Since its foundation in 1928, the British Club of The Hague has welcomed both newcomers to the Netherlands and longer-term residents. We understand the challenges of moving to a new country: many Members have experienced this themselves.
The Club recently celebrated its 95th anniversary. One of the ways we commemorated this was with the publication of online threads written by Members during the Covid lockdown. The booklet is titled ‘Tell a Story, Relate a Memory’. A generous donation by two of our Members made it possible for every Member to have a personal copy of the booklet.
Committee Members organise an annual programme which is designed to interest, amuse, and inspire. You can see details on other pages, but in a nutshell, the following are regular activities:
- Readers’ group
- Topical discussion group
- Film group
- Bridge
- Mahjong
- Talks by invited speakers
- Art and Crafts mornings
The Club Members select a charity each year, with the aim of raising funds specifically for this one organisation during the year. Our Winter Fair in November is our main fund-raising event, and attracts artisan stallholders from around the region.
A Brief History of the British Club of The Hague
The British Women’s Club was founded in 1928 when thirty women decided to form a club for British women living in the Netherlands. Before the Second World War the British Women’s Club was primarily a lunch club, meeting for monthly lunches in The Hague. The Library was started in 1939 in a room on the fourth floor of the Damesleesmuseum on Lange Voorhout, but this had to be closed when the German occupation began in May 1940. The committee decided to close the club for the duration of the war; in 1946 the club was revived by members of the original committee and soon had over 200 members.
From its inception, the BWC has raised funds for good causes – the earliest beneficiaries were the two British Seamen’s Missions in Rotterdam. Since then the club has raised money for more than 110 charities, both in the Netherlands and abroad, and still continues its charitable activities.
In 1951 the Library and regular lunch venue were moved to the Park Hotel on the Molenstraat, where the club met until 1960. Club activities included lunches, excursions; talks and demonstrations; courses; children’s parties; teas; coffee mornings; charity sales; fashion shows; dinners and other evening events; choir; bridge drives; play-readings; and (children’s) sports activities. Some club activities have ‘spread their wings’ – such as the Cecilia International Choir, which started life in 1976 as the British Women’s Club Choir.
The BWC has had a number of different meeting places over the years; in 1960 the club rented one room for the Library above the ‘Arbeid Adelt’ shop on Noordeinde 92. However, with a membership of 699 and a limit of 25 persons in the clubroom at any one time, a move was made in 1975 to a suite of rooms above the Bruna bookshop at Passage 61, the site of the present Novotel. The club then moved to four rooms on the top floor of Sociëteit de Witte, Plein 24, which was its home from 1986 to 2008.
In 2006, the British Women’s Club became the British Club of The Hague (BCH) and now admitted men as Members. In 2008, the BCH decided to leave De Witte and, for the next three years, found a welcoming home with the American Women’s Club in Scheveningen. But, in 2011, when the AWC decided to sell their clubhouse, the BCH moved to its present meeting place – the Pastoral Centre of the English Speaking International Roman-Catholic Parish in Bezuidenhout.
Our Dutch Launching Place: a History of the British (Women’s) Club of the Hague from 1928, is available in the club library.