake. No way.
Our cake was way too big a favourite for that.
After lengthy research and a bake-off by the final two contenders, Lions Australia late last year announced Melbourne family company Traditional Foods as the new custodian of the cake. Already Traditional Foods-produced Lions cakes are being shipped Australia-wide.
This week the company’s CEO Stephen Heath announced 70% of this year’s expected 400,000 to 500,000 of cakes of various sizes, including a Lions Christmas pudding, had already been taken from the oven and were heading to clubs for delivery. The products include the familiar 1kg and 1.5kg cakes plus an 80-gram slice, along with the 900-gram pudding.
Meet the new maker
For Traditional Foods, established in 1993 by Stephen Heath’s father, it has brought a hefty lift in production at its state-of-the-art, HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) accredited Dandenong South facility. Now the company’s biggest bake job, it’s roughly double that of the next biggest product. The initial bake took just over two months and will be followed by a top-up bake in October-November to satisfy late customers.
“It’s the cooking that takes the most time,” explains Stephen. “The larger cakes take two to three hours to bake, so that limits how many we can do in a day.”
Moist taste
“The recipe for puddings is unchanged,” says Stephen, “but the cake recipe has been modified to our recipes with a slightly greater percentage of Australian ingredients, 49%, than the previous one.” Ideally, Stephen would like to see them containing 100% Australian fruit but supply shortages and/or excessive costs prevent this.
Although he modestly declines to compare his company’s Lions cakes to what went before, he admits it was pleasing to receive feedback when he joined with Lions in offering samples at the May MD201 Convention in Canberra.
“The taste buds are in the eye of the beholder but the feedback there was all positive, and what I’m hearing is that some thought it was moister than the previous cake.”
Likewise, he is thrilled that what his company is producing is of such huge community worth Australia-wide.
“Hats off to Lions for getting this project up and running in the first place, and for sticking with it for all these years,” he says. “It’s a great project to be involved in.”
Story adapted from original by Tony Fawcett.
Jesmond Lions committed to local environmental conservation
/in ENVIRONMENT, NEWS /by adminThe Jesmond Lions Club in Newcastle, NSW has a proud history in environmental conservation.
In particular, the Club has completed various projects at the Hunter Wetlands. Some of the projects include constructing barbecue shelters, boardwalks, bird hides and seating and planting many hundreds of trees and shrubs.
A major Club project was the construction of a fully-accessible sensory trail and boardwalk in 1994, something that other Lions club in the area were eager to get involved with. The sensory trail was a gift from Lions to the City of Newcastle to celebrate its bicentenary in 1997.
Other Lions Clubs in the District worked together to raise funds for the construction, and a state government grant was also awarded, bringing the total money raised to approximately $45,000.
The sensory trail features contrasting coloured pathways, vegetation, bridges, boardwalks, windmills, an ornamental creek and a picnic shelter. The plants were chosen for their colour, shape, sound in the wind and feel so that vision impaired visitors could enjoy the experience.
When able to, the club sponsors international exchange students to visit Australia through the Lions Youth Exchange Program. These visiting students have also been encouraged to get involved in projects throughout the wetlands, such as building new breeding huts for the speckled ducks, an endangered species.
The Club holds its regular meetings within the Wetlands’ beautiful surroundings and helps to run barbecues and other activities during the school holidays.
Another project dear to the heart of the Club’s members is tree planting at Pambalong Nature Reserve near Minmi, where they have planted over 5000 trees since 2012.
Clare Lions Club become recycling champions
/in ENVIRONMENT, NEWS /by adminSouth Australia’s wine town of Clare boasts less than 4000 people yet in a few years it has become a household waste recycling capital of Australia – thanks largely to the inspiring leadership of one Lions member – Pat Williams.
Pat Williams shies away from titles like enviro warrior, yet in little more than a year he and his band of Green Team Lions have dramatically changed the waste disposal habits of many in Clare, 136k north of Adelaide.
A campaign that began with a couple of pop-up information booths in Clare’s main street now has much of the town involved in a program recycling everything from soft plastics and ink cartridges to household batteries and old mobile phones.
Not one to hold back, thanks to Pat’s passionate eco spruiking to individuals, businesses and local organisations there has been a giant turn-around in Clare’s thoughts, or lack of them, on recycling.
Today there are club notices around town guiding locals to 15 drop-off points where items can be left for recycling, and more than 40 locals have signed to support the program. The local council is so impressed it volunteered to reprint and deliver the club’s brochure outlining the program along with rates notices to residents – at no charge.
As the Club’s Green Team coordinator, Pat, a retired house builder and business manager, is delighted at Clare’s ready acceptance of the program after just a year’s operation – though he had no doubts it would be a winner.
Pat already had a huge eco reputation in Clare following his Green Team’s involvement since 2014 in a project to re-establish, plant up and promote the local Gleeson Wetlands, now a mecca for naturalists, walkers and bird watchers.
Note: This story has been adapted from a feature story by Lions magazine editor Tony Fawcett.
Hero Lion – Alan Turner
/in Lion Hero /by adminLion Alan Turner is a member of the Lions Club of the Entrance in NSW. A Lion since 1969, he is known in the club as “Mr Lion”, the ‘go to’ person for all of those curly questions that need his encyclopaedic knowledge.
Hero Lion – Harvey Allen
/in Lion Hero /by adminLion Harvey Allen is a member of the Lions Club of the Entrance in NSW. Harvey has been a supporter of the Lions Sensory Gardens at The Entrance as well as scholarship for schools and higher education.
A piece of cake…
/in OUR STORIES /by adminWith a new baker, the traditional Lions Christmas Cake is currently being baked and shipped by the hundreds of thousands to eager customers around the country.
Tony Fawcett drops in on the cake bake.
It’s raised more than $60 million for worthy causes, been savored by our troops in Afghanistan and other war zones and become an icon for generations of Australians. For hundreds of thousands it’s a festive must. It is the Lions Traditional Christmas Cake.
Biting into a luscious, moist slice is an occasion to be savored. Yet despite it phenomenal fundraising record, the cake might never have been but for some early Australian Lions who played a hunch. It’s all part of the cake’s colourful history.
First released in 1965, clubs are annually flooded with requests for deliveries of the cake, and some of those requests are far from ordinary. Overseas emails regularly ask that cakes be delivered to loved ones around Australia, and many Australians send cakes to friends and family overseas.
Saving sight
While the cake largely sells itself, in its half century-plus history Lions have excelled at promoting the project in many inventive ways. In 1992 a TV advert queried, “Did you know that eating a Christmas cake can prevent blindness”, a clever reference to Lions’ SAVE SIGHT initiative.
There have been Lions Christmas Cake decorating contests and cakes are regularly served to dignitaries at official functions, making it as synonymous with Lions as the Bunnings sausage sizzle.
Biggest bake names in Australia
While the cake’s traditional recipe has barely changed over the years, it has been produced by the biggest names in Australian baking history, brands such as Big Sister, Arnott’s and Top Taste.
A year ago when Top Taste, the cake’s baker for 35 years, announced it was going out of business some alarmist sections of the media foreshadowed the end of the much-celebrated cake. No way.
Our cake was way too big a favourite for that.
After lengthy research and a bake-off by the final two contenders, Lions Australia late last year announced Melbourne family company Traditional Foods as the new custodian of the cake. Already Traditional Foods-produced Lions cakes are being shipped Australia-wide.
This week the company’s CEO Stephen Heath announced 70% of this year’s expected 400,000 to 500,000 of cakes of various sizes, including a Lions Christmas pudding, had already been taken from the oven and were heading to clubs for delivery. The products include the familiar 1kg and 1.5kg cakes plus an 80-gram slice, along with the 900-gram pudding.
Meet the new maker
For Traditional Foods, established in 1993 by Stephen Heath’s father, it has brought a hefty lift in production at its state-of-the-art, HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) accredited Dandenong South facility. Now the company’s biggest bake job, it’s roughly double that of the next biggest product. The initial bake took just over two months and will be followed by a top-up bake in October-November to satisfy late customers.
“It’s the cooking that takes the most time,” explains Stephen. “The larger cakes take two to three hours to bake, so that limits how many we can do in a day.”
Moist taste
“The recipe for puddings is unchanged,” says Stephen, “but the cake recipe has been modified to our recipes with a slightly greater percentage of Australian ingredients, 49%, than the previous one.” Ideally, Stephen would like to see them containing 100% Australian fruit but supply shortages and/or excessive costs prevent this.
Although he modestly declines to compare his company’s Lions cakes to what went before, he admits it was pleasing to receive feedback when he joined with Lions in offering samples at the May MD201 Convention in Canberra.
“The taste buds are in the eye of the beholder but the feedback there was all positive, and what I’m hearing is that some thought it was moister than the previous cake.”
Likewise, he is thrilled that what his company is producing is of such huge community worth Australia-wide.
“Hats off to Lions for getting this project up and running in the first place, and for sticking with it for all these years,” he says. “It’s a great project to be involved in.”
Story adapted from original by Tony Fawcett.
Hero Lion – George Nagy
/in Lion Hero /by adminLion George Nagy is a member of the Lions Club of Carisbrook, Victoria. This is what his fellow Lions say about George.
George has been our Treasurer for a short time and Secretary of our Club for over 9 years.
Big Heart, big thoughts for the future or our club, he is respected and admired as a mentor, speaker and organiser.
Riverside Lions build mobile amenities unit for homeless in Launceston
/in HUMANITARIAN, NEWS /by adminMembers of the Riverside Lions Club in Launceston Tasmania have built a mobile amenities unit providing homeless people access to warm showers and a place to wash and dry clothes.
The club saw the need for all community members to have access to a safe space to shower and wash their clothes, so set to work building the unit from the ground up in the club’s own work shed.
The club received a grant from the Tasmanian Community Fund and was also supported by a number of local businesses, particularly Samios Plumbing Supplies.
Construction of the unit totaled $25,000 and the club was pleased to have Tasmanian Premier The Hon Peter Gutwein attend the opening.
The unit is located at the Shekiniah House centre for the homeless in central Launceston and is managed and maintained by a team of volunteers.
Oatley Lions Donate $30,000 to purchase neo-natal care unit at St George Hospital
/in DONATIONS, HEALTH, HUMANITARIAN, NEWS /by adminOatley Lions Club and the Australian Lions Foundation have donated $30,000 towards the purchase of a neo-natal bed for the local St George Hospital Special Care Nursery.
Money was raised through community support of the annual Oatley Lions Village Festival, a $5000 donation by the club’s major sponsor, Oatley Hotel, and the Australian Lions Foundation.
“St George Hospital is so important to our local community and we are incredibly proud to work with Oatley Lions to help care for newborn babies. Oatley Lions are good people doing good work and their fundraising always goes towards the benefit of our community,” said Oatley Hotel owner and licensee Lyn Humphreys.
The new unit will enable continued treatment and care of many newborn babies.
Margaret River Lions fundraise $15,000 to purchase interactive table for local aged care facility
/in HUMANITARIAN, NEWS /by adminWestern Australia’s Margaret River Lions are helping local elderly residents who are battling with dementia.
The club has donated $15,000 to Baptistcare Mirrarnbeena to purchase an interactive table which uses light animation to help with cognitive challenges.
The Tovertafel – also called a ‘magic table’ – was developed in the Netherlands and uses infrared sensors to detect hand and arm movements, allowing people to play games and interact with everything from colourful flowers and butterflies to bubbles and falling leaves.
Baptistcare had tested the technology and felt it would be perfect for some of its residents, but were struggling to come up with funding.
“Then something magic happened,” said Baptistcare’s Lesley Longfield. “Our dear friends at the Margaret River Lions Club saw the Tovertafel in action, and with their usual generosity and community spirit decided to fundraise so we could purchase one for Mirrarnbeena.”
The club’s Vice President Brian Pendergast said members were always keen to support the elderly thanks to a long association with Baptistcare.
“As soon as we saw the faces of the residents who were trialing the Tovertafel, we knew this was something worth getting behind,” said Brian.
Lions mobile skin check and awareness unit aims to reduce prevalence of skin cancer
/in HEALTH, NEWS /by adminAustralia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, but Lions Clubs in Victoria and Southern NSW are doing their bit to reduce that level and its impact on families.
The incorporated charity, the Lions V Districts Cancer Foundation, launched its mobile skin check van in March 2021.
With over $400,000 raise through the generosity of Lions Clubs and philanthropic donors, the van is now offering free skin check services, especially to those in rural and remote areas with limited access to specialist skin care professionals.
The van is operated by fully trained, certified and professionally supervised volunteers. As it tours around, the unit will be a valuable resource for local people to access not only the skin check, but timely information about skin care and self-checking techniques.
Each Skin Check Unit visit is hosted by the local Lions Club, and full-body skin checks are conducted for the people booked. Fully trained dermoscopists, who operate hand-held microscopes to check over the skin, identify any suspect lesions and refer people on to doctors if any are found.
The van made a special appearance at the recent Lions Australia Convention in Canberra, and was toured by media personality and skin cancer advocate, Deborah Hutton.
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