SPORTS CLUBROOMS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 272, 16 November 1936, Page 17

SPORTS CLUBROOMS.

AUCKLAND ATHLETIC CLUB. , MEETING PLACE FOR MEMBERS. Memories of old Auckland amateur ■athletes and athletics were revived on Saturday when, after 59 years of existence, the Auckland Amateur Athletic and Cycling Club opened clubrooms in the city. The new clubrooms, situated on the second floor Alston Chambers, Queen Street, housed many prominent athletes of the past and the present for the opening function, and after the formal opening there was much talk of , olden day sport. The club had a tradition as great as ; any club in New Zealand, said Mr. Mor- . ton, who, as president, performed the opening ceremony and it was a pity that during the 59 years of its existence it had not clubrooms such as they were opening that day. It would ibe a great gathering place for the members, and ] through the lectures and demonstrations ' that would be given there a lot of good 1 work would be done. ' The rooms had associations with the ; old history of Auckland in that they were on the site of the old Waitemata Hotel, and it was in a room in the old J Thames Hotel, just across the road that £ the club had had its beginning. It's f founder, Mr. A. King, was a "Star" re- : porter, and he was also its first secre- - tary. The club had had a varied career j and it had produced quite a number of New Zealand champions. Next year the j club would celebrate its Diamond Jubi- = lee, and it would be the jubilee of a - club with a great tradition. - Mr. Morton introduced a number of j old-time champions and also Mr. N. Douglas, who represented the Mayor, Mr. Ernest Davis. He read a telegram e from the Minister of Internal Affairs, f the Hon. W. E. Parry. * The new clubrooms take up practi- j cally the whole of the second floor of I ■the building, with seven rooms which t will be used for different purposes. J Among its equipment will be an athletic \ reference room and library, and several 1 social rooms. Already the walls bear ! a number of historic photographs, and these were a centre of interest.