Maitland RSL women's Auxiliary marks 100 years in 2022

Members of Maitland RSL Women's Auxiliary celebrated the group's milestone 100th birthday on Saturday at Club Maitland City alongside about 50 guests, and raised $400 for Maitland RSL while they were at it.

Coordinator Christine Kidd said it was a terrific event by all accounts.

Mrs Kidd, who has been in the auxiliary for 16 years and coordinator for 12 years, said the group's role in 2022 is very similar to what it was in 1922 - to raise money for veterans through the RSL.

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"All the money stays in Maitland, and it goes towards helping the veterans out if they've got any kind of problem, and they can come and ask for help," she said.

Early on, the group would hold dances for the soldiers, look after widows and families, hold stalls and raffles and provide catering.

In 2022, the group raises funds through raffles and stalls.

A newspaper clipping from the Tuesday, April 4, 1922 edition of the Maitland Mercury said at a meeting of the Maitland sub-branch of the Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League, "the proposal to form a Women's Auxiliary in connection with the league was discussed, following on a communication from headquarters".

"The wives and sisters of deceased soldiers are to be admitted and are to receive badges. The proposal is to be further considered," it read.

The auxiliary has 18 members at the moment, and Ms Kidd said the best part of being in the group is the friendships made along the way.

"I joined because my husband got out of the Defence Force, he was in the Air Force and when he got out, the RSL helped him," she said.

"They helped him with his pensions and stuff like that, and therefore I felt I'd just try to give back something from what they gave to us."

Mrs Kidd said with the auxiliary she has traveled to lots of different towns to have lunch with their auxiliaries, like the Central Coast and Tea Gardens.

"Everyone's been griendly and it's like one big family," she said.

The auxiliary has provided lots of support to veterans over it's 100 years - Mrs Kidd said before the pandemic the ladies were sending care packages to the Australian troops overseas.

"We got some beautiful letters from them saying how wonderful it was that there was someone back here that they didn't even know thinking about them while they were over there," she said.

One of the auxiliary's longest serving members Peggy Hume is in her nineties and joined in 1981, after her husband had been a prisoner of war.

"I joined the Maitland RSL Women's Auxiliary in 1981, it was at that time a busy group," she said.

"It had more than 30 members and so much work to do, and we were happily prepared to do it.

"The auxiliary back then catered for funerals, weddings, balls as well as other functions. On our street stalls, especially for Anzac and Remembrance Day, we sold a variety of items including hundreds of lamingtons.

"It wasn't all work, there were times when we visited other RSL auxiliaries and we went to Sydney to attend our congress where many auxiliary attended.

"This was a lot of fun where so many Auxiliaries from country towns and around Sydney came together to pass on their ideas of what they were doing to raise funds."