Tamworth RSL sub-branch grows 35 per cent in two years

"My wife is also ex-navy so it made sense. We wanted to get back to the camaraderie of it all," Mr Shepley said.

The Shepleys are part of a growing trend of veterans signing up to their local RSL sub-branches in droves

In the past 12 months, New England sub-branches have experienced a 35 per cent surge in membership, dragging up the statewide increase to 25 per cent.

The Tamworth sub-branch alone signed up nearly 30 members in that time.

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After four decades of declining membership, Tamworth RSL sub-branch President David Howells says he's happy to see his team's outreach efforts are paying off.

"We've grown to 212 members as of last week. Just two years ago we only had 158 members," Mr Howells said.

"We need to keep going and connect with our veteran community to let people know what services we have available and what services we can help them get."

The RSL provides legal advice for veterans to access government benefits as well as a safe space for veterans to connect to their community.

"The younger generation feel a little bit lost when they leave the service. The RSL is a place they can find that comfort and solidarity," Mr Shepley said.

"A lot of the guys out there don't realise that the RSL is there for them when they're serving and once they're finished serving. There wasn't a lot of communication about it within the service until the last couple of years."

One of the changes the sub-branch has found effective is turning every other general meeting into a "social" general meeting.

"The social events are fantastic because I don't have to leave the kids at home. Tam and I can take them to the meeting," Mr Shepley said.

One of the most effective recruitment tools, according to both Mr Shepley and Mr Howells, has been the parent organisation's decision to make membership free.

"It's an encouraging sign on behalf of the RSL that they aren't putting any caveats on membership," Mr Shepley said.

Mr Howells said another idea in the works is setting up a sports competition between the 11 RSL sub-branches in New England to keep regional veterans from becoming socially isolated.

"A lot of younger veterans are still working or have families. We need to embrace that and find out what things they want to do as well," he said.

But the most important thing, Mr Howells says, is to listen to members' ideas as the sub-branch continues growing.

"It's up to finding out what the members want to do. It can't be someone sitting in a glass office making decisions for the veterans," he said.

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