You may have heard that there is some work going on at the Clubhouse. Let me tell you all about it.

In August 2009 major water damage was discovered. The Crèche, the DVD room and the storage rooms downstairs were a real mess. The stairs were also damaged.

At first, it was thought that there was a problem with the kitchen pipes. But upon investigating the foundation of the house, the plumbers found they had a lot to do. The result was more than four months of work both inside and outside of the Clubhouse.

Now, it’s nearly over. There are new pipes everywhere and the water damage has been repaired and the Clubhouse has been redecorated.

Most everything on the ground floor was painted again. The cloakroom is now cozy and comfortable. The Meeting Room has a new ceiling and nice new paintings.

Downstairs, the Crèche was entirely redecorated, complete with a wall mural designed by our own Club member, and artist, Kathy Pembroke. Children now have a new big playing area, their own little bedroom with two new beds, and a small television room. And soon, they will even have their own garden! It will be a small, safe and enclosed space adjacent to the main playroom.

The DVD room sustained serious water damage, but now it has lovely new pink walls. All of the storage rooms downstairs (especially the Gift shop storage) were also re-painted.

In the garden, we unfortunately had to cut down seven trees and dig up the terrace. This part of the work isn’t finished yet. A big tank is being put outside, under the terrace. This tank will get and store rain water. The water will then be used for the garden, the toilet and the washing machine. The Club made this choice to go green!

The total cost for all of this work has come to about 116,000 euros. The Club’s insurance will pay about 25 percent of this cost. While that is a lot of money, the Executive Committee (and now the Board) decided it was worth keeping the Clubhouse in a good state of repair.

So now, come and see how nice the Clubhouse is! And a great big thank-you to all of those who helped with this enormous task!

And now, Janine will tell you about the exciting new reception desk…

A "New Welcome" to the American Women's Club

The next time you walk into the Clubhouse, you may notice a slight difference. The table with the white tablecloth that used to sit just inside the front door has been replaced with a custom-made reception desk!

On February 11, Cedric Bois of Waterloo installed the new desk he had constructed based on the design plans drawn up by one of our Club members Martina MacGreevy (Sablon Interiors), who had been working hard for almost three months to combine all the requirements put forward by our Reception furniture project team.

Why did we need a new desk?

At Reception, we were in need of a more spacious and functional working area, due in part to some new tools such as a cash register and a PC. Last September, the Board commissioned a team of Reception volunteers and other interested Club members to work out a functional solution, which would also compliment the interior of our period Clubhouse.

What goes into getting a new reception desk for our Clubhouse?

It was not easy to fit a reasonably sized desk into the narrow corner behind the front door. We explored a vast number of options ranging from IKEA and TROC to various types of furniture stores and large office equipment suppliers. However, we soon realized a simple, straight desk would be either too small to accommodate all our equipment or it would interfere with the front door, or else ‘squeeze’ our charming Reception volunteers against the back wall. But we found a solution and you can see it for yourself in our entrance hall!

Our team put in time, effort and no end of creativity and team spirit during these last few months to find a solution that will meet the needs of the Club for many years to come. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our team: Hallie Cohn, Sophie d’Assche, Shaun Edge, Petra Gericke (Reception Co-Chair), Mary Heslin, Beth Koestal, Martina MacGreevy, Sarah McKechnie (former Reception Co-Chair), Vicky Revill, Janine Shipton (Reception Co-Chair) and Shirley Smith. Our special thanks go to Pam Showalter and Sharon Kelly O’Brien as well as the other members of the Board for their continued support. We are also very grateful to our marvelous team of Reception volunteers who kept on showing smiling faces although their working conditions were not always ideal. Last but not least, we would like to say thank you to Manny, who was always there for us when it came to measuring, moving and shifting things around and advising us on technical issues.

Who is behind our new desk? Will it be you?

Now that we have a new exciting workspace, we are recruiting new volunteers to join our Reception team!

Do you like talking to other Club members?

Do you like to be where things are happening?

Do you like to know what is going on at the Club?

There are many more good reasons to volunteer at Reception. Just come and try it! We are waiting for you!

For more information on becoming a Reception volunteer, just ask Petra or Janine at Reception or send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We are happy to tell you more!