June Newsletter

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Dear Members,
Congratulations to you all and everyone around New Zealand, we have made it to Level 1 and currently have no known active cases of COVID-19! It was wonderful to see the way we all united and played our part in eliminating the virus. As the global pandemic continues to grip the world, we are fortunate to be in a position where we can move about more freely and we are excited to restart our Monday morning meetings. 

Update to Monday Members Meetings 

Monday 22 June 2020 will be our first meeting back at the Devonport RSA and we are really looking forward to seeing you all there. 
In order to keep our members safe and healthy, we will be asking everyone to adhere to the Ministry of Health guidelines. 

• If you are sick, please stay at home.
• Keep track of where you have been.
• Wash your hands well with soap.
• Cough or sneeze into your elbow.

At our meetings you will still need to sign in as per normal and use hand sanitiser on arrival. We will ensure that all surfaces are regularly cleaned. Lunch menus will be on the tables and food will be delivered.

Welcome Daiana Mose

We would like to welcome our new Food and Beverage Manger, Daiana Mose. Some of you may recognise her from the Devonport Golf Club. Daiana brings a wealth of hospitality experience and will be a wonderful addition to the Devonport RSA. She will be helping to manage the bar and will also help run the table service as we adapt to the new way of operating.

Thank You Bear Brothers

​The lock down was a difficult time for many local businesses, The Devonport RSA Memorial Trust acknowledged this and took the initiative to offer our tenants a rent holiday. Janet Bingham of Bear Brothers has written a book about her experience of the lockdown and expressed her gratitude to the Memorial Trust and the RSA for their kindness.  She would like to show her thanks by donating $5 from every book sale to the Devonport RSA Poppy Trust. This shows true community spirit, we are very thankful to Janet for her kind acknowledgement and donation and encourage you to support her and check out the book.  

The book launch is next week on Friday 19 June at 1730 to 1930 in the RSA.  The book can also be purchased at her store. 

We have received many lovely emails from our members about their Easter care parcels and also about their unique Anzac Day experiences. Patrick sent in this lovely email.
  “It was quite something celebrating the Anzac parade outside one's own front door. I live in a pensioner unit that happens to be opposite two or three naval homes at the bottom end of Preston Avenue. At the time of the parade there were several naval families opposite observing the dawn service alongside us pensioners and with help of the radio broadcast turned in and a small line of participants holding candles on both sides of the Avenue in the darkness it was all rather erie but at the same time very stirring and I must say it brought a lump in my throat during the Last Post.”

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Our veterans were so happy with their Easter Cheer Parcels that were delivered to them over the weekend. This was helped with the money donated from Poppy Day last year. Thank you to those who donate every year, to make sure our veterans are not forgotten. Here are a couple of pictures of the Eat My Lunch team putting together the parcels which also included a letter from a child who received a free lunch. (Each box purchased meant two kiwi kids received a free lunch.) @eatmylunch.nz #EasterCheer #RSA #Devonport #Veterans #Thankyou

A post shared by Devonport RSA (@devonport_rsa) on Apr 13, 2020 at 5:29pm PDT

Remembrance Army Update

​Rebecca Nelson, the Remembrance Army and the Royal New Zealand Navy have been very busy cleaning up the graves at O’Neill’s Cemetery. There are over 200 graves that meet the Remembrance Army criteria including a mixture of military graves and civilians that have ties to the military. You can see some of the amazing results below. Great work everyone!

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A post shared by Devonport RSA (@devonport_rsa) on May 21, 2020 at 11:29pm PDT

At our next Executive Committee meeting next week we will be planning for upcoming functions and we will let you know on Monday 22 June of the details. We can be proud of ourselves as New Zealanders. Let us celebrate it.

Howard Mace
President