The New Club Elgin

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Transcript

00:00Well, I mean, after COVID, the committee kind of had disintegrated and there was only really

00:11Andre McDonald, president, left. He kept it going the best he could, but the club was

00:16losing money. So it came to a point where last February 2024, there was an EGM and 21

00:24members turned up and we had a vote and it was quite unanimous that it was going to close.

00:31Then they looked at it and said, the membership was about 60 people, so 21 people wasn't enough

00:36to have that. So they gave it another week, messaged all the members and I think the vote

00:41was redone on the Wednesday and it was one vote to keep it open. The club was formed in

00:461886. I think it moved into this building in about 1935. I mean, it was obviously a working

00:54men's club. So I think, you know, over the years it's been funded by, you know, business

00:59people and that. They took a decision going, well, we can't do that. We need to attract

01:03new members. You know, what things can we do to actually get people and a more wide variety

01:08of people in through the door?

01:10One of our members, Graham Scales, my brother, he went down and approached Ashland and said,

01:14hey, will you support with some free food for finals day? They were like, yeah, no problem

01:18at all. Supplied 53 fresh suppers for finals day. Panache supplied starters earlier on in

01:25the day for that. So it's absolutely fantastic to pull that. And we've taken it leaps and

01:28bounds from there. I mean, we set up the streaming network. We have three main sponsors, which

01:35we have DNR Respray, that's Ross and the guys down there. We have Greg and the team down

01:40at GD4 in. We have the Elgin Kabab House. A lot of it's sponsors, a lot of it's donations.

01:47And it wouldn't be possible without the local community trying to revitalise not just QSports

01:53itself, but just revitalise being social, going out, having a pound with your mate, coming

01:58up here on your own.

01:59Mikey's line, let's say, I focus a lot on men's mental health, etc. And there's a couple

02:04of guys that have been lost due to mental health that are related to the community. So Mikey's

02:09kind of pushed that and been like, let's come on, let's do a little bit more, let's

02:13work together, let's be good to everyone. So that's what we tried to install here.

02:18I heard about a new club and I came to a lot of boys with members and I just got involved

02:23then, but it was busy in those days. Take it off over the years. I used to be a member of

02:30the club club. There was my cell and half of the business boys in Elgin. Certainly they're

02:37all gone now. I'm the only one left. It's like a second home to me. My wife always says,

02:42that's your second home. But I just sit here, like, keep going on the boys with commandment,

02:49the handmaid's open water. And it's good.

02:51We've got our streams here. You can switch from scene to scene. And just keep an eye, we've

02:57got our YouTube stream in here. Keep an eye on all these comments. We've got 12 folk watching

03:01live at the moment and we can flick between our Facebook page. So it's good. We've got a decent

03:06wee set up for the style of walking.