The Sociable Club development manager Angie Mills (left)
and founder Deborah Coburn, with Crowne Plaza Queenstown
food and beverage manager Vinnie Patena, will launch the
new-look club at the hotel on Friday. Photo by James Beech.
The art of conversation and making new friends while
having fun are the ideas behind the launch of a Queenstown
business.
More than 80 members and invited guests were expected at the
red carpet cocktail launch party of the Sociable Club, at
Threesixty Restaurant and Bar at the Crowne Plaza Queenstown,
on Friday night.
Interested parties were urged to contact the club by the end
of Wednesday.
Queenstown businesswoman Deborah Coburn founded the Liaison
Social Club in January 2009, to connect single residents aged
30 years and over, and socialise through events and
activities.
However, Mrs Coburn and new development manager Angie Mills
decided last summer to rebrand it as the Sociable Club and
open the membership criteria, after many residents with
partners wanted to join.
Ms Mills was a client at Mrs Coburn's Collective Hair Salon
and wanted to join Liaison.
Ms Mills suggested everyone over 30 could be invited to join
the club, as she wanted a network of friends with whom to
take part in activities in which her partner was not
interested.
"It's about getting people together from all backgrounds,"
Mrs Coburn said.
"Straight away they make friends and feel settled and gain
local knowledge.
Members sometimes meet outside the club and a lot of
networking goes on in business, as well as social."
The membership change saw the Queenstown club increase its
membership from 50 in December to 80 last week, with two to
five new people a week inquiring from around the Southern
Lakes and Central Otago.
Members' agea ranged between 30 and 60 and they included
business owners and operators, medics, plumbers and bus
drivers, who were a mixture of long-term residents and recent
arrivals.
Members pay $150 for an initial six-month contract and
receive a membership card, which entitles them to discounts
around town.
They are emailed regular updates and choose events to
participate in.
Activities included regular dinner clubs, drinks evenings,
4WD safaris, tramps and cycling trips, fundraising events and
more.
Members were encouraged to suggest ideas.
Mrs Coburn and Ms Mills said the Sociable Club backed
mutually supportive Wakatipu businesses.
A regular event was a three-course meal, for 16 to 20
members, at a different restaurant every month. www.thesociableclub.co.nz
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