Lions Clubs International vice-president, and the future first female president, Gudrun Bjort Yngvadottir is visiting Australia for a Lions conference, and on Sunday experienced some Bendigo hospitality at a barbecue with local club members.

She has also seen some of the projects clubs in the area have undertaken.

Ms Yngvadottir is joined by her husband Jon Bjarni Thorsteinsson, a former Lions Club International director.

“It’s interesting that Lions around the world, even though we’re in 48,000 clubs, we do the same things,” Ms Yngvadottir said.

But one project that has stood out to Ms Yngvadottir, who is visiting from Iceland, is the national Lions skin cancer screening bus.

She said she believed the project was unique.

Ms Yngvadottir was full of praise for her Bendigo hosts, and said she enjoyed driving from Ballarat, the location of the conference, to Bendigo, with district governor Malcolm Qualtrough sharing his knowledge of the region.

She said she had made instant connections with local Lions because of their shared interests and desire to serve others.

Australians should be “very proud” of its Lions Clubs, Ms Yngvadottir said, and her visit had made her feel proud to be a Lions member, too.

“We’re very fortunate to have Gudrun pass through Bendigo,” Mr Qualtrough said.

In the lead-up to her tenure as president, Ms Yngvadottir said she would like to see more women join Lions Clubs and serve in leadership positions.

She said she would also like to see the international organisation modernise its image, as she believed many people saw it as something for older men.

Instead it was an organisation dedicated to service, she said, with Lions across the world putting millions of dollars towards various causes each year.

Ms Yngvadottir said she would also like to strengthen the organisation’s international foundation, which supports charity and disaster relief.