PAQUITA'S COUNTRY CLUB

A short History of the Club - written by the recent Chairman

Paquita's Country Club is a social club based at the El Cid Leisure Oasis in Benidoleig, Alicante, whose current membership consists almost entirely of retired ex-pats who, for the most part, have come to live permanently in Spain.  The Club has been in existence since the end of 1991, and the following is a brief account of it's origins and growth over the past 17 years.

In October of 1991 a meeting, attended by 120 people, was held on the premises of a Spanish owned 'Illetes' restaurant, situated on the outskirts of the nearby village of Beniarbeig, for the purpose of soliciting support for the creation of a Bowls Club on surrounding land.  At a second meeting, held in November and attended by only 38 people, it became clear that there was not enough interest in forming a Bowls Club, but a proposal was made to start a Social Club on the same premises.  The proposal received strong support and resulted in a Steering Committee being established with the task of attracting more members and starting one or two activities.

The first Annual General Meeting of the club was held on the 3rd March, 1992 and was attended by 37 of the total membership of 57.  At that meeting, the restaurant owner's mother, Paquita, was invited to lend her name to the title of the club, to which she readily assented - hence 'Paquita's Country Club'!  The 'Illetes' premises boasted an Olympic sized swimming pool and the initial subscription was the peseta equivalent of  €33, of which €30 was paid directly to the restaurant and the remaining €3 went towards club funds. With the co-operation of the management a number of activities were started, such as - whist, tombola, quiz, darts, short mat bowls and the occasional dinner dance, car treasure hunt and coach trip.  A library was started and the club also secured the services of a teacher to provide members with the opportunity of learning Castellano.  To raise more funds, a fashion show and a summer fête were organised and membership began to increase rapidly due to the club's activities and the recommendations of existing members.

The club continued to thrive and appeared to meet the needs of many people, who were simply looking for a venue at which they would receive a warm welcome and be able to meet other like-minded people to take part in some interesting weekly activities.  Following a meeting between the club chairman and the restaurant owner it was agreed that, as the pool was seldom (if ever) used by members, no money would be paid to management but members would be expected to pay the equivalent of €6 to club funds.  A small number of Spanish people became members and were made very welcome.

Unfortunately in October, 1996, the owner found that he could no longer keep the restaurant open so the club committee members were forced to look for other premises in which to base their activities.  A short-list of four establishments was drawn up and, at a well attended meeting, those present opted for 'El Cid' - which is where the club has remained ever since.  The first A.G.M. took place there in January 1997 by which time the membership stood at 225 - the ceiling figure that had been agreed.  The then owner of El Cid, Mr. Brian Turner, was content to allow the club to continue in the same vein.

In 1999, as a result of disagreements with the new owners, the club membership fell dramatically to 165.  However, having achieved a better understanding with the owners in early 2000, the membership began rise again and has since gone from strength to strength - so much so that the then agreed ceiling membership of 260 was again reached within 8 weeks of the last A.G.M held in January.   The annual subscription is  €16 per a year.

In order to conform with Spanish laws in relation to associations, the club is formally registered with the Spanish authorities and acts in accordance with the provisions of a set of Statutes governing most aspects of any club, and very much after the fashion of an English club Constitution.

Activities currently available are:-

SHORT MAT BOWLS    TOMBOLA    WHIST    BRIDGE LESSONS    SPANISH LESSONS    QUIZZES    OCCASIONAL TALKS 

PAINTING CLASSES    COACH TRIPS    DINNER DANCES    SOCIAL EVENINGS    BARBECUES