History

History of the Leamington Portuguese Community Club Inc.

In the early years, after a group of Portuguese families settled in Leamington and surrounding areas, our Community started to gain a conscience of its identity as a distinctive ethnic group and to dream about the building of a Social Club.  That dream, however, was only to materialize in 1967, when the image of Our Lady of Fatima was welcomed in the Community and the annual Festivities started to be organized by a local Committee.

Later on, in 1979, several families from the archipelago of the Azores started the Imperio of the Holy Spirit in Leamington, another annual celebration with a strong popular impact that after that year became among us a source of religious gatherings and a revival of traditions that for centuries were embedded in the soul of the Azorian people.

This way, some revenue was collected from these popular Festas for a future investment of funds in the purchase of a piece of land to build a Community Club.

In 1978 the community decided to build a house which was sold and the profit of the sale was invested as a down payment in a lot of land located on Fraser Road.  Another social project became a reality in 1982 when a local Community Center opened its doors and started to operate on Orange Street.

But it was in 1984, when Mr. Antonio Medeiros was Chairman of the Board, that the building located on 217 Talbot St. West was purchased to become the headquarters of the Club.  On the same year, friends of the Club in separate groups went fund-raising door to door, inviting every family to help with the purchase of the new building.  The Grand Opening of the Club happened on October 1984, a date remembered every year with each celebration of the Anniversary of the Leamington Portuguese Community Club Inc.

Several improvements were necessary to transform the ice rink of the previous Arena into the shape of the social club.  In 1985, under Mr. Antonio Medeiros, Chairperson of the Board of Directors, was built the interior wall separating the Main Hall from the Member's Bar.  And, in September of the same year, with the cooperation of a group of ladies, 400 place settings of chinaware were purchased for the Club's Catering Services.  Mr. Antonio F. Duarte was the Chairperson of the Board at that time.

Gradually, several other improvements were perfected step by step in the following years.  The Kitchen, Washrooms, and Ceiling were finished when Mr. Manuel Barros was Chairperson of the Board in 1987, and under the leadership of Mr. Manuel Borges, a new floor was laid out in the Main Hall.  In 1992, with Mr. Norberto Fortuna as Chairman of the Board, the Front Entrance, Reception Hall, Club's Office and Washrooms greatly enhanced the exterior and interior aspects of the Club.

The year after, under Mr. Aniceto Coimbra as Chair of the Board, a new and modern Members' Bar was completed and during the three terms in office of Mr. Francisco Santos (1993-1998) new and great improvements were carried on in the Main Hall ceiling, with artistic lamps and luxurious interior decoration.  A sliding partition was added to the structure of the Main Hall making possible for the Club to serve two parties at the same time.  In the outside, the paving and infrastructure of the Parking Lot was also finished.

The aspect of the Portuguese Community Club as we know and admire it today, was perfected to become one of the biggest and most luxurious Social Clubs, second to none, among the ones that were built in Canada by our communities.  It proudly offers an internal capacity for 950 people and a Catering Service that has become famous in this area of Ontario.

The present Board of Directors under Mr. Norberto Fortuna has endavoured to reduce the Club's Mortgage that peaked to its highest level with all the improvements done in the past ten years.  It was during his administration that the By-Laws of the Club were revised in a special meeting of the General Assembly summoned on March 11, 2001.  Today, we put this copy of the constitution into the hands of our club members.

Our sincere thanks and recognition to all, men and women, who throughout the years with their intensive work and determination made possible the magnificent reality of the Leamington Portuguese Community Club Inc., a Social Club we feel proud to belong to!

Antonio Pires, President of the General Assembly Board
April, 2002 -- Leamington Ontario

Antonio Pires, Leamington Portuguese Community Club By-Laws, 2002, pp 1-3.