Golden days for 50th anniversary of Wolverhampton's Emerald Club
One of the Black Country’s oldest Irish clubs is celebrating a major milestone during the festive period.
The Emerald Club, in Wolverhampton, is looking ahead to 50 years since it first opened its doors.
The group, on Cross Street North, just outside the city centre, first opened in early December 1968 for Irish people who moved to the Black Country looking for work.
As times changed the club has adapted and now has a number of members from second, third and fourth generation Irish families, as well as those without an Irish connection at all.
The club hosts fans to watch Wolves and Celtic games regularly as well as welcoming pensioners during Thursday afternoons and a number of Irish-themed events.
On December 8, the club is hosting a party with live music to celebrate its milestone.
Assistant secretary Phil Kelly, aged 54, has been on the club’s committee for around four years and is a second generation Irishman, after his parents moved from Dublin in the 1950s.
He said: “It was the typical thing where people moved over from Ireland for work and it was a Irish only club, but now its developed to welcome everyone.
“We have stuff on most nights, Wolves fans use it a lot, but are technically a members only club but it’s not strict, we don’t have someone on the door checking for membership.
“The club is for anyone and everyone and at a time when you see a lot of clubs going, we’re thriving.
“We do bring in profit but most of it is re-invested into the club, we recently got new air conditioning and ceilings and did some painting.
“We’re always trying to be inclusive and involve everyone with the Irish community still there. We have a great community aspect in the area and have a number of events in such as pensioner bingo on Thursday afternoon, giving them a place to go.
“We still have first generation Irish people on the committee but now it’s more of a mix.
“Throughout everything we still have traditional Irish things held here, such as Irish dancing, people love it.
“We had some old committee members who were stuck in their ways a bit, from a different generation, and they weren’t interesting in improving the club, such as the need for new air conditioning.
“Now we have some younger committee members everything is working well, we have plans to get new tables and chairs soon and maybe even a new bar next year. It’s brilliant that the club has been around for so long and we’re thriving.
“The costs for things like BT and Sky are a fortune but it’s worth us doing, it’s great for us to celebrate this milestone, especially with so many other clubs shutting down.”
