Tailem Bend Lions Club member acknowledged for 50 years of service

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A Tailem Bend Lions Club member has achieved a rare milestone after a lifetime of community service.

Ian Eckermann was awarded a 50-year medal at a club meeting at the Riverside Hotel on Tuesday night.

He originally joined the Torrens Valley Lions Club on August 5, 1972.

Two of his mates had raised the idea at a dance – and then showed up on his doorstep, in dinner suits and bow ties, to press their case a few days later.

In time, as his work in real estate and livestock took him from town to town, he transferred his membership to Karoonda, then to Tailem Bend in 1982.

He served as the club’s president in 1984, 2001 and 2015-16; its secretary in 2002-03 and 2005-14; and in numerous positions, including tail twister, lion tamer, youth exchange chairman and even ladies’ auxiliary chairman.

He sponsored nine members over the years: Brian Liddle, Robert Nagel, Roger Window, Barry Watson, David Jaensch, his wife Margaret Eckermann, Donald Wood, Bob Simcock and Bruce Harris.

Zone chair Joyce Holmes said Mr Eckermann had remained dedicated and enthusiastic through the years – “it’s amazing to see”.

Mr Eckermann joked that the only reason he had reached 50 years of service was because he was “so bloody old”.

Seriously, though, he said the Lions Club – an organisation filled with “quality people” from top to bottom – had added significant value to his life.

“Every time we moved on and I transferred my membership, immediately I was amongst friends,” he said.

“(Businessman) Richard Pratt … was asked one day, ‘what makes you so successful?’ and he said ‘easy, I surround myself with good people’.

“I feel that’s what Lions has done for me, too – I’ve been surrounded with great people.”