RSL warriors enlisting support for a …

By Melissa Meehan
NEIGBOURING RSLs will not support a super-club in Pakenham if it means losing their own identity.
Community members and local clubs were invited to take part in a think-tank on Wednesday night to discuss the plan to bring an RSL-style complex to Pakenham.
But for the idea to be supported by Anzac House, it is believed that other local clubs, with bigger membership numbers than Pakenham, would need to back the plan.
The meeting was chaired by Pakenham RSL President Ray Caldwell and Gary Elliott, of the West Gippsland Vietnam Veterans Association, who first came up with the idea of bringing a Dandenong RSL-style bistro to Pakenham.
“Pakenham is a large enough area that’s growing all the time to support such a thing,” Mr Elliott said.
“We think it could work, but we want to get people talking about it – maybe get a sub-committee to take it on.”
Eight people attended the meeting, including members from the Berwick and Beaconsfield RSL, Pakenham RSL and other interested parties.
Discussions included the growing need to provide welfare for returned navy, army and air force members as well as peacekeepers and police sent overseas.
A main issue was whether RSLs including Pakenham, Beaconsfield and Berwick would still be viable in 10 years.
“We have an aging group of members – the youngest World War II veteran is 84 years old,” Mr Caldwell said.
“We have members who don’t want to run the thing because they have done it all before and they did a really good job.
“But down the track we need to get the younger generations involved – we won’t have the numbers otherwise and we think a services club is the answer.”
But Mr Caldwell said he was having difficulty convincing his own members to support the super club idea.
“For some reason they refuse to have anything to do with pokies – but any profit we would make, if we decided to go down that path, would go back into welfare,” he said.
Mr Elliott said while the proponents of the super club would welcome the support of the RSLs and Anzac House, other parties might be interested.
“I am currently looking on behalf of Vietnam Veterans Association Australia as well, who are interested in the idea,” he said.
“But we are open to any ideas, whether it’s an umbrella format in conjunction with the RSL where each club keeps its identity but has a share.”
Berwick RSL president Les Lucas said he understood the difficulty of bringing young members to the club, but said his club had fared pretty well in relation to membership in recent years.
“While I support the idea of bringing such an establishment to the area, I think it would be difficult to get our members’ support if we were to lose our identity as a result,” Mr Lucas said.
“The distance of the service club being in Pakenham would also be an issue – our members want to meet in Berwick, not somewhere else.”
Berwick RSL’s Ray Heathcote echoed the feelings of his president and said while he supported the idea of being able to provide more welfare, many would have reservations about the activities held at the club.
Mr Caldwell said he too wasn’t sure the club could even get pokies, but said providing meals, drinks and entertainment at the club was the only way to make it viable.
“At Dandenong they have clubrooms, dancing, shows, music and gaming,” he said.
“Our guys are right off the idea as soon as you mention the word pokies but if it’s going into welfare I don’t understand why it wouldn’t be an option.”
It seems the idea has a lot of support from the Pakenham community, with all discussion on the Gazette’s Facebook site positive, many saying it is exactly what the town needs.
Anyone who wants to discuss the plans further can contact Gary Elliott on 0409 594 114 or Ray Caldwell on 0418 121 358.