The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-02-26

tne annual meetAuB HStu m the library of the club on Cottage Place. J. Gregory Lynch was elected to the board of directors, ailling the vacancy caused by the resignation of Julius B. Smith.
 Officers include: President, Frederick s. Chase, vice president, Mark L. Sperry; treasurer, Robert H. Leach; secretary, William J. Larkin Jr., manager and director, Nicholas Combellack. The board of directors includes: F. S. Chase, Truman s. Lewis, J. Gregory Lynch, Dr J. S. Dye, William J. Larkin, Jr., Robert H. Leach and Mark l.. Sperry.
 Nicholas Combellack, elected managing director for the 43rd time, read his annual report, which was in part as follows:
 Annual Report-1034
 In offering a report for the year 1884, wonder what the reactions of other executives are in present. ing their reports. Have we become so conscious of financial stress over the past several years that our whole thoughts and minds are oc- cupied with balancing of budgets or curtailing activities or do We open our minds to the fact that we all have a definite job to do and are devoting our full energies 10 that one purpose? To me 1t all narrows down to working and planning for a life of happiness and interest to every one and one in which we all play a part. our field is the youth of our commit nifty and our organization is the Boys Club. And am proud to state that indications point to very exceptional year from plans completed and placed in operation in the year 1884. We have spent money to obtain the necessary background and layout for our plan of work-money spent In wear of none too rosy returns, but at a time when jobs and employ ment meant a great deal to all. We have helped to create a New De@! for our members and expect real and increased returns from our spending.
 Alterations Made
 For years we have seen the ne- cessity of larger social quarters for the boys. Plans were made for raging thesannex and replacing it with a new building-the most elaborate of our plans. But the amazing financial collapse doomed our plans at that time and others had to be substituted. At the last meeting of our board of directors, I outlined my proposal to use our whole lower floor for our social and recreational quarters and plac- ing the dining room on the secona floor on the same level with the dormitory and rooms. This meant tearing down the staircase in the front of the building thus open- ing up the whole front first floor to the boys for a lobby. At the rear of this room two offices were made-one our regular business office and a private office TOT the managing director. This allows us to have direct supervision over all of the activities in the club ana givc9 us daily contact With tne boys. In our estimation this lay out places us in the best position for our work since the building has been erected. We can see rooDl for Improvement, but we are work ing with an old building-built Tor the period in which 1t was erected and not for modern times. Even so. we have had many favorable comments on the change and 1t all points to a bigger and better fu- ture.
 have spoken of the cost of this change, but not of how we oD- tained the money to do the work. We were very fortunate in the better years of our work to nave accumulated reserves for such periods or for major repairs ana changes. This we have carried Tn a. bank account and used the h. terest for curernt operating ex- penses. We saw that this was the time to use this money, both for our own good and to provide work in the community. It was neces. sary to spend in the neighpornood of $4,00O for the work even with the generous help of Mutual A!d employees provided by MT Harris. They made 1t possible to do the work. I feel that without their help we would have had 10 expen9 a great deal more. This would have meant only one thing-that 1ve would not have started the re- modelling. And we can already sec the advantages gained from these changes. Our membership has 1n- creased by several hundred over a year ago and our club Is given great deal more use and in greater numbers. I am quite proud to know that my judgment has proven sound in this case and that the improvement has been well worth the expenditure.
 Gymnasium
 Gymnasium activities have ai- ways been extremely popular vita the boys. In fact the majority ma their interest and enjoyment Tn connection with some form or gymnasium activity. It IS mucn less a problem to get them on the floor than it is to keep them On at a time that is not scheduled for them. With this problem Of con- troI in mind. we installed a system whereby all who use the sym nasium or locker rooms must apply at the main desk. A new en- trance to the locker room was opened and new iron grills were installed to partition off the area confined to the locker room. This created a one-way system into the gymnasium by way of the locker room. Its value has been shown in several ways. It creates a contact of each person with the office and keeps us appraised of the numbers using our gym, It also controls the gym use by holding those back who are not scheduled to make use of 1t.
 The gym is given all kinds of use. It is our entertainment hall for Christmas parties, Halloween socials and such; it is our dance hall, our basketball court and our hall for gymnasium work. One can see the amount of activity given 1t. It is in use from morn ing until night. Midget and junior squad groups, intermediate basket ball and vclley ball leagues, senior basketball and volley ball leagues, varsity games and dances, group club teams-all are getting periods ] for their separate activities. It 's