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From recreation to charity
A SMALL-TIME club started by the shipyard employees more than thirty years ago, for the purpose of unwinding after a hard days' work has indeed come a long way. On November 8, the Cochin Shipyard Recreation Club is all set to hold its 11th All Kerala Children's Festival, which remains one of the club's greatest achievements till date.
It's guaranteed to be a mega show of children's talent displayed in various events like arts and culture, elocution, literary brilliance and dramatics. In 1970 the recreation club was opened with paltry facilities and indoor games like chess, carrom and a reading room. The club members struggled to find a permanent building for themselves in the beginning. They temporarily shuttled between the music room in the shipyard and other vacant lots.
In March 1973 , the then Vice Admiral Krishnan laid the foundation stone for the current building. His wife inaugurated the building on May 20, 1973.
With the increase in the number of members, a lot of facilities were added and more buildings were added to the auditorium, like the gymnasium, indoor court and art and culture and sports centres.
During the early stages, a get-together in the evenings, annual sports events, anniversary celebrations, and a couple of public meetings were all that the club members could organise. The anniversary celebrations were exclusively for the club members. Things got better with each passing year and the activities chart got stretched out.
The people who were on the supervisory board of the recreation club played an active role in the betterment of the club and strived towards attaining a healthy working atmosphere within the organisation. The recreation club's drama troupes were legendary. " We take pride in the fact that many film actors made their debut on our stage," said Mr Velayudan, the Arts Club secretary. In fact the first ever professional awards for drama artistes were started by the club. The USP of their drama was the power packed screenplay done by writers with a fine literary background. Most of the themes called out socially relevant messages.
Right from the acting, scripting, and music to direction, everything was safe in the hands of the club members. Outsiders were not entertained in this regard. A drama workshop was conducted in 1994. The invitees included many eminent personalities from the drama world. With the growing popularity of TV, the number of drama enthusiasts lessened, so did the stage performances.
" Our dramas, which were performed earlier on more than 22 stages have narrowed down to two," lamented Mr Madhu, the general secretary of the club. The club has conducted mimics parades, dance festivals, children's festivals, along with a ganamela troupe.
Their ganamela troupe is considered one of the best in the field. The members have also made forays into public speaking, folk arts festivals and poetry recitals. The club members have made a mark in the sports arena too. Badminton, kabaddi, volleyball and football are some of the areas where they are adept at. "Our members have shown their skills at the national level," asserted the general secretary, adding that they participated in the Asiad Veterans meet and in the Santhosh Trophy football tournaments.
Apart from the entertainment business, the members took time off to work for charitable institutions. Recently they were involved in a project with the Ernakulam General Hospital in helping the cancer patients at the ward. "Though we realise that we started off a bit late, the overwhelming support of our members gave us courage to continue with this charitable project," conceded the arts club secretary.
NEELIMA MENON
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