A man and his electric scooter are all it takes to support Lilydale’s veteran community.
Arthur Ford, now in his eighties, knows just how important RSL funds are when supporting veterans, having volunteered as a welfare advocate and pensions officer for 25 years.
In 2025, Mr Ford single-handedly fundraised over $26,000 for Lilydale RSL for the second year in a row.
Over the last three years, he’s raised more than $75,000, supplementing the efforts of fellow volunteers who man stalls in the lead up to ANZAC and Remembrance Days.
“This is this personal joy to me, to get that response from the people. I get as much out of this as the RSL does,” he said.
Mr Ford has cemented his method, with route harnessing all the main thoroughfares across three suburbs, with a scooter full of badges for ANZAC Day and poppies for Remembrance Day.
“I do all the Chirnside Park area, the highway, and all the shops, all the businesses, and then I go across to Mooroolbark. And on weekends, I do coffee shops,” he said.
He then heads further up the highway to Lilydale, hitting businesses and even the Yarra Ranges Council offices.
“I start the previous month. So for the poppy appeal, I’ll start on the 10th of October, and I’ll go through to the 11th of November, and I’ll work as many days as I’m allowed. And I mean as I’m allowed by the weather, because if it’s raining, I can’t take my scooter out.”
Mr Ford served within Australia and joined an RSL in the 1970s but became what he dubbed “an active member” in 1998 after retiring a few years earlier.
Under the leadership of the late, former Lilydale RSL president Eric Dosser, who was looking to establish a veteran’s centre at the RSL with trained welfare and pension officers, Mr Ford put up his hand for the role.
Completing all the training, with mentorship from his friend Bruce, Mr Ford became a qualified welfare and pensions officer.
“As soon as I started here, I said to the president, Eric, ‘what do you do about the appeals? Because the ANZAC appeal was coming up and he said, ‘Oh, we used to have a bloke who went around all the businesses but unfortunately, he’s retired, he’s got too old for that!
“So I said that ‘sounds like a good job for me, and I’ll do that! So I did that. And I used to go out in my car, load in the car all the poppies and everything, and then I just drive off to the industrial areas, and I’d park in the car, and I’d walk around them.”
Sometimes in a day, he’d walk 50 kilometres from business to business and then repeat it. The first ANZAC Appeal he did, he raised $4,000.
Although not spending all of his time at Lilydale RSL, moving on to Healesville for 10 years to be a welfare officer, and serve as vice president and then president at Croydon, Mr Ford said his passion was always the appeals.
“I gave the welfare away in 2022 and I gave the pensions away in 2019 which I’d had 20 years of one and 25 of the other virtually. I was still involved in RSLs but I wanted to concentrate on the appeals,” he said.
“I enjoy what I do, and all I do now is I sell ANZAC badges and I sell poppies, and the rest of the year is my happy time, but I always look forward to the appeals.”
Lilydale RSL president Bill Dobson said he, the committee and the veteran community around Lilydale are so appreciative of what Mr Ford does.
“Arthur’s just fantastic. We’re so appreciative, because every cent we make from Poppy Day or ANZAC Day goes directly to the veterans,” he said.
“Arthur also knows that we spend every cent on veterans, and if there’s extra, it goes back into the city (to ANZAC House), and they find worthwhile causes.
“It’s so important that the patriotic money is spent properly, whether supporting guys with mental health problems, or cleaning their gutters.”
Mr Ford said he has always believed in the necessity of the appeals to fund and support veteran welfare, that’s why he continues to do it every year.
“My principles have always been the same. Whatever money you collect, it’s supporting your job in the advocacy side of it.
“I’ve always been under the belief that the money that is paid to keep their welfare running, it’s got to come from somewhere. That’s where it comes from, the appeals.”
During the month of the appeal, Mr Ford covers around 300 kilometres on his scooter, which he said now acts as his legs.
Now, businesses expect to see Mr Ford every year and are always willing to give generously.
Article by Mikayla van Loon, Lilydale Star Mail