Novorossiysk Interclub celebrates its birthday

13 years ago, the International Seafarers Center located on embankment of Admiral Serebryakov, 15, opened its doors to seafarers of all nationalities. The first guest of the center on August 20, 2008 was a sailor from Ghana, who came here to drink tea in honor of his fiftieth birthday.

«At that time, we only had billiards. Today we offer seafarers computers with Internet access, wi-fi, table football, a recreation room, a meeting room with a chaplain, gym machines, a bar, a transfer from the port by our minibus, excursions. And, of course, our billiards is still at the service of sailors. Every year we try to expand the program, add new services so that the seafarers feel at home here», - recalls the club's administrator Vitold Yatskevich.

More than 3,000 crewmembers visit the center annually. Many people come here more than once. The countries of origin of visitors can be judged by the huge world map on the wall – the interclub is growing and expanding around it. Photos of guests from the respective countries are attached near each continent. When seafarers come here for the second time, they look for their photo with interest and leave a fresh picture as a souvenir.

Last year, due to the pandemic, the club had to rebuild its work. So the idea was born to create virtual excursions for the crews of ships entering the port of Novorossiysk.

«Realizing how difficult it is for seafarers to do hard work without communicating with the outside world, we decided to support them and started creating presentations in electronic form on a variety of topics. Anyone can receive them by e - mail, just send them to seamencentre@rambler.ru the topic of interest», - explains V. Yatskevich.

Today, the collection of video materials consists of videos about historical people (Peter I, A. S. Pushkin, D. I. Mendeleev), reviews of Russian cities, including Novorossiysk, presentations of the best museums in the world. The archive is constantly updated taking into account the wishes of the seafarers themselves.

The Seafarers Union of Russia reminds that the office of the ITF inspector in Novorossiysk, Olga Ananina, is located in the same building with the interclub so in case of any problems you can contact her for assistance.