The Belmont centre Uckfield was once again the venue for Uckfield and District Lions club Mini Roar competition. Mini roar is a spin off from Lions Roar an inspirational education competition run in partnership between Lions clubs British Isles and 8billionideas. This unique program inspires children between the ages of 7 -11 years old to think big and change the world with their ideas.

Uckfield Lions Mini roar gives local primary schools the opportunity to pitch their entries to a panel of Local judges for the honour of being top school in the area, having previously sent their entries to the Roar regional judging panels around the country to judge the region and then best school overall.

This year mini roar had 9 local schools entered Rocks Park, Parkside, Little Horstead Rother, High Hurstwood, Harlands, Framfield, Blackboys and Bonners, with the judging panel made up of Paul Dedman Lions South East district governor, Uckfield Mayor councillor Katren Bedwell and Councillor Jackie Love.  As with previous years the standard of competition was very high, ranging from a Drone Dog walking kit, with internal ball thrower, retractable lead, and a spray attachment for cleaning the dogs poo up.  House building bricks with various shaped holes and slots to allow wildlife to live alongside humans.  A special collar for pets which was equipped with coloured lights, which when lit showed the pet was showing anxiety.  Councillor Jackie Love did say they would be ideal for her moody pigs. Along with a Scanning system to ensure your fridge contents stay fresh.

All the presentation where of a very high quality and the judges had a very difficult job deciding a winner, but there can only be one winner and it was agreed the Flumper jumper made from recycled materials , soft and comfortable to wear ,and a jumper to control all the emotions by Framfield school was the winner, 2nd With The emotion collar for dogs by Parkside and 3 rd Natures bricks by Little Horsted.

Uckfield Mayor Karen Bedwell presented the winning teams prizes and she said

“Thank you for inviting me to attend and judge the Mini Roar. As I hadn’t been before I wasn’t sure what to expect but the ideas from the children, their models and thoughts on how they would work was amazing. It gives me hope that the next generation will make the world a much better place than we have done ! It is great to see the Lions encouraging such ingenuity.”