The No-smoking club is one of the oldest social clubs in the Costa Blanca South -if not the oldest. Founded in 2001 by Violet King – not as the name suggests – to cure smokers from their habits – but to find a safe haven from the smoke-filled atmospheres in most Spanish establishments.
In its heyday, the club entertained a membership of around 300. Meeting on a Thursday morning, the usual format was a quiz on the first Thursday, followed by 2 or 3 speakers, with such diverse subjects being someone involved in the raising of the Mary Rose and one member who gave us a talk on his time working at the British Museum.
Fortunately, we are still able to attract people willing to give us their time such as Ronen Zlotogoura (pictured), who gave a very interesting demonstration of the art of perspective and shadow for prospective artists.
The final meet of the month being a coach trip to a venue reconnoitred by committee members and not a regular trip operated by the Coach Company. This finished with a menu del dia, which was again chosen from within the club committee. As one can imagine, with such a large membership, places on the trips were in great demand with the disappointed latecomers being sometimes accommodated on a following day’s trip.
Unfortunately, due to a combination of circumstances such as Brexit causing people to return to the U.K., Covid and bereavements, the club membership has declined to just under 50, which makes bus trips unfeasible.
We are therefore mounting a membership drive. If anyone is interested in joining a friendly club(smokers are not excluded, just during club events), contact club chairperson, Christine Shepherd on 687 295 015 or vice-chairman David Swann on 648 476 752. We meet at Che Loco Restaurant in El Chaparral between 11 and 12.30 a.m.
Regards,
David Swann(Publicity)
David & Sybil
