The hard-working volunteers behind a successful campaign to get Coledale RSL Club back in business have been acknowledged at the 2024 City of Wollongong Awards.
The club received the Lord Mayor’s Award in recognition of the volunteers' commitment to keeping the doors open after the club fell on hard times during the pandemic. Volunteers renovated the venue and now staff the bar and continue the legacy of the popular 75-year-old meeting place.
The 2024 City of Wollongong Awards ceremony was held at City Beach Function Centre on January 19.
Coledale RSL Club vice-president Melissa Ellery said the club’s board was humbled to be honoured alongside many extraordinary nominees and awards recipients.
“It was really nice that even though [it’s] something that’s special for us and for all the volunteers, that what we are doing actually means so much to Wollongong City,” Melissa said.
“The mayor has come along for the 75th anniversary, and he really said a beautiful speech on that night too, about [how] it's really important that in a time when people don't have time to volunteer, to watch a whole town and community step up to save a club, that means so much to them.
“It was nice just to look at my fellow board members – I think we all had a little tear in our eye – just to sit back and… realise the difference that we've made and the difference that all of the volunteers have contributed, and feel like we've done it. We're saving our RSL.”
Melissa said the board was initially concerned that momentum might begin to wane, but since the club reopened last year on April 6, volunteer numbers have continued to climb.
“I think that was our biggest fear that, at a certain point, the novelty may die off and that we may not be able to retain our volunteer numbers, but I think it's become [that if] you're not working a shift, you're actually going down to see friends,” Melissa said.
“I think we're really into the swing of things. We've got 80-plus volunteers, so that's going great, and the RSL is really in its flow, and every weekend we've got at least two different musicians or music acts playing.
“We've got our regular [events] like trivia and sketch club and open mic, so I feel like as a board, as a volunteer group and as a club, we're really in our groove.”
Everyone will have a chance to toast to the club’s renewed success at the first anniversary of its reopening, to be held in early April.
None of it would have happened without community support.
“I’d definitely like to thank the volunteers and the board," Melissa said. "We work with a great bunch of people; also the local musicians that volunteered their time at the start; local businesses; the artists; the Coledale RSL Sub-Branch; there's people that don't work behind the bar that do marketing; people that, if they can come down and do some plastering or they can mow some lawns, they've done that; Collins bookstore have been another great supporter as well.
“Thank you to the wider community for wrapping their arms around the RSL as well.
“It's been a combined effort.”
Keep up to date with Coledale RSL events, including their upcoming anniversary celebration, on their website.