The Somero English Club - Our New Home

Nuppulinna

We have an expression in English which says "You spend ages waiting for a bus and then three of them arrive at the same time."  To understand this expression you also need to understand that in England buses do not run as they do in Finland. Timetables exist - but only in theory.  In practice it really can be the case that three buses going to exactly the same destination can all arrive at the same time.

In any event, this expression sums up my search for a new home for the Somero English Club this summer.
When we set the club up in January we started off by renting a room in Kiiruun Tila each week, which is a wonderful old building in the centre of Somero. However, with the demand for new classes I felt that we really needed a place of our own, where we could leave our things each week and everybody felt a sense of belonging.  So with this in mind I started the search for somewhere new in the spring. I looked at all sorts of places.  There are several commercial premises for rent along the main street in Somero (Joensuuntie) and I visited a few of them, but none of them felt right. I considered renting some office space in Nuppulinna (the old Somero school) but it was too small.

Then I found what seemed to be a good option in the Jukola building (where the cinema is) and had decided to go ahead with it, when at the last minute it turned out that there had been a flood leading to water damage, so it wasn't available after all. Following this I tried to rent another of the Jukola rooms, and was certain that this time I had found the right place....until I received a call a day later to tell me that it also needed renovation work so would not be available for several months.

The "before" photo of our new home

I visited houses that were on sale with a view to renting, I visited all the available office space I could find in Somero and even considered putting in a bid for a cottage on the outskirts of town. I searched everywhere! But nothing was right. And then, all of a sudden, and as so often the case, everything just fell into place, and three buses arrived at the same time. This week on Thursday I suddenly got three separate offers and all of a sudden I actually had a choice of venue!

The best of the three came during a visit to the bakery. I was buying some doughnuts for our neighbours when I bumped into Tanja Alenius who knew I had been looking for somewhere. She had heard on the grapevine that the old gym in Nuppulinna was going to become vacant as the current residents were moving somewhere bigger. I'd already seem this place earlier in the summer and had loved it straightaway, although of course it wasn't free at the time. The next morning I made enquiries at the Town Hall and suddenly it all clicked into place. By lunchtime I had the keys! Hurray.

Nuppulinna was built in the 1920s and served as Somero's school until it moved to new premises. Nowadays it is used by several small businesses, but it retains its original charm and still has many of the features from its time as a school. Our new home is in the room which used to be the school gymnasium, and I can't think of a more appropriate place to learn languages and do other activities.

We'll have an official opening in a few weeks time, but for now I invite you all to join me at the Somero English Club (autumn season) starting again this TUESDAY 4th SEPTEMBER.

Same times as before, so 18.30 for the first group and 19.30 for the second. New and old members are welcome, and I have lots of new stuff planned for the autumn which I will tell you about when we meet.

I look forward to seeing you there soon!