Abu Dhabi
One of the capital’s oldest social clubs, the Indian Social Centre, will organise a host of activities this year to mark its golden jubilee, its newly-elected president has said.
“In our 50th year of operation, we want to attract people from all of India’s different regions to actively participate in our range of activities. To that end, we plan to invite prominent sport and film personalities for our celebrations,” Joy Thomas John, honorary president of the Club for 2017-2018, told Gulf News today (April 23).
“In addition, we want to push for more Emirati-Indian collaborative activities, especially with the strengthening of relations between the two countries,” John added.
He is heading the club’s 13-member board for the year, and it is his sixth term as honorary president. He will be officially sworn in tomorrow (April 24). M.A. Salam will serve as the honorary general secretary, having been elected to the board twice in the past, and Rafeek P. Kayanayil will be the club’s treasurer.
The club was first established in 1967 and was then housed in four to five rooms. In 2008, it inaugurated its Dh35 million facility, which includes a library, multi-purpose auditorium and a multi-cuisine five-star family restaurant for the use of its members.
It has around 2,000 members and facilities are open to about 5,000 more member dependents. Annual membership for a family is priced at Dh600, John said.
This year, four members have been elected to serve as regional representatives, with the aim of reaching out to Indian expatriates from all regions.
“We have not yet finalised our plans and financial position for the year, but a major element of our activities this year will be charitable initiatives for the UAE’s Year of Giving,” Salam said.
John and Salam are taking over from Thomas Varghese and John P. Varghese, who were the honorary president and honorary general secretary respectively during 2016-2017.
