President’s Report 2022

Dear Members and Families.

Thankfully, we have survived the onslaught of Covid over the past two years. However, we are still counting the cost to our personal lives as well as the resulting impact on local Community Clubs and Businesses.

Your RSL Sub-Branch was certainly not immune to this onslaught, with the most serious impacts being the loss of Membership Numbers and the loss of vital Income. The income matter was somewhat addressed by our very hardworking Committee Members, and this subject will be covered later in the report. Unfortunately, we have not recovered our loss of Membership numbers, plus we experienced insufficient Volunteers numbers to cover major events such as Anzac Day and Remembrance Day, and our popular Dinner and Band nights.

Remembrance Day 2021:

Severe weather caused a late change in Ceremony location decision from the Soldiers Memorial Gardens to inside of our Club Rooms. This decision was made approximately 1.5 hours before the commencement of the Service scheduled start time, resulting in a mad rush to have all in place asap quickly including housing 26 Members of the Victor Harbor City Band. With your Committee working overtime in rush mode, all was achieved and The Remembrance Day Service went very well with the Club absolutely full, and many needing to stand in the entrances.

*Lesson Learnt: We make the cancel call earlier, and probably the night before if able and have signs ready to go re: Due to the Severe Weather, The Service is now being held at the RSL Club Rooms etc.

Anzac Day 2022:

Great weather greeted us with a magnificent Sunrise during the Dawn Service. The entire service went to plan with our Veterans Address being done this year by Dr Jared Frampton based on the History of the Medical Corps from WW1 through to today. This address was done via a Recording due to the Doctor being confirmed Positive with Covid one day prior to the Service. The new musician was Shaun Coghlan who also delivered his own produced and written song, The Anzac Song, as well as “I was Only 19”. Roxy again excelled with his excellent supporting visual displays as well as the PA systems.

*I received many verbal and written notices re “Well Done – Great Service” honouring Veterans from All Wars with dignity and Respect, so many thanks to all assisting in making our Dawn Service one of the best.

Membership:

Unfortunately, our Membership Numbers have dropped from approximately 350 to around 100 (and still reducing) in the past 5 years. I believe this significant reduction in numbers has largely resulted from:

a.   Moving from our own facility to a shared facility within the New Club Rooms,

b.   Covid ongoing impacts,

c.   Aging of our Membership Base

d.   Not attracting enough Younger Veterans and families

e.   Not attracting enough Affiliate Members and Families, and

f.   Many Existing Members not attending Member Days/Functions with guests to be introduced to the Club.

Fund Raising Efforts:

As mentioned on many previous occasions, your Sub-Branch is required to service our portion of the New Facility Annual Outgoings to the amount of $20,000, being quarterly payments of $5,000 to the ROOs Bank account. This is a very significant amount from our Bank Account each year and quarter, and requires a massive effort to recover these cost by holding significant fund-raising events.

Your Committee has worked tirelessly all year fund-raising via Major Raffles and Raffles during Monthly Dinners, several Dinner and Band Nights, and our usual Monthly Dinners. We are also receiving income from money generated over the bar during these Functions and Members Days. Therefore, it is critical that we get as many members and guests as possible attending All Functions and weekly Member Day Gatherings thanks.

*When attending a function, just ask a friend or neighbour if they would like a good night out.

To book for Dinners or any Band Nights/Functions, please call/text me on 0417 834 579.

Coming Events:

Please support as many as possible:

* Monthly Dinners the First Friday of each Month.

• 18 June, Saturday Band & Dinner Night (Puffin Billy)
• 16 July, Saturday Elvis Dinner & Show
• 20 August, Saturday Band & Dinner Night (Cry Wolf)
• 05 November, Saturday Semi-Formal Dinner & Show (SA Army Band)
• 03 December, Friday RSL Xmas Dinner

*Your Committee dedicates many hours in setting up and running these events, so a big thanks you to All.

*Most Important: If a Member or Guest confirms they are to attend a function or dinner, we always have a Cut-Off date for the total numbers to the Caterer being Two Days from the event. The Caterer purchases the required food and employs staff to match these numbers. After this date, we are compelled to pay the caterer this amount via all members attending the dinner. If you don’t attend after this cut-off date, the RSL is responsible for the cost, and at our last Monthly Dinner this cost to the RSL was a significant amount of money.

General  Comments:

Veterans and Families Well-Being: 

*This is our Mission Statement and the Primary Reason We Exist.

Our Well-being Committee Member, Lin Perea, has been working hard establishing a number of contacts re Veteran Advocates as well as Supporting Organisations for Veterans and Families. This is also a work in progress, with some potential Veterans Support Seminar Days being planned. If you would like a confidential discussion with your Well-Being Advocate for any reason at all, please call Lin on 0457 362 014.

Anzac Room. Your Anzac Room is still a Work in Progress managed by Bob Suba, and is looking good.

Bob still has a number of Items to be displayed and if you wish to put your hand up to assist, please contact Bob on: 0438 554 275.

Committee Structure:

Basically, it is extremely important that the Committee Structure should look something like this after the AGM to allow enough numbers to cover or share the Large Workloads:

President, Vice Presidents by Two, Secretary, Treasurer, and 6 general Committee Members to be assigned management tasks.

We have been operating your Sub-Branch over the past year well short of these numbers, and it is very important that we achieve greater committee numbers this year to further share the load and ensure Burn-Out does not occur.

*Please consider nominating as a Committee Member very seriously as it is most important that you are able to commit the number of hours needed to ensure your RSL Club is successful.

New Caterer:

Lisa from The Boulevard Cafe left us after last Christmas, and our new Caterer, George and Tracy Fieldhouse have been catering to our needs since the February 2022 Monthly Dinner. As expected, there were some minor teething problems both sides, but all is now in place and working very well.

*Remember your Club is available for Hire re Birthdays, Weddings, Funerals, Training /Seminars or any other Special Events as needed.  Please keep your Club Facility “Open for Hire Option” in mind to recommend to your family and friends, work bosses re Xmas Functions, or any other community organisations that you may be involved with in the area. Members are entitled to a significant discount within the Hire Fee structure.

*They can call me on 0417 834 579 for any Facility Hire Enquiries.

Closing Statement:

It has certainly been a very strange and stressful two years of Covid-19, and I hope we have all survived the  onslaught reasonably well, and like me am looking forward to better days, with hopefully some normality.

My door is Always open to All, or my mobile phone on, if you wish to discuss any matters with me about the running of your Club, or any personal issues that will remain Confidential.

***In reference to our Members that have sadly passed away over the last year, we offer our sincere condolences to their  family and friends, plus to all their RSL Mates.

And to ALL those that have passed, we salute  your Service  to our Country, and We state:

“We  Will  Remember  Them,  Lest  We  Forget”.

The 2022-23 year looks to be full of opportunities after Covid, and we need to grasp them full-on to ensure another successful year for your Club, Our Victor Harbor RSL Sub-Branch.

I am looking forward to meeting more of you at our Club over the coming year,

Best Wishes to All, and Keep Safe