"Man can not live from bread alone. Finland is the promised land of clubs. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." These are worn, but true sayings. For a balanced life, in addition to work, recreation is needed.

Leisure activities in the Jämsä river valley started picking up at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, first among the factory office workers and later also among the factory worker's own clubs.


One of the most popular leisure time activities has always been sports. Lively club activity and competitive sports backed by the factory raised some of the river valley sportsmen to the top of the sporting world in the 1950s and 60s. Currently, the variety of sports clubs is huge and the number of members is larger than ever before. The sports section contains short introductions into the histories of sports clubs.    
                                                 
Theatre clubs have been popular for decades and their performances have drawn large crowds. The theatre section describes the background of theatre clubs and how today's J+J theatre was formed.

Later, more short introductions and histories of clubs will be collected in this section.