"The club was formed because there was a lot of tension in the world at the time and it was to promote friendship and understanding," life member and former president Lesley Prescott said at the 75th anniversary in the Savoy yesterday.
"A lot of people didn't get to travel in the 1930s, but they still wanted to learn about other cultures and peoples."
Mrs Prescott was born the same year the Dunedin club was formed and joined the year after she was married, in 1969.
"There was a 12-year waiting list in those days. I applied in 1957 and was accepted in 1969. Hats and gloves were the order of the day, back then."
To the amusement of the 60 members present, Mrs Prescott was heralded on stage for her speech with a piano introduction by her husband, Dunedin jazz musician Calder Prescott.
"It was always a very popular club and membership was very competitive, until the last few years when other things started taking over," she said.
"We had about 600 members in our heyday and we've still got more than 100 members."
Dunedin was the only travel club in New Zealand which still met fortnightly, Mrs Prescott said.
