Balfour RSA
The main room at the Balfour RSA isn’t large. There is some sitting room inside, yet nearly the whole town needs to fit inside. With about 70 members, nearly everyone from Balfour gets involved – minus a few Filipino migrant workers who have no connection with the Anzacs.
Several years ago this RSA followed its parent association, Gore, and opened it up for anyone to join.
It is no longer an association just for returned servicemen and their families, but for those who want an involvement in the community, to carry on the meaning of the organisation, and to remember those who fought for their country.
Balfour man John Turner became president in 1998, and it doesn’t look like the 78-year-old is going anywhere, anytime soon.
‘‘They can’t get rid of me,’’ he says with a chuckle.
The Balfour RSA has been in existence since before Turner was born. After he joined, numbers began reducing as members died.
But when the organisation opened its doors to anyone and shifted premises the numbers began to ramp up once more.
Everyone gets together for a meeting every so often, but it’s Anzac Day that’s the big event for the town’s RSA.
That’s the day their hard work to honour the past is recognised.
He believes it is important the RSA continues to grow.
Membership numbers throughout the country have dropped. In 2013, there were 113,000 members, which dropped to 105,000 this year.
However, Turner believers the RSAs will continue, long into the future. ‘‘I believe it will get quite strong.’’ There are quite a few younger people involved in Balfour, probably more so than many of the country’s RSAs, and he hopes more people will join.
‘‘It’s for support and to remember. It’s in the blood, that’s what makes it strong.
There were a lot of guys from Balfour that went overseas.’’
Seven of the members are returned servicemen.
As the number of returned service veterans dwindle, each branch celebrates those lives in a different way.
For Balfour, when someone passes away they ring a bell in their honour.
The bustling RSA hall falls quiet with a solemn feel to the air, Turner says. He believes it’s important to recognise what that person went through, no matter which battle they were involved in.
Along the main street is a huge plaque with the names of all the Balfour Anzacs who went away to war, and a flag pole that sports the New Zealand flag on Anzac Day.
Turner proudly looks around the memorabilia on the walls. The hall is a wide open space, the names of past presidents and secretaries noted on a plaque, some framed medals and the feeling of history in the air.
He joined the RSA in 1956 after doing compulsory military training, which he believes should be reinstated for youngsters these days.
In the spirit of getting the community together, Turner has also started a CMT group and is reaching out for all those who were part of the regiment before it was discontinued in the 50s.
His father and his four brothers were shipped off from Canterbury to World War I in 1914. Miraculously, all five made their way home safely.
As with most returned servicemen from the World Wars, his father refused to speak of his time overseas.
‘‘I couldn’t get one word about it. He just wouldn’t talk about it.’’