For more than 30 years, members of the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 35, have called the former Harmon officer’s mess their home.
But with a declining membership and increased maintenance expenses, members recently decided to sell the structure, which is located along Oregon Avenue in Stephenville.
Maurice Hynes, club president and a retired colonel with the Canadian Forces, told the Georgian when the legion moved into the former American air force base building in 1975, the club had a large membership consisting of veterans from the First and Second World Wars, along with those who fought in the Korean War.
“You had a whole different, vibrant group of veterans – and you had a whole lot of veterans who drove in from the (Port au Port) peninsula and so on for different events.”
Today the branch has approximately 140 members who have served in a variety of missions, and about 20 of those members live elsewhere in the country.
With the upstairs portion being used 12 to 14 times in the summer and about once a month during the rest of the year, the membership found the building to be increasingly burdensome – with much of their efforts going towards the upkeep instead of focusing on community service.
“At one of our executive meetings, we said we couldn’t continue on like this, we’re just spinning our wheels,” he said. “The things that we want to do we’re no longer doing.”
A presentation was made during a recent general meeting outlining yearly expenses, specifically in terms of heating costs, electrical, taxes, fire insurance and maintenance.
“The straw that broke the camel’s back was the heating system that we had,” said Col. Hynes. “The system just could not be repaired anymore, we needed a new system.”
A new furnace was estimated to cost $45,000 – and that didn’t include other related upgrades.
It was put to a vote, and members agreed to put their building on the market instead of trying to grapple with the ongoing maintenance costs. The president of the provincial command gave his approval to sell and the legion began working with a realtor.
“All events that are planned from now until the end of October are still going to go ahead, maybe even into November,” said Col. Hynes, noting he’s been contacting those with reservations slated for 2012 and 2013 about the sale of the building.
New home
The legion is currently looking at constructing a modular-type building on Carolina Avenue, near the Stephenville’s Cenotaph.
Col. Hynes said the structure would be wheelchair accessible and have a capacity of around 200 people. It would include a lounge area, a kitchen, a bar service – as well as space for a memorial wall and related memorabilia.
“We want to have a functional building that can still do those things (as the current legion building), and I think we’ll go back to being like the old legion where at least once a month we’ll have an activity.”
He said a new building would also help the local branch create a new image for itself within the community. The group is hoping to recruit new members, including ex-military service personnel and those interested in providing community service.
