Wairarapa’s locally owned community newspaper
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2022
INSIDE: Spilling the tea on colonialism P4
P8
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Final bow for Savage Club Erin Kavanagh-Hall
erin.kavanagh-hall@age.co.nz
It’s an end of an era for the Wairarapa institution members lovingly called the “most inappropriately named club in the world”. The Masterton Variety Club, formerly known as the Masterton Savage Club, closed its doors on January 12 – 112 years since it was first founded.
The club, one of a network of Savage Clubs throughout the Commonwealth, was a social organisation dedicated to entertaining the community, best known for its regular variety performances at its Albert Street clubrooms. Members have fond recollections of concerts featuring ABBA impersonations, show tunes, and excerpts from ‘Allo, ‘Allo,
comedy sketches ending with custard pies in their faces, and trips up and down the country for sing-a-longs and afternoon tea with other “Savages”. After more than a century of fun and fellowship, the curtain has fallen on the Masterton branch – with its committee citing a dwindling membership and financial pressures. Randell Mellish, former club president and long-serving
committee member said, as at the end of last year, only “about half a dozen” members were still active. This left the club with very few organisers and performers for its concerts – the income from which covered the organisation’s expenses, keeping it afloat. Finances become further stretched when the Wairarapa Fern and Thistle Pipe Band,
which used to hire the clubrooms for rehearsals, relocated its practices to the Masterton District Brass Bandroom. Mellish said the club’s closure has been “very sad” for its members – but they realised it “just wasn’t economical” to continue. “We didn’t have the numbers Continued on page 3
Members of the Wellington Savage Club visit the Masterton branch for a “raid” in 1935. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
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