We would like to mark our 90th year as a Club by looking back to the Club in 1934. We can do so thanks to the archive created by Walter Isler and the meticulous records of meetings kept at that time.
- The first weekly meeting took place at the Ristorante Verbania on Tuesday 30th Jan at 8.30am
- Club fees were paid quarterly…they were probably something like 2 Francs 50 a quarter
- There were 8 founding members and 4 visitors who all later joined the Club. All were Swiss who wanted to speak English, understand more about the Anglosphere, particularly about the British Empire, and hoped to attract and encounter English-speaking visitors
- The Club subscribed to the Manchester Guardian. After the 9th meeting, which focused on Bolshevism, the Club also had a subscription to the Daily Mail, perhaps to provide political balance
- The meeting lasted 2 hours and included a 4 page address of inauguration by the President, Mr Braun, setting out the aims of the club. We will not detain you as long.
- There were 27 meetings of the Club in 1934. Subjects included:
- American and English business morals
- The English constitution
- London taxi drivers and policemen, and the streets of London in ancient and modern times
- Jewellery
- Pros and cons of science for the sake of humanity
- The Problem of Freedom (which took a lecture and another meeting to explore)
- The theory of theosophy – and no we haven’t a clue what this means either
- Lectures on far flung countries, including Japan, Tsarist and Bolshevik Russia, India, the Polynesian Islands, Mahatma Gandhi by someone who was acquainted with him, Ceylon, and China
- Closer to home – Locarnum and the derivation of local placenames, and an Englishwoman’s views on life in Ticino (her accent apparently a particular delight)
- There was a lecture on mushroom collecting, with some apparently invented adventures. Sadly the lecturer was the first person expelled by the Club in the first recorded Committee meeting on 5th May – the minutes stating that he was mentally unwell.
- There was also a lively discussion over 2 meetings, with arguments ‘serious’ and ‘cheeky’, about the question of votes for women. There was agreement that single ladies and widows with an estate should be able to vote – perhaps because at this time there were more women than men members.
- There were many other firsts:
- A first Honorary Member (in fact there were two types, ‘friendship member’ and Honorary). Sadly the first friendship member resigned from the Club in the same year
- First outside lecture – by Captain Kumar Parbat Singh of Jaipur in India, described as one of the foremost polo players in the world.
- A library was set up
- The first press report (in Il Cittadino)
- The ancestor to our coffee mornings was an American Tea Party
- The first Club outing, to Ponte Brolla for a picnic
- The first piano recital and first Christmas party, with decorations, presents and sweets
By the Annual General Meeting, on 26th January 1935, there were 38 members, only 4 of them a form of Honorary, clearly a very successful start. We have the menu of the dinner, at 2 Francs 70 cost per member, with a drink sponsored by the Club – the recipe for the Coupe Ercole is not recorded, but we do see that it was much enjoyed - probably the moment captured above.
Unfortunately the first Treasurer’s report was not so successful, showing only 65 cts in cash with 24 Francs still to pay for printing. But the members accepted that the funds had been disbursed to good purpose, clearly the Club lived on, and as the menu we still have, and the 1935 photo shows, everybody celebrated in style – an example we follow today.
