Armidale Ex-Services Memorial Club

About

This ex-services club is a large brick building, with bronze signage on the exterior identifying it as a memorial to those who have served.  On 29 March 1946, the Armidale Express published a letter from Armidale resident W.S. Forsyth, which supported a plan from the local branch of the Returned Sailors', Soldiers' and Airmen's Imperial League of Australia (R.S.S. & A.I.L.A.) and the Australian Legion of Ex-Servicemen and Women (Legion) to establish a memorial club in Armidale, for local ex-service personnel. In January 1950, the Legion's Armidale sub-Branch took over the old steam laundry premises in Dumaresq Street, Armidale. A meeting was planned for 18 January to decide the best means of renovating and transforming the present building (The Armidale Express, 13 January 1950; 20 January 1950). In March, the Armidale Returned and Services League (R.S.L.) sub-Branch announced its intention to support the club. At that stage, plans for the club were available. Progress moved slowly and the Armidale Express, 1 August 1951, reported: The Armidale ex-Servicemen and Women's Club still did not own its clubrooms in Dumaresq Street. The club has been negotiating for 12 months for transfer of the property from the Armidale sub-branch of the Legion of ex-Servicemen and Women, but to no avail. The sub-Branch had bought the building three years earlier. It was a year later the freehold was signed over by the Legion, in Sydney in August 1952. The purchase of the freehold was ٟ£1,500 pounds, plus interest and rates (The Armidale Express, 29 August 1952).  The first official birthday of the club was celebrated with a 'smoko' and concert at the clubrooms on 29 May 1952 (The Armidale Express, 30 May 1952). The original name was the Armidale Ex-Servicemen's and Women's Memorial Club. It was changed to the Armidale Ex-Services Memorial Club on 24 November 1958. Over time, the club has undergone many developments. In the 1950s, a old flour mill was incorporated into the building's footprint and extensions were opened by NSW Governor Sir John Northcott in July 1958. He again opened extensions on 4 June 1960. Governor General of Australia Sir William Slim officially opened the new lounge section as a memorial. Further extensions were opened in July 1972, July 1979 and in 1996. Access inside the memorial club is restricted by its opening hours.

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