Warren Thompson believes sub-branches across the state are responding to low numbers and older members – or they will be in “due course”. Photo: Elise Searson.
A South Coast RSL sub-branch is preparing to join a nearby sub-branch after seeing its numbers “diminished” over recent decades.
Warren Thompson is one of the Candelo RSL sub-branch’s 10 members and is also the group’s honorary secretary.
The sub-branch meets every second month, where they sort through RSL correspondence and arrange services for Anzac Day and Remembrance Day.
Other activities include an annual luncheon with their families, as well as seeking grants or donations for the Candelo Soldiers’ Memorial.
“There’s the social side of things and the formal side of things,” he said of membership.
But with so few members, he said they needed to consider their future.
“Sub-branches are an important part of any community, but it’s just a sign of the times that when peace prevails, a rural community doesn’t have a great number of people coming out of the Defence Forces.”
In a recent letter to the community, seen by Region, Mr Thompson wrote that there were several options open to the sub-branch.
“The RSL constitution provides for this by way of the establishment of a chapter. That is that we could become a chapter of Bega or Merimbula sub-branches if one of them was prepared to take us on,” he wrote.
“That however would be only an interim solution as the present members of the Candelo sub-branch are in the latter stages of their lives and if there are no ex-service people then the chapter would cease to function.”
He stated that a sub-branch needed 10 members to keep its charter, under the NSW RSL Constitution.
“My aim is to ensure that the Candelo community can commemorate ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day well into the future,” he outlined.
Mr Thompson told Region their small membership had not grown in recent years.
“If anything happens to our senior members … We are going to fall below the limit,” he said.
“There’s no-one in the community who is eligible to join – it’s a small, rural community and not attracting any ex-members of the Defence Forces to the area.”
He said investigations around the Candelo sub-branch becoming a chapter were expected in the coming weeks.
It’s hoped this “next immediate step” will “give us a few years” before the Candelo-based members die, he said.
“That may happen, they may say, ‘We’ll take it on’ … If they take it on, they’ll do the administrative work … That takes a lot of stress and strain off us doing it from here.”
But he said the sub-branch was also looking for people in the wider Candelo community who could help with services on Anzac Day and Remembrance Day.
“The important thing is to set up the commemoration services … [If we] cease to exist sometime into the future, for the commemoration services to continue in Candelo, they’re going to have to be done in the community.”
Mr Thompson expects the changes will likely happen in the coming months.
“It’s got to happen this year, I think,” he said when asked about a timeline.
“Ex-service people don’t go on forever – I’m 81. … It’s a problem that’s hit our sub-branch now, and it’s going to hit other rural sub-branches in due course.”
