Planters' Clubs - a place to relax
In previous blog posts, I have explained that working on a tea plantation is tough hard work.
The locations can be remote, at high altitudes and hard to access. It can also be a quite lonely and solitary existence, but there are some pleasures, and one of those is the community spirit that is generated by the Planters’ clubs.
It is a home away from home where the tea community meet, socialise and relax. Each district and planting region have their own “clubs” for the Planters of that district, and they are used as a place to reunite friendships, catch up on local gossip, share ideas, retell old planting tales, get advice, and perhaps have the odd drop of tea and other stronger beverages!
At the Maskeliya Club with Uncle Suren at a Wednesday Club Tea
One of the larger regional club is the Dickoya & Maskeliya Cricket Club (DMCC) which is better known as the Darrawella club as it is found on the Darrawella tea estate. The DMCC is host to Cricket and Rugby and depending on the season weekends will be spent with families watching Planters taking to the field or pitch.
Planting tea is definitely hard, but the Planters’ clubs are a haven where the batteries can be recharged, and community spirit developed and they are a critical part of the tea industry in Sri Lanka.
