Bermuda’s Azorean community has a new champion: Friends of the House of the Azores of Bermuda.

The charity has grown to nearly 90 members since it formed in March, becoming a regular fixture at Harbour Nights, hosting Azorean officials and garnering widespread support from the local community.

“We’ve been very lucky — it has been exciting to be so welcomed by the Azorean community in Bermuda,” said Andrea Moniz-DeSouza, president of the group.

Its mandate is to promote and preserve Azorean culture in Bermuda, celebrate its history, and contribute to the Island by helping other charities.

Ms Moniz-DeSouza, who is also the Honorary Consul for Portugal, said the group’s ultimate goal was to have its own building.

“But we’re not rushing,” she added. “We are continuing to do good work, sharing our culture and supporting other organisations.”

The Azorean presence in Bermuda goes back 165 years, when workers from the chain of Atlantic islands arrived from Madeira on a vessel called the Golden Rule.

The immigrants revived Bermuda’s agriculture industry, and many settled here, bringing relatives and buying property.

Although they became an intrinsic part of life on the Island, they were also victims of discrimination.

“Portuguese and Azorean people are very proud of their culture, although many years ago there was a stigma to being Portuguese,” Ms Moniz-DeSouza said. “People changed their names and didn’t teach their children Portuguese because they didn’t want them to be discriminated against.

“We’ve come a long way. I remember growing up in the 1990s there was a movement to be proud of being Portuguese.”

One of the group’s main goals is to promote the language: it has donated $1,500 to the local Portuguese School.

“We also recognise there are many nationalities in Bermuda, and we have made it part of our mandate to help other charities on the Island,” Ms Moniz-DeSouza added.

$1,000 has been donated to the school breakfast programme of the Coalition for the Protection of Children, and another $1,000 to Age Concern.

Its first public appearance was a float in the Bermuda Day Parade; at present it is taking part in the “October Lights” phase of the weekly Harbour Nights, and it has been accepted into the America’s Cup events later this month.

A carnival dinner with Portuguese entertainers is planned for early next year.

The Houses of the Azores were begun in Portugal and have spread throughout the world: their world council met last week in Montreal, which Ms Moniz-DeSouza attended.

The local branch’s title in Portuguese is Amigos da Casa dos Açores da Bermuda.