Sa Societat celebrates its 111th Anniversary.

 

 Monday 14th January 2019

'SA SOCIETAT DE CALVIÀ' CELEBRATES ITS 111th ANNIVERSARY

Various activities have been organised to explain the history of the building and spread the memory of the people who promoted this social entity

(Click on the picture)

Sa Societat, which was founded in 1908 as the Sociedad de Socorros Mutuos Unión Obrera de Calvià (Friendly Society Workers' Union of Calvià), to promote in the village of Calvià, an instruction, charity and leisure society as well as to promote commercial development, this year celebrates its 111th anniversary, so from Sa Societat Governing Council, various groups of the village and the Calvià Town Hall have organised a series of events to remember the history and spread the memory of the people who promoted this social entity.

The activities began last Friday with the presentation of the book 'La casa del poble i el moviment obrer a Mallorca (1900-1936)', by David Ginard i Fèron and Tomeu Garí Salleres, edited by Lleonard Muntaner, editor.
The celebration events will continue on Friday 15th February, with the conference 'History of Sa Societat. 111 years of the history of Calvià', by Manel Suàrez, and in March and April there will be a commemorative exhibition and three pieces of microtheatre to make known the history of the building.

Sa Societat. Chronology of 111 years of history


1908 Within the labour movement that spread throughout Europe between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the Workers' Union of Calvià and La Capdellanense, both known as Sa Societat, was created.

1929 - 1934 The Workers' Union of Calvià builds a theatre-room with a café, which is the building that, still today, is called Sa Societat.

1936 - 1939 The outbreak of the Civil War interrupts the associative and labour movement. The premises of La Capdellanense and the Workers' Union of Calvià are confiscated and transferred to a Falangist association.

1939 - 1995 For a while, the café continues open, but in the theatre only shows are held on very rare occasions. Even so, and according to the oral witnesses, in the following decades the bar continued open and in the theatre some amateur theatrical performances, the annual carnival party and sometimes some rehearsal and music concert, were organised. The last decades of the twentieth century, the building remains completely closed and with evidence of severe deterioration.

1995 - 2000 The Town Hall approached a comprehensive refurbishment 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 collective of independent amateur actors of the municipality of Calvià performs, on 5th and 6th, the theatre play 'Això no pot morir, s'ha d'obrir' (This can not die, it has to be opened), by Bartomeu Ignasi Oliver and Vidal.

2000-2015- Sa Societat is currently part of the Accumulated Trade Union Patrimony, 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, classic element of Sa Societat, and which was recovered for a few years, was replaced by a space with machines for beverages and computers for the neighbours' use; the upper room 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.

January 2016 The Plenary held on 22nd agreed to create an Advisory Committee to carry out the management of the socio-cultural activity. The Committee is composed of three representatives of the heirs, a representative of the Association of Memòria Històrica de Mallorca, 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 civil servant are integrated.

2017 The bar opens 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 the members of Sa Societat Governing Council was approved.