KEY POINTS:
Central Auckland war veterans are out on the street just a month shy of Anzac Day commemorations, after a financially troubled RSA has been forced to close its doors.
Hit hard by dwindling membership and struggling to pay the bills, the Newmarket Returned Services Association has sold its
74-year-old clubrooms but hopes to merge with an existing club soon.
The closure of the Newmarket branch is the second in Auckland in the past year for the RSA, and the national president is predicting more will shut in the near future as veterans pass away.
But paradoxically, RSA membership numbers have reached an all-time high, as the younger generation chooses to remember New Zealand's links to the world wars.
Tom Buchanan, president of the Newmarket RSA, said selling up was a difficult decision but the club had struggled financially since the deaths of 16 members last year.
The association moved under the umbrella of the Commercial Travellers club in Remuera - but the partnership was shortlived and club members are virtually without premises.
Buchanan blamed the club's demise on cheap supermarket liquor prices, the anti-smoking laws and a crackdown on drink-driving.
"Selling was hard. But everything changes and time has caught up with us," the former British Navy sailor said.
"The old guys are gradually falling away, and without customers, it's just not viable." He hopes that surviving club members will be able to join another RSA shortly and said the group would march on Anzac Day.
"It's not just a club for old boys to guzzle beer and watch TV and racing. We have a structure to support old boys who have passed away, to look after their wives and families.
"They gave their yesterdays, so we can have our tomorrows."
The Newmarket RSA was fined $9500 in January for illegal gambling, as it operated eight unlicensed pokies for more than a year, and it was also hurt by a employee who embezzled funds.
Last April, the Eden-Roskill branch closed, owing an estimated $400,000, and members joined neighbouring clubs like New Lynn, Newmarket, Pt Chevalier and Onehunga.
Gary Walker, district commander for Auckland RSA, said the organisation was in "good health and cheer", but mergers between RSAs and other chartered clubs were inevitable.
Loyalty and commitment from associate members meant that the RSA and its welfare operations would never stop, even as the numbers of actual servicemen and women dwindled, said the former SAS soldier.
"Obviously, closing an RSA like Newmarket is very emotional for some of the older ones. But the club, and others like it, will continue to do their work supporting each other, just from different premises."
National RSA president John Campbell, a Vietnam veteran who served a 12-month tour of duty, said clubs had closed in Thames, Eden-Roskill and Queenstown in recent years - although Queenstown later re-opened - and, sadly, he predicted more mergers in the future.
He said membership numbers had climbed to nearly 140,000 - the highest since servicemen returned from WWII.
However, half the current club members were associates - relatives or friends of veterans. Campbell described it is "a sign of the times".
Dawn memorial services were more popular than ever with younger New Zealanders, who had been taught to recognise and honour those who fought in horrific conditions, Campbell said. "It's not about the glorification of war. Anzac Day is about remembering those who sacrificed so much, and young people are recognising that.
"Nothing tears a veteran's heart more than seeing a young person. That's why they served."
