A bid to drag Bermuda?s workmen?s clubs into the 21st century is to be launched by Government, it was revealed yesterday.

In yesterday?s Throne Speech, Governor Sir John Vereker said Bermuda?s workmen?s clubs had ?played a significant role in Bermuda?s development?. But he said to ensure they continued to provide a service to the community Government would review and report on their current state.

Speaking last night to , Minister of Youth, Recreation and Sport, Dale Butler, said his department ?was trying to pull together a group of people? to co-ordinate the review and that he had been given some ?budgetary figures? with which to work with.

?A number of Ministers from the UBP and the PLP have tried to work with our workmen?s clubs which are in need of lots of things,? he said. ?Some don?t own their fields outright, some have written reports on their own and can?t find financing, some have financing difficulties in general and have specific concerns... there are numerous issues. They have tried a number of things and they have failed.

?Clubs continue to come in here on a regular basis and they get patched up. They get a little band-aid and they go and comeback and go and comeback.?

Mr. Butler said what was really needed was a ?serious commitment? from clubs to work with Government ?to highlight their strengths and their weaknesses?.

?The clubs that participate will benefit in the short and long term,? said Mr. Butler. ?Those who decide not to open their doors and participate, we will not be able to work with because we just don?t have an unlimited amount of money.?

Mr. Butler said meetings would be held very shortly with club presidents and executives to get them onboard. ?I would say that almost every club in Bermuda has sought Government assistance in one way or the other, whether that?s technical, financial or from an advisory point of view,? he said. ?We don?t know what?s out there. All we know is that we have some golden assets, number one in terms buildings, number two in terms of history and number three in terms of potential. If we can find some creative ways in changing the current lack of membership that clubs have and put them on a firmer footing, hopefully, in the next five years they will be able to help us in providing activities, one way or the other, for our young people.

?There is a move afoot to build more youth centres,? he added. ?Why, when we have clubs that are empty??

There were several reasons for the decline in numbers attending clubs, Mr. Butler said.

?Things have changed over the past 20 years for a variety of reasons,? he said. ?Bermudians are not joining clubs. They are either joining more professional clubs or the service clubs like the Rotary and the Lions etc. We still have large numbers not coming in. I have been told that lots of them don?t want to come in because there are rules and they want to sit on the walls and do whatever.

?(But) I don?t think the clubs have been able to meet the needs of this generation... That?s what a commission would examine ? their strengths and their weaknesses ? (and through that we will) hopefully put them on a firm footing if they are prepared to work with us.?