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If you are looking for a unique, scenic area to enjoy your vacation, come to Tollygunge Club and make the place your home away from home.
The Club is located in Tollygunge , a southern suburb of Kolkata only 9 Kms from the centre of the town & 20 min. drive from Chowringhee Road.The club grounds cover an area of 100 acres.
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The Tollygunge Club was founded by a Scottish banker, William Dixon Cruickshank to provide facilities for games, sports and pastimes in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, and to afford to its members all the usual privileges, advantages, conveniences and accommodation of a residential and Gymkhana Club. The Clubhouse and surrounding areas carry a rich store of legends, anecdotes and memories and the Club has inherited a tradition of sports from its inception in 1895. Cruickshank partially leased and partially bought some of the property surrounding an 18th century Palladian garden house once used by its owner, Richard Johnson an employee of the East India Company and subsequently by Prince Gholam Mohammed Shah, the 11th son of the Ruler of Mysore, Tipu Sultan. The Club house is now over 225 years old and the Club has just turned 113 years of age.
Prior to the locality being named Tollygunge it was known as Russapugla, a densely forested area abounding in Sundari, Byne and Garjan trees which even today make up the bulk of the Sunderbans, the estuary of the river Ganges. The name Russapugla stems from two unique trees which grew here and also from Pugla Pir (the Sufi saint with remarkable powers) who meditated and died in the neighbourhood. It was renamed Tollygunge after Col. William Tolly was permitted to dredge the adjoining canal connecting the Ganga with the Matla and Vidya rivers and collect toll on all ships travelling from Calcutta to destinations in erstwhile East Bengal (present day Bangladesh).
Over the years Committees have continued with overall improvements to the Club and accelerated the introduction of new facilities. The atmosphere at Tolly is relaxed and peaceful in the midst of nature – it is an oasis in the heart of Kolkata.
It offers facilities for golf, tennis, squash, indoor and outdoor swimming, riding and amateur equestrian sports. Indoors, it has a bridge room, a billiards room, a pro-shop, a cosy reading room & a cyber cafe.
Sports apart, the Club offers members and guests a wide range of entertainment the year round from open-air theatre and cinema to music and dancing. Excellent cuisine is available at its restaurants, lawns, pavilions and wellstocked bars. The club has 66 air-conditioned suites and residential rooms, each with an attached bath, while separate conference and banqueting facilities offer a choice of rooms accommodating between 25 and 100 persons. There is abundant provision for parking. A country club that is truly an oasis of greenery and quietude in the midst of Kolkata’s bustling southern residential district, the hallmark of Tolly – as it is often affectionately called – is its warm, leisurely and friendly atmosphere.
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