The Rotorua RSA is closing.
It is with great sadness that I write this editorial, after hearing the news our RSA is about to close.
For many years, RSAs around the country - especially those in smaller centres such as Rotorua - have been the mainstay and anchor of their communities.
Rotorua's RSA, like many
in New Zealand, was formed in 1916 by Anzacs returning from World War I and it's even sadder we hear the news less than a year out from its own centenary.
You'd be hard pressed to find someone in Rotorua who does not have a connection with the RSA, be that a family member who served in the armed forces, association members, if you spent an Anzac Day down there or just attended a function.
My personal connection to the RSA was my grandfather, who was president in the early 1960s during the association's heyday, when it was filled with veterans from both the first and second world wars and conflicts such as Malaya, Borneo and Korea.
