DARLINGTON Lions Club celebrated their 58th Charter Handover Night at the Grange Community Centre in Hurworth on Saturday evening.

Lion Tony Gent who has acted as the club president for the past twelve months handed over the chain of office to Lion Neil Anderson

Lion Tony thanked all of the Darlington Lions for their wonderful support in his year of office and for all their hard work in raising funds for several and mainly local charities.

The main president's charity this year has been Heel & Toe, the North-East children's charity which supports children with Cerebral Palsy and other physical disabilities providing other services including hydrotherapy, occupational and speech and language therapy.

Other club interests have included supporting the Kieran Maxwell Memorial Fund Open Track & Field Meeting alongside the Darlington Harriers raising funds to support research into the rare cancer Ewing Sarcoma .

Every year the club sends a couple to the specially adapted Filey Lions caravan for a holiday and in recent years this has been donated to the Darlington Branch of Parkinson's UK.

Lions International was founded in Chicago in 1917 and came to the UK just after the Second World War encouraged by the late Queen Mother.

Darlington Lions Club was established in 1961.

For more information about Darlington Lions Club, visit darlingtonlionsclub.co.uk or heelandtoe.org.uk.