Tuesday 8th May 2018
SA SOCIETAT RECOVERS THE PLATE IN MEMORY OF ITS BEGINNERS
The plate on the exterior façade of Sa Societat building dedicated 'To the memory of men and women who, with their work and will, made possible the construction of this building, a symbol of solidarity, and that will always be theirs. ' was put back on Friday 4th May.
Subsequently, the members of Sa Societat governing board were presented, in an emotional act in which the people who made possible the existence of this emblematic building in Calvià were remembered.
Chronology
The Calvià Workers' Union and La Capdellanense, both known as Sa Societat., were created in 1908 within the labour movement that was spread throughout Europe between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
From 1929 to 1934 the Workers' Union of Calvià builds a theatre-room with a café, which is the building that, still today, is called Sa Societat.
From 1936 to 1939 the outbreak of the Civil War interrupts the associative and worker movement. The premises of La Capdellanense and the Workers' Union of Calvià are confiscated and transferred to a Phalangist association.
1939 - 1995 For a while, the café remains open, but only shows are held in the theatre on very rare occasions. Even so, and according to the oral witnesses, in the following decades the bar remained open and some amateur theatrical performances were organised in the theatre, the annual carnival party and sometimes a rehearsal or a music concert. The last decades of the twentieth century, the building remained completely closed and with evidence of severe deterioration.
1995 - 2000 The Town Hall faced a comprehensive reform through an agreement signed with the general directorate of Housing, Architecture and Urban Planning of the state government. The completed works were inaugurated in 2000.
October 2001 The group of independent amateur actors of the municipality of Calvià performs, on 5th and 6th October, the theatre play 'Això no pot morir, s'ha d'obrir' (This can not die, it has to be opened), by Bartomeu Ignasi Oliver y Vidal.
2000-2015- At present, Sa Societat is part of the Accumulated Trade Union Heritage, an organisation managed by the Ministry of Labour, and the building is assigned to the Town Hall, free of charge and without temporal limitation. Regular cultural activities are held. The bar, traditional element of Sa Societat, and which was put back for a few years, was replaced by a space with drink dispensing machines and computers for the neighbours use; the room upstairs was dedicated to youth games, with an agreement signed in 2015 between the Town Hall and the Asociación de amigos y de vecinos de Calvià vila (Association of Calvià village friends and neighbours)
January 2016 The plenary session on 22nd Jan. agreed to create an Advisory Commission to carry out the management of the socio-cultural activity. The Commission is composed of three representatives of the heirs, a representative of the Memòria Històrica de Mallorca Association, a representative of the Obra Cultural Balear and a representative of the Asociación de amigos y de vecinos de Calvià vila.
Likewise, a person delegated by the mayor's office and a municipal official are included.
In 2017, the bar is set up again and the upper floor is dedicated to cultural workshops. The Plenary session held on 29th June approved the creation of the decentralised body Sa Societat and the statutes that regulate it, and in the Plenary session held on 26th October, the appointment of Sa Societat governing board members was approved.
The black and white photograph is part of the book Itinerari cultural per la vila de Calvià, by Gaspar Valero, from the Trafalempa collection.