Whanganui's RSA and Cosmopolitan Club to vote on merger

The Wanganui RSA has been at its St Hill St location for 70 years. Photo / Stuart Munro

The future of two major Whanganui clubs is in the hands of its members.

The Wanganui Returned and Services Association and the Wanganui Cosmopolitan Club will be voting this Sunday on whether or not to merge.

The vote will be taken at the RSA's AGM in the morning and at an extraordinary meeting of the Cosmopolitan Club that afternoon.

The exact make up of a merged club is not known but if both clubs vote in favour of the union then work to bring them together will begin immediately.

"Both clubs will form a transition team. Delegates from both clubs will get together and work through that," RSA secretary manager Kyle Dalton said.

Dalton said clubs around the country were struggling due to changing dynamics, such as numbers, costs and compliance, and Clubs New Zealand had warned against waiting too long to amalgamate.

Its chief executive Larry Graham was in Whanganui for the organisation's conference in March and said mergers had been successful around the country.

"Once they've got that mandate, we can help them think about what might best suit Whanganui's needs," he said.

Dalton said the proposed RSA and Cosmopolitan Club merger was about being proactive.

"We're trying to get ahead of the game so we've been working on this from the beginning of this year," he said.

But ultimately it was up to the roughly 2000 members across both clubs. About 200 are members of both.

"It's all down to the members on Sunday of both clubs," he said.

"They've got to make a long-term decision going forward regarding the future of the clubs.

"It just depends on what form that is. It's a sensible financial decision for both clubs."

Dalton said similar mergers had worked in other parts of the country in places such as Kapiti.

Dalton said there would be some sentimentality but "the club is actually the sum of the people, it's not the building."