THE BELGIAN CLUB
(Courtesy of Miss Agnes VanDeWalle)

In 1946 a group of concerned Belgians, who had chosen Canada as their new home, decided that there should be some place where all Belgians could meet together and so keep some of their old culture in their new homeland. A meeting of interested Belgians was held and from that meeting a Committee was elected with President, Gerard Vandenbussche; Vice-president, Jules Degrieck; Secretary-Treasurer, Remi Lecour; and two Directors, Medard VanDeWalle and Jean Bouckaert.

This Committee then began to look for a site for the new Belgian Club, and the present location at 360 James Street, Delhi was chosen. It was then bush land known as Conlin's Grove, and was purchased for $5,000.

In 1947 construction of the new hall was completed and the hall was officially opened in 1948, with approximately five hundred shareholders plus club members.

Once the hall was built, activities were then arranged for it's members. These consisted of old-country style bowling, archery, cards and a pool room. A restaurant was provided, which was open daily to the general public and a dance hall offered Saturday night dancing for Belgians and peoples of other nationalities. In this same hall Belgians could celebrate weddings in the traditional Belgian style.

In the late 1950's the hall was expanded to include an attractive bowling alley for weekly league bowling.

Every July 21st all Belgians can come to their hall and celebrate together their own Independence Day, with outdoor bicycle racing in the daytime and dancing in the evening. Similarly, these same people help to celebrate Canada's own National Holiday
on July 1st. Each year in the spring a banquet is held for all shareholders.

In the 1960's the popular hall was expanded again and this time the dance hall was enlarged to accomodate^sic the increasing numbers. At present every Saturday night the hall provides a place where young people of all nationalities can come together and dance to their favourite musical groups.

In 1966 the Shields and Friends Room was added for the benefit of Club Members; in this section the wall is decorated with illuminated crests of the Province of Ontario.

Since 1946 the Belgian Hall has had the following President:
Gerrard Vandenbussche; Jules DeGrieck; Medard VanDeWalle, who served the longest time – from 1948 to 1957; Albert Janssens, Andre Vandekerckhove: Josesh Storp and again this year (1967) Medard VanDeWalle.

The present Committe^sic consists of: - President, Medard VanDelalle; Vice-Pres., Gerrard Vandenbussche; Secretary treasurer, Joe Storp; Directors: - Joe Coeman, Bill Handsaeme, Achiel De Groote and Joe De Ruysscher.

Clubs operating within the Belgian Club now include: - Card Club, Archery, Bowling, Dart, Pigeon and Shuffle Board.

Louis Christiaen (From Delhi News-Record, Feb. 23, 1966)
With so much activity at the hall all the time, manager Louis Christian leads a pretty busy life.

Mr. Christiaen was born at Rodney but received his schooling in Belgium. In 1948 he returned to Canada. Before coming to Delhi he lived at Ayimer.

Mr. and Mrs. Christiaen have three children, twins Lawrence and Lorraine who are 15, attend Delhi District Secondary School and Larry 7, attends Delhi Seperate School.

In June 1962, the Belgian Club was honored with a visit from the Belgian Ambassador to Canada, His Excellency Guy Daufresne de la Chevalerie. A banquet in his honor^sic was held in the hall. His Excellency complimented the Belgians of the district for their
high qualities and the fine contribution they were making to the country.

Delhi Belgian Club is considered one of the most active halls in Southwestern Ontario. During the course of a winter's week, it is estimated that between 2,000 and 3,000 people are entertained there.

The Clubs within the hall account for about 300 persons attending the Hall in a week. During the winter, league bowling for about 144 bowlers is in full swing four nights a week. There is open bowling at the hall on Tuesday and Saturday nights, and also Sundays.

There are two dart clubs. On Tuesdays about 14 members enjoy the old Belgian darts. On Friday about 70 participate in English darts.

Thursday nights it is the Card Club that holds forth with a membership of 48. Another old-country sport, Archery, on both Wednesdays and Saturdays, attracts abouts 38 members.

The teen dances held on Saturday and Sunday nights have, met with tremendous success. Youngsters from the district and places more distant in Southwestern Ontario do their dances the modern way to top pop groups at the Belgian Hall. "We try to feature different groups every week", says manager Louis Christiaen. "This helps keep the interest in the dances up, I think. Also on Saturday nights we like like to run two bands to keep the interest in dancing up with no intermissions."

Local police officers are hired to insure that law and order are kept. While, with so many hundreds attending, there is bound to be the odd incident, the fact that charges are laid means the law is being enforced.

Some of the outstanding entertainers from gross Canada and the United States have appeared at the teen dances include Bobby Curtola, Little Caesar and the Consuls from Toronto, Danny Harrison from Sarnia; the Charmaines from Ohio, Duvelles from Hollywood, Delfires from Toronto and the Gerbleys from Liverpool.

The Hall is rented to the various organizations in town and oustide^sic of town for their dances and meetings.

About 25 weddings are catered in a year. Maximum crowd for catering is about 450.

On Saturday nights the staff upstairs numbers about 10 and downstairs staff also numbers 10. A full-time caretaker is employed and one or two part-time helpers, depending on the season.

Thank you to Dave Rusnak Sr. for sharing this.