"I feel sorry for those who turn up every Thursday and Friday, who now won't be able to come for a drink, a chat and some company." President of the Stratford RSA, Neil Marriner, says it has been a hard, but inevitable, decision by the committee at a meeting on Monday evening to close their doors for good this coming Friday.
"We haven't had the numbers for some time now," he says, explaining that while the club managed to reopen for just over a year since their last closure, this time there can be no doubt it is a permanent closure.
"We owe money, and we can't keep owing money, we want to be able to pay our debt back, which we can only do by auctioning off the chattels and putting the building out to tender."
Neil can't say exactly how much is owed, "the debt is under $200,000, I am sure of that," and says he and the rest of the committee have a duty to try to repay the money some members gave last year to help the RSA stay open".
Stratford mayor Neil Volzke says the announcement marks "a sad day for the RSA members and the Stratford community as a whole. The club has played an important part in the lives of many people over many decades and there will be plenty of fond memories to look back on".
BJ Clark, national president of the RSA, says while he had not yet been informed of the decision at the time the Stratford Press went to print, he was not surprised. "We knew they were facing difficulties, and we have been speaking with them." BJ adds the RSA is still relevant on a national level, "while membership has been in decline, this year we will actually be reporting an increase in membership numbers". He encourages people to stay involved with the RSA in any way they can.
Neil Marriner says the group hope to still have an involvement in next year's ANZAC commemorations. "They are particularly poignant to us as next year the Stratford RSA would have celebrated 100 years."
Neil Volzke says the challenge now is "to ensure the functions and services of the RSA continue. I am confident there will be opportunities to maintain an RSA presence in the Stratford District".