Club President Neville Twigg said they had a tremendous show of support.

“We had a very successful dawn service, we weren’t sure how many would turn up, we probably had close to 200 or maybe more,” Mr Twigg said.

“We were lucky to have major sponsorship from Pioneer Butchery; they supplied most of the food, the local IGA supplied the bread, and we had volunteers that have been coming and cooking on Anzac Day for 15 or 20 years, and our vice president Irene Brown who directed it all.”

Yenda Diggers Club host an annual free breakfast following the dawn service.

“We’d have had 150 or 200 people here for breakfast, all in all it was quite successful I think. I’m proud of all the volunteers and everybody who contributed and offered their services.”

The sit down meal offered bacon, two types of sausages, eggs, tomato, onion, toast, tea, coffee and orange juice.

“There’s 30 guys who come around a five in the morning every year and they work their guts out cooking all the stuff up. 

“It’s part of the local tradition they’ve been coming here for 20 years and coming in to cook and if you said to them ‘you’re not allowed to do it this year’ there’d probably be a mutiny on.

Pioneer Butchery are “local heroes” according to Mr Twigg, who said they support every charity and sporting club in the town. One of those present was Ray Wakley, who turned 90 last week, and was a Wirraway pilot in the second world war.

Which makes it all the more tragic that next Thursday night, a crisis meeting will be held to see if the club will see another Anzac Day.

Mounting debts and dwindling income has meant that Yenda Diggers Club will be seeking approval to sell assets such as poker machines to see if they can have “one more go” at being financially viable.

Mr Twigg said they needed more member support, not just in the form of membership fees, but people having a meal or a drink at the club, which is where their profits come from. The meeting is at Yenda Diggers Club on Thursday at 6.30pm.