The Weymouth Cosmopolitan Club is turning 40—a historical event for New Zealand’s first female-friendly Cosmopolitan Club. Originally called workingmen’s clubs, the 50s and 60s saw an era in which women were considered the gentle sex, more suited to working in kitchens and raising children, rather than running a male-dominated club.
Jim Bhana, Weymouth Cosmopolitan and Sports Club president said that it’s a fitting time to pay tribute to the club’s founding members and their treatment of women and children. The Weymouth Cosmopolitan Club was also the first club in the country to have a female president.
Today, Aroha Waru is the club manager. She stepped in when the club was struggling financially and helped it back to its feet. “She has done a wonderful job and has really turned the club around,” said club vice-president Brian Morgan. “We’re essentially a family club, a club where women and children are allowed to be members. It set us apart from other clubs and is what contributed to our licence being approved.”
The club will celebrate the milestone with three days of celebrations in early April.
