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SOME of Bahrain’s oldest expat clubs and associations are on the verge of shutting down due to the economic impact of Covid-19, it has emerged.
They are now appealing for a financial lifeline from the government to continue operating.
The associations have held no events since March due to the pandemic restrictions, are failing to find sponsors and were also dealing with a decline in memberships as people have lost their jobs in the past few months.
Among those taking the hit is the 66-year-old Young Goans Club (YGC) which was set up in 1953.
Over the years, the club has hosted village feasts and festivals and cultural, musical and sporting activities while recently providing food parcels to low-income workers.
In a letter to members, club president Noel Fernandes said the club had received a notice from the landlord to either vacate the premises in Manama or pay an increased rent.
“The executive committee, after several deliberations, has concluded that it would not be feasible to continue in the current premises, on account of the prevailing situation brought about by Covid-19 virus,” he said in the letter, a copy of which has been obtained by the GDN.
“The reason to vacate primarily is because there is no foreseeable income in the remaining two quarters of 2020.
“The first half has already passed with the same situation.”
Mr Fernandes said the notice is effective from Wednesday, adding a search was underway for a suitable, alternative location.
Meanwhile, the Indian Club, which has more than 1,000 members and was set up in 1915, is also facing a hard time.
Club president Stalin Joseph said they were finding it tough to pay the monthly rent as well as staff salaries.
“Our monthly rent is BD18,000 and there has been no concession from the landlord despite informing them about our situation,” he told the GDN.
“Besides, there are no activities or sponsors, making it difficult to cover even the fixed operational costs.
“Many members have lost their jobs and cannot renew their club memberships.”
He said the three-month waiver on utility bills did not help the club because it was shut down with no activities.
“We cannot even open our restaurant section or provide sports coaching that could bring in some revenue.
“Expat clubs need government aid or else they will not survive,” he said.
Similar views were echoed by Kerala Catholic Association (KCA) president Sevi Mathunny who said they had more than 400 members and were planning to celebrate their 50th anniversary this year.
“The market is cold because there is no business and that has also affected our activities,” he said.
“It is becoming difficult to pay the monthly rent along with the salaries of our caretakers.
“We did our part by distributing safety kits to our members in the past few months and other activities, but the way forward without any financial grant is difficult.”
Another expat social-cultural association, the Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam, said it was doing whatever it could to weather the pandemic storm.
Flights
The BKS was established in 1947 and attracts a footfall of more than 10,000 members and non-members regularly to the club premises in Segaiya.
“We continue to arrange chartered flights for Indians who would like to return to their homeland; let us see how far we can go under this situation, where there are no revenues coming in and operational costs still need to be paid,” said president P V Radhakrishna Pillai.
The British Club, founded in 1935, shut its doors yesterday.
Closed
The club, which had more than 2,000 members, had been closed for normal business as part of the kingdom’s strategy to tackle the spread of Covid-19 and has been unable to generate any income for nearly four months.
The GDN last Thursday quoted club manager Dan McRae as saying that the cash flow had been critical making it difficult to survive the situation.
He added that the entire staff and management team had been asked to proceed on indefinite unpaid leave until the club can reopen or have to permanently close.
All staff members had been on 50 per cent pay since April 1 and expired contracts were not renewed.
sandy@gdn.com.bh
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