The Gore RSA Tin Hat Club still retains members and holds meetings, and recently helped fund charitable organisations around the region.
The Tin Hats was an organisation born out of the RSA to entertain and support returning veterans, but the number of groups has dwindled over the years.
Now, Gore RSA is the home of the only remaining Tin Hat Club.
Recently, the club surprised four organisations with donations, stemming from an excess of funds, to the tune of a total of $1700.
Of this, $500 each went to the The Lions Cancer Trust, the Gore Hospice Shop and the Otago Southland Rescue Helicopter Trust, and $200 to the Nattering Knitter.
Lions Cancer Trust southern trustee Wendy Goodwin said it was a great surprise following the mobile screening bus visit, which parked outside the RSA last week.
The money donated to the trust would help fund a second bus, allowing one to remain in the South Island fulltime, to maximise skin cancer screenings around New Zealand.
Gore Hospice manager Bronwyn Cowles said such donations were a lifeblood for the organisation, helping it to provide care around the region.
Hospice did not just have to be in-care, but also covered visiting treatment and support for families, and donations went a long way to providing the best possible care, Mrs Cowles said.
The Nattering Knitter herself, Caroline Dore, was very pleased with the surprise donation, and said it would be put to good use.
"Its knit-tastic! It’s more wool, it’s more hug rugs made, it’s just outstanding. They are the organisation that keeps on giving," she said.
The Gore Tin Hat members also welcomed K9 Medical Detection New Zealand on Sunday afternoon at the RSA to speak at their regular meeting.
The group uses specially trained dogs in a clinical environment to help detect cancer and other diseases, which was a topic of great interest around the Tin Hat.
Their gatherings, called "tattoos", are held frequently, showing the Tin Hats are still around — and here to stay.
