Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
Croydon Foreign Language Club
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Description area
Dates of existence
1888 - 1961
History
Croydon Foreign Language Club was founded in October 1920 on the initiative of John Marshall Silver (c1888-1961), a teacher. It was modelled on the Foreign Circle at Bradford, with which he was familiar.
The aim of the Club was always to provide an environment in which foreign languages could be heard and practised. (Tuition was never offered, on the grounds that this was better provided by other types of organisation.) The central activity was always a programme of lectures in foreign languages, normally engaging native speakers. There were also, at different periods, plays, excursions, and social events. The Club always took pride in the fact that (unlike other language clubs) it was not tied to a single language, but catered for several. These included French and German invariably; Italian and Spanish less regularly; and Russian sporadically from the mid-1960s onwards. It usually met in Croydon Library. The Clubs activities were suspended from 1940 to 1945 but resumed after the war. The Club was wound up in 1997.
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Authority record identifier
CB167