Cambridge Lyceum held a farewell gathering recently to mark the club’s closure after 84 years.
Changing societal norms and dwindling membership led to the sale of the club’s home premises in Dick Street in late 2021. From then on, Lyceum House has been leasing the space for its club meetings.
Pictured together at the Cambridge Lyceum’s last official meeting are, from left, life member and past president Cynthia Graham, president Barbara Fisher, and life member and past president Dianne Murdoch.
Club president Barbara Fisher told those at the gathering formal meetings had now ended, but members who still wanted to meet there socially could do so until the end of the year.
Giving a potted history of the club she said it had started in 1940 when a small group of country women were looking for a meeting place amid a wartime climate when petrol was severely rationed.
Cambridge Lyceum president Barbara Fisher talks to past and present members at the last official meeting.
“They met to form the nucleus of this club, first in rented rooms in Victoria Street. By the early ’50s it had become apparent that larger premises were required, and this led to the purchase of a house and surgery at 20 Dick Street, offered by a Mr White, to be used as clubrooms,” she said. “Members first met in their newly renovated premises on December 10, 1953.”
At that time, membership stood at 250 with a waiting list. At its peak, when the club was recognised as a place of liberal learning, there were over 300 members, a paid housekeeper, lunches and morning teas.
Interest groups included bridge, travel, gardening, chess, literary, mahjong, croquet and wine appreciation.
Long-standing Cambridge Lyceum members at the special meeting, Margaret Dodd, left, and Melba Morrow.
Judy McColl plays the piano at Cambridge Lyceum.
