Civiettes Club

The Civiettes Club of Birmingham is a women's civic group which supports United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Birmingham.

The club was founded in 1938 by Mrs Rodderick Beddow and Mrs Buford Menefee as a social group with civic and cultural aims. After some time it languished, but was reorganized on March 5, 1946 by Eleanor Bridges and began hosting a series of tea dances as fundraisers. In 1950 the group adopted "Spastic Aid" (help for cerebral palsy sufferers) as their primary project. The group hosted large annual dances which moved to Eastwood Mall in 1962 as the "Mall Ball". During the 1960s the events were headlined by the likes of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Pete Fountain, and Skitch Henderson.

In 1972 a large portion of the funds raised and held in trust by the group were used to begin construction of the John W. Simpson Cerebral Palsy Center. In 1975 the Civiettes also began sponsoring an annual tennis tournament, the Dolls Double Classic. In 2009 the group added an 8K running race to their slate of annual events.

External links

• Civiettes of Birmingham on Facebook.com