Jim Moginie, Tim Freedman join community efforts to keep Coledale RSL alive

Midnight Oil's Jim Moginie brought his side project The Family Dog to the club earlier in August, but he's not the only big name.

Tim Freedman of The Whitlams' has donated his time to perform an all-ages gig with Ollie Thorpe in September, with the "community vibe" the reason behind all the love, according to operations manager David Lynch.

"You go to all these generic old pubs and there's no soul," he said.

"[Coledale] lost its way a little bit when before it closed down. We've endeavoured to get that back and I think we've achieved it, especially with the volunteers. Everyone's got a smile on their face, everyone."

Lynch has been working with the Bombie (another social enterprise raising funds for the Coalcliff Surf Life Saving Club) to bring in regular live music, so both organisations can reap the rewards.

He's also managed to haul in hundreds of patrons each week (many of them families) with trivia nights, art, open mic, live music and World Cup games on the big screen - while he processed another 60 new club members last week.

"We thought it would have burnt out a lot of people, but it's going from strength to strength," Lynch said.

The club's resurgence was also clear during the World Cup as locals packed the place to the gills for Matildas games, with even standing room hard to find and residents saying they'd never seen so many people there.

The Sub-branch is looking to reinstate the club's kitchen service in the future, but the food trucks will remain for the moment which also adds variety, said Lynch.

The club also just employed two staff to help manage the club in Lynch's absence.

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