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RCHA Club (Kingston) Last last call 28 Mar 2010

Petard

Army.ca Veteran
Reaction score
79
Points
480
The RCHA club in Kingston will close their doors for business on 28 Mar this year, due to lack of support.
This is truly sad, and seems to be mostly due to apathy.
Anyone who has served in 2 RCHA and done a freedom of the city in Kingston can well appreciate how welcoming that place was, when so many other watering holes in Kingston were not.
The memorabilia, much of it truly unique like the establishment itself, will largely go to the RCA museum, 2 RCHA, and original donors if possible.

To those who served on the committees to keep this venerable gunner home away from home going for so long, and have been so welcoming to all gunners passing through Kingston, thank you.
 
Indeed the end of an era. It dates back to the immediate post-Second World War era when a number of veterans from Kingston who had enlisted in the RCHA in 1939 decided they would like a place to maintain their wartime ties. (The PF artillery had a presence in Kingston from 1871 to 1939 (with a time out in 1914-1919), so the gunner ties were long and close.) I have visited the club rooms a number of times and when I was at staff college in Kingston in 1970-1971 presented the association with a framed group photo of C Bty 1 RCHA circa 1964.

Good Shooting, Stand Easy, Gentlemen.
 
There is some local gossip that "it's all just a scare tactic to raise interest." I suspect a lot of these people will be shocked to find the RCHA has locked doors come April

But as noted, it was killed off by apathy; no one there was interested in putting together any sort of business plan and actively running the place. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better location. They paid off the mortgage a few years ago, but then took out another one to renovate.....which is a minor issue, given the overwhelming potential of the place.

Oh well

:(
 
Stand by for another establishment with a liquor license and a patio.  :-\

Kitty corner to a watering hole frequented by some members of this group ?  :)
 
I'll miss dropping in there during Remembrance Day, as part of the Legion Crawl. Was a nice place, but even on Nov 11, I saw a decline in the numbers there over the years.
 
The Association did okay when there were a lot of vets and the competition was that unlovely Ontario institution, the Mens' Beverage Room. These places were unlovely, sterile and stag. The decor and ambiance was a step above the butts on a conventional rifle range. Rules precluded drinking standing up, moving from table to table or having fun of any kind. Once the liquor laws were liberalized and drinking establishments became much, much more pleasant, I am afraid the place failed to adapt.

The last time I was in there was after listening to a military history lecture at RMC. The clientale consisted of Sean Maloney, Dr. Steven Hart from Sandhurst, a bunch of RMC history students and myself. No body else. The topic of conversation was about the IQ or lack of same of a certain redheaded recent Sandhurst graduate serving in the Household Cavalry Regiment. If I was young, single and horny, or any two out of three, there are many other places I would rather drink in Kingston.
 
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