Century Club is holding its centenary celebrations, culminating on January 31, to mark 100 years of an institution started by M Visvesvaraya. A four-day event, featuring cultural programmes, has been planned to commemorate the prestigious occasion.

“The concept of the club was to help people improve their health and indulge in reading as well. Cultural activities for leisure were also planned and the idea was that the entire community should come together and improve their social network. The same vision has been carried forward till today. There are a lot of sports facilities available at the club including badminton, tennis, billiards and a swimming pool,” said vice-president of the club, S P Rakshit, at the announcement of the event.

He added saying that the well-stocked library of the club has Kannada books, lectures conducted by eminent people and now there will be a digital computerisation of old records.

“There are around 6,200 members on the club’s roll belonging to a variety of professions. We are now looking forward to celebrating this momentous occasion in full swing,” said president Shoba Neelakantappa, the first lady president of the club since its inception.

On January 28, a fashion show depicting royal dynasty will be organised in the evening with Air Marshal S R K Nair as the chief guest. The guest of honour on the occasion will be Air Marshal S K Ghotia. On January 29, there will be a ‘Pancha Veena’ recital by Vijayalakshmi and her team from Shivamogga. This will be followed by ‘Harmony of Indian dances’ by Maya Creations.

On January 30, 100 saplings will be planted in the club and on the final day, January 31, the celebrations will conclude with a musical concert.

The chief guest will be Dr Subhash C Khuntia, chief secretary, government of Karnataka.

All the affiliated club members are invited to the programmes on all the four days. “The members of the club have contributed towards the event and we have also created a corpus fund which will be used to provide scholarships to students of the school in Muddenahalli by Sir Visvesvaraya,” said secretary of the club, M R Krishna Murthy.

The other executive committee members of Century Club, including treasurer Prof G R Nataraj, were also present during the announcement.