A long running dispute between the Tewantin Noosa RSL Sub Branch and the Tewantin Noosa RSL club ended at a special general meeting last Sunday where a new board was elected and reinstated all cancelled and suspended subbranch memberships, in full, with voting rights.
Subbranch deputy president Mick Byrne said more than 200 club members attended the initial meeting along with 10-20 subbranch members who had retained club memberships.
Mr Byrne said once the newly-elected board reinstated subbranch memberships, it enabled subbranch members who had been waiting in the subbranch-owned Diggers Bar, to attend the meeting.
The wall between the Diggers Bar and the club was slid back and about 40 subbranch members entered the club to a standing ovation from club members.
“It was very moving,” he said.
Another meeting was held with a new board elected that included subbranch members whose memberships had been reinstated.
One of those subbranch members was Kevin Graham who was elected chairman of the club board, after the just-elected chairman Phil Stevenson, stood aside.
Mr Graham said Mr Stevenson was one of several board members who stood aside to enable subbranch members to take up positions on the board.
Mr Stevenson was subsequently hired as CEO of the club.
Mr Graham said the proceedings couldn’t have run more smoothly.
“There was not one voice against anything we did. Everybody’s happy,” he said.
Mr Graham said more than 500 members had been banned from the club which had operated without a board for about two months.
He said since forming, the new board was already making headway with the subbranch with an agreement in principal for a lease for the Digger’s Bar and catching up on club matters.
Mr Byrne said for the first time in years a meeting was held with both the subbranch and club boards
“We had a friendly, positive meeting,” Mr Byrne said.
“It’s a great result. Everyone’s on the same page.
“We deliberated over a number of proposals including getting the Diggers Bar back with the club.”
He said subbranch members were “over the moon” at the outcome. Some had been greatly affected by the rift, he said.
The club board has called an annual general meeting for 15 December in which all club board positions will be revisited.
