Tauranga and Mount Maunganui RSAs to merge as numbers decline

Fred Milligan built the memorial wall for the Tauranga RSA, which will be removed when it amalgamates with Mount Maunganui RSA.

• The Tauranga RSA will merge with Mount Maunganui RSA in February because of falling membership.
• More than 500 pieces of memorabilia will be moved, with plans to digitise the collection.
• Membership will expand to more than 5500, but travel between locations may be a hurdle.

“A bit of history” will close when the Tauranga RSA merges with Mount Maunganui RSA at the Mount site in February next year.

Falling membership and low interest from youth have taken their toll, members say.

Tauranga RSA (Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association) president Morton Anderson cited “shrinking income” from the bar and a mixture of other reasons as catalysts for the change.

He said the club had boasted a membership of more than 3000 in its prime.

Morton Anderson and Duncan Poole discuss the closure of the Tauranga RSA.

“It is a shrinkage. It did not happen overnight.”

The merger has been a two-year process and was a “distressing time” for Anderson, who convinced the committee they had to move.

“It is the end of an era,” he said.

The RSA will pack more than 500 pieces of memorabilia and medals, and move them to the Mount Maunganui RSA.

Discussions are being held about digitising the collection.

“It is about appealing to younger people. They don’t want to feel trapped in a museum.”

RSA Tauranga vice-president Duncan Poole said there is a stigma around RSA membership, where people think you need to be old or a retired service member.

“But anyone is welcome.”

Tauranga RSA vice president Duncan Poole.

Poole said younger members who served in Afghanistan and other recent conflicts had wants and needs the RSA could address.

“But they are not coming to us.”

The RSA’s primary mission is to help former military members find support, Poole said.

Anderson believed the move would cause some attrition in terms of membership.

The RSA acts as a community hub for many local service members and while buses will shuttle members between Mount Maunganui and Tauranga, the harbour bridge may be a barrier for Tauranga members, Anderson said.

Anderson said the Tauranga RSA building had started to show its age.

“It needs quite a bit of maintenance,” he said.

Former RSA Tauranga president Fred Milligan said the building underwent a major revamp in 1998 and added the Oaktree restaurant.

“God knows what was here to start with but we have done a bit of work.”

Former RSA Tauranga president Fred Milligan.

Anderson said the Tauranga City Council approached the RSA about the relocation.

While the Tauranga RSA moved to its current physical location in 2009, Milligan said the association had been part of the city’s fabric since December 12, 1918.

“The Mount Maunganui RSA is significantly younger than us.”

According to the Mount Maunganui RSA website, it opened in 1943.

The memorial wall outside RSA Tauranga.

Milligan said he was responsible for the memorial wall outside the RSA before he joined the committee.

The building where the RSA is located is home to all sorts of memorabilia and even the occasional ghost, he said.

“We call him George.”

Despite the fear of losing members, Anderson said joining the Mount Maunganui location had many positives.

The Tauranga RSA will fully amalgamate with the Mount RSA by February and the current location will be handed over once a purchaser is found.

“We are amalgamating with a like-minded establishment.”

Mount Maunganui RSA general manager Karen Cooper and president Greg Baxter.

Mount Maunganui RSA general manager Karen Cooper said they welcomed the Tauranga branch with open arms.

“Hopefully, we can come up with a plan that will accommodate the members getting here without any undue hardship.”

Cooper said the process of digitising the RSA’s memorabilia and medal collections was an exciting project and would allow the younger generation to engage with history.

“The stories of the people, not just photos of a ship, but given the story of what it was, where it fought.”

Club president Greg Baxter said Mount Maunganui RSA’s membership would expand to more than 5500 once the amalgamation was complete.

“This will become the biggest RSA country,” he said.

Travel will be the only major hurdle, and Baxter would feel the sting of travelling from Pyes Pā to the Mount.

“I understand trying to ship some of the members over here. And we need to sit down and ensure we have a plan,” he said.

Work between the two locations was under way before February’s amalgamation.

“Mort and I have got some papers to sign next week, then everything will be able to start moving,” Baxter said.