Cairnhill Community Club opened in March 2016 after renovations. Outside are a bell on the street corner plus a sculpture in the front.
The entrance lobby is open sided so rather warm and humid but you can quickly step into the air conditioned office to ask for confirmation where your meeting is held.
Meeting rooms are of various sizes and are well supplied with storage closets so that clubs which meet regularly can leave their club paraphernalia in a large locked wheeled suitcase.
The community clubs supply bottled water in packs for the groups attending. The rule is no food or drink in the meeting rooms but you can set up your food snacks for midway through a meeting on a table in the lobby. No alcohol allowed.
The latest design for toilets is to have the ladies and gents near each other, with three washbasins shared in between the ladies and gents. I suppose this saves space.
The meeting room I saw, used by two different groups on different days of the week, had four controllers on the wall which changed the temperature. We arrived to find the room too hot, but the temperature controls were soon adjusted.
Who Meets At The Club?
You can find an online list of Singapore's community clubs. This club is my favourite because nine Toastmasters clubs meet here (English, Chinese, Malay, French and more) as well as all sort of community activities such as learning to give CPR to revive somebody.
Joining A Club
You can join the club for a modest fee as a child, student, adult or senior citizen at assorted prices for a year or longer and get discounts on courses and get a card which can double as a train card and a discount card in shops. I joined when they were giving a free bag with membership. This happens every so often.
Location, Location!
The other good thing about the club is it is very near Newton MRT Station. From there you are near Orchard Road by MRT, or buses to Orchard Road or all over the island of Singapore. The club's own website has a link to Google maps so you can find it from wherever you are, walking, driving, or by public transport.
Food and Magazines
If you arrive early, there's a snack bar downstairs in air con behind doors, and magazines on racks upstairs if you prefer the open air.
If you live in Singapore or are an expat who is a permanent resident, I suggest you join your local community club or one new where you work. Join a Toastmasters club to make new friends as well as improving your language skills and presentation skills and confidence. You can usually visit a Toastmasters club for free unless it's a special event or special course or special party. Across the road at the Sheraton Towers Hotel, there's a Toastmasters club which charges about twenty Singaporean dollars, which includes a buffet at the start at 6 pm registration, first three Monday of the month except when dates change because of Christmas or other holidays. Phone first.
If you want to show a foreigner, tourist or on business, what life in Singapore is like, you could take them into this club, ideally when a meeting such as Toastmasters takes place.
https://www.facebook.com/CairnhillCommunityClub/
http://www.visitsingapore.com/en/
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
