Ettalong Diggers resigns from Chamber of Commerce

The Ettalong Diggers Memorial Club and its CEO, Mr Bill Jackson, have resigned from the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce and withdrawn their sponsorship of the Ettalong Oyster Festival.

"I resigned from the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce at 9am on August 3, and sent an email to Mr Matthew Wales and the rest of the committee and to Ms Sue Fowler who used to work at Deepwater Plaza and now works in Sydney," Mr Jackson said.

"At 12:57pm, I received an email from Mr Wales thanking me for my resignation and saying 'I was going to write to you and ask for your resignation which was unanimously voted for at our meeting last night'," he said.

"I resigned and the club resigned because it should not have been a choice to have the Oyster Festival on November 11 because it was the same date as the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice."

Mr Jackson said the Ettalong Diggers had contributed $15,000 in sponsorship and the use of its car park to the Oyster Festival for the past three years.

"Our sponsorship was $10,000 per year for the two years before that and prior to that, when I was not here, I don't know how much was contributed," he said.

"We are an RSL Club and that is beyond and above all else.

"We are still registered as the Ettalong Beach War Memorial Club.

"We proposed that the Oyster Festival could be moved one week either way, not an eternity, just one week but that was rejected wholeheartedly by Mr Wales.

"We are certainly not going to have our car park used for an Oyster Festival when we need it for the veterans who will be attending the Remembrance Day service," Mr Jackson said.

SOURCE:

Interview, 10 Aug 2018

Bill Jackson, Ettalong Diggers

Reporter: Jackie Pearson