Contributed by: Ken Brown
The National Newcomers Association of Canada (NNAC), of which VMNC is a member, currently consists of sixty-three clubs from Victoria to Nova Scotia. Although we are one of the larger clubs, our flexible formula for membership would need some high octane to catch up with the 472 members in the Kelowna Newcomers Club and an equal number in their Alumni Club! (Just what do they put in the drinking water in Kelowna?) No word on the NNAC website about whether those clubs are co-ed, although the large numbers would make you think so.
Next in line is Niagara-on-the-Lake with 332, followed by VRMNC. The National website appears to have ground to a halt, like almost everything else, around March of last year, leaving current membership numbers in limbo. Interestingly enough, despite major differences between us and other clubs, VRMNC did grow to 300 members in 2019.
Newcomers Canada
The first Newcomers Club launched in Calgary in 1961 by welcoming newcomers to the city with an “in house” approach. The Bank of Montreal (BoM, now BMO) in the later 50’s transferred employees (yes, mostly male) to booming Calgary in such numbers that in 1961 a resident BoM wife formed a club to welcome BoM newbie wives and help them orient themselves in the wild west. As you might expect, finding sympatico friends after being uprooted from back east was a lifeline for many. The concept flourished and soon non-BoM newbie Calgary wives were welcomed to the ‘club’ too. In due course, clubs in other cities followed suit. Victoria’s VMNC first came together in 1980.
We have no historian around to help us explain why VMNC broke the mold, but as of 1980 we were the first, and remain, the only men’s only club in Canada (of the current 63 Clubs in ten provinces, 53 are female, nine are co-ed). Forget what they put in our water – maybe its because we drink something other than water! In any case, for better or worse, VMNC remains a standout among newcomers clubs in NNAC.
Victoria Women’s Newcomers Clubs
The VMNC Exec in March, 2019 arranged a joint coffee meeting with one of THE major female clubs, in the hope that we could each share experiences and knowledge to our mutual benefit. We’re not sure if they learned anything from us, but our Exec in attendance certainly learned that our modus operandi is not universal!
For example, at present (present being the imminent post-Covid world), our newly renamed group VRMNC has about twenty-one activities, each with a coordinator. Want to join one? Contact the coordinator and you’re in. The ladies have always posted signup sheets at their monthly luncheons, in what looks to us like a more complex routine as each activity also has a convener.
We are VRMNC, praise longevity. We even have members who would qualify for 25 year pins, if we had them. Our counterparts however, are surprised that we even want to retain people who are no longer new and boot such members upward after four years to one of two alumni groups. The interesting revelation for VRMNCers was that the ladies wouldn’t have it any other way, just as we welcome continuing just as we are each July 1st. Different view points without a doubt.
Regardless of our history, COVID-19 has made VMNC’s 41st year a standout. Who’s up for a more normal year to come??? I sure am!!
– Ken Brown