Flag-lowering, door-closing looms for Rutland vets

A sombre ceremony will be staged Sept. 12 at a Rutland club that’s been serving veterans for almost 50 years.

As a bagpiper plays, the flags at the ANAF veterans club building on Dougall Road will be lowered and the building shuttered for what club officials hope will be only a temporary closure.

“It’s going to be an emotional day, for sure. It’s already been an emotional time,” club president Kathy Barber said Wednesday.

“Our building has been sold and we have to move. Unfortunately, we haven’t found any place that’s suitable to move to, yet,” she said. “We’ll put our stuff into storage and hopefully be able to bring it all out again soon.”

But Barber also acknowledges the club may be facing a permanent closure, much like other service organizations beset by aging membership, financial challenges and a volunteer shortage.

The ANAF, or Anavets, more properly known as the Army Navy and Air Force Veterans Association, is the country’s oldest veterans service organization. The first charter was given in 1840 by Queen Victoria to create a unit in Montreal.

The Kelowna club, “proudly located in Uptown Rutland,” according to the organization’s website, started in 1972. The first meetings were held in garages and Rutland Centennial Hall, before a purpose-built clubhouse opened on New Year’s Eve, 1976.

When the sale of the current building was announced, club members began trying to find a replacement location, so far without success.

They hope to find a suitable building of 1,600-2,000 square feet, with rent of less than $3,000 monthly, with good parking in consideration of the limited mobility of many club members.

Barber, who joined the organization in 1976, said the mood among the 340 club members is mixed as they contemplate the future.

“We hope we’ll be able to carry on,” she said. “Our members, some of them are optimistic that’ll happen, some of them aren’t.”