For 90 years, the Chatham Kinsmen Club has been a part of the community, helping to build dreams and provide a safe place for kids and the community to gather.
From the former Kinsmen Auditorium which was synonymous with community events, to the Kinsmen Arena additions and Kinsmen Peewee Park, the Chatham club has been a big part of this area.
“The Chatham Kinsmen Club was founded in 1928 and we’re the 16th club in the organization,” said executive member Bob Hughes. “The first club goes way, way back to 1920 and that was the Kinsmen Club of Hamilton. It’s an only-Canadian service club; we’re not affiliated with anybody else in the world.”
Elmer the Safety Elephant, an iconic figure in Chatham who has been teaching traffic safety to area children for many years, is still going strong.
“One of our past presidents actually manufactured the old Elmer the Safety Elephant with paper mache and he used to go to all the schools going back to the 1950s,” Hughes reminisced. “He still makes appearances at schools.”
The Chatham Kinsmen Club has been a part of many long-standing projects in the area, and Hughes said that goes along with the club’s motto of serving the community’s greatest needs.
“If someone comes up with a project or needs some money or help for a service project, we’re there to try to help them,” he added.
The celebration dinner Saturday night was a way for the club to acknowledge 90 years of service, and they were joined by local politicians as well as Town Crier George Sims for the milestone event.
