AFTER operating at a limited capacity for the last two years, the Hamilton and District Pensioners Association have opened its doors once again, inviting all members of the community to get involved.

Since it was established in 1981, the association has provided locals with the opportunity to regularly get together for activities and events and help the community through fundraising.

Hamilton and District Pensioners Association president, Bruce Snell said it was great to see people coming back to the club after the pandemic.

“We’re slowly getting people back in the door,” he said.

“We’re getting an older version of people here but we’d like to see a few more young ones come in too.

“Anyone can join the club - we’ve got the pensioners themselves and then there’s the social side of it where they can still join in on different things.”

Mr Snell said the association had a strong community focus and was hoping to continue to give back to local organisations this year.

“We do fundraising and our bingo is a big part of that to help out the community in places,” he said.

“For example, we helped out the fire brigade with a quick cut saw, but there are different things we’ve given out to people.

“In our last meeting we decided to make a donation to the MRI up at the Western District Health Service, and we look out for things like that.

“We have previously given money to the Cancer Council and continue to give three scholarships to Baimbridge College every year.

“We try to help out the community if there’s a need.”

Mr Snell said the group organised several activities throughout the year including lunches, day trips, and events for Easter, Melbourne Cup and Christmas, but the most popular activity was the weekly bingo games held every Saturday afternoon.

“We hold bingo here every Saturday afternoon at 1.30pm and goes for about three hours and anybody over 18 can come in,” he said.

“It’s an interesting afternoon sometimes, you’re in and out and you’ve got a chance to win some money.

“We do have a couple of sponsors around the town who provide little prizes and we have a raffle every Saturday as well with a first and second prize.

“It’s just great to get the people together and have some fun.”

Mr Snell said the association was hoping to attract more members this year, as the last two years had seen member numbers decrease.

“We just need to get people in here now,” he said.

“We really want to see this club get going again properly after COVID-19.

“We’d like to do a lot more this year if we could, but we need members.”