At the Annual General Meeting in March, Entertainment Chairman Alex Blank said that the members, the actual people that belong to our club do things together on a weekly basis all year around. This is in addition to the various events we hold yearly as a club, banquets, penny parties, Kirchweih, Christmas Party, etc.
Our teams of course practice each week and play matches on Sunday. Our dancers have weekly rehearsal. When we play a soccer game at another club or we have Tuesday rehearsal, a group usually gathers afterwards for a drink and some camaraderie. This happens wherever we are if space and libations are available. The Phoenix Sport Club and the Erzgebirge have been most often the places that host our dance rehearsals, but we have also had practice at the Cannstatter, the German-American Society in Trenton, and more. We are grateful for the friendship of all of these clubs.
In various months of the year the cultural group also dance for hire at festivals and events and attend anniversaries and fests at other clubs and dance groups.
As we have for many years, we encourage our members to be attendees at banquets, dinners, festivals, dances, and fundraisers of our fellow Philadelphia & Vicinity clubs and societies. From time to time, we venture out of our tri-stare area further to other states, and sometimes even countries.
On a rare occasion when we do not have a scheduled affair, it’s only a matter of time before someone in our ranks put out the call to one another to gather for more fun.
This could be weekending happy hours, summertime pool parties and picnics, Holiday parties, birthday gatherings, and impromptu dinners at friends’ houses.
Very special occasions often see our members attending each other’s weddings, our children’s baptisms and other sacraments as well.
Today our members are not just a part of the same social, cultural and sports club. We are sharing in a club-life that includes all of these and a genuine interest in the lives of one another.
Our members are living lives, together.
We once described the decade of the 1960s as “The Golden Years,” of our club. This was especially prescribed to areas of Soccer. I think our wider record of the 60s can be easily labeled as such with the skyrocketing success of that time.
I submit to you all now for consideration a label for the times we live in. We are in a golden age of our own kind. The specific boundaries by year remain to be seen, that’s up to all of us. I say with some confidence that this era of club life should be called The Living Years.
