Masterton RSA president Bob Hill at the Wairarapa Services & Citizens Club where they will be hosting an Anzac Day breakfast.

Extra bottles of rum, "heaps" of eggs and enough bacon to feed 400 people will be served up on Anzac Day in Masterton when the masses pour in for breakfast.

Masterton RSA president Bob Hill said volunteers would begin preparations on Sunday afternoon, then start cooking from 4.30am on Monday for anyone who wanted to indulge in a feed after the dawn service.

"We're expecting about 3000 for the dawn service and I think for the breakfast there will be between 300 and 400 people," Hill said.

VICTORIA CRAFAR/FAIRFAX NZ Wellington's Paul Foster-Bell, National MP, is a great believer in 'gunfire breakfasts'. His member's bill was passed this month meaning RSAs don't need to apply for special licences to serve alcohol before midday.

Sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs and tomatoes and tea and coffee would be served up with the traditional "gunfire breakfast".

Hill suspected the club will go through about three bottles of rum for those who wanted to enjoy the gunfire drink - a tradition which meant adding a shot of rum to coffee.

This mimics the breakfast drink soldiers traditionally enjoyed at special occasions and before battle, but originally black tea was used instead of coffee.

Masterton New World had donated about $700 worth of groceries, Hill said and local supplier Premier Bacon had contributed in a big way.

Twelve volunteers will do the prep, cooking and dishing up after the service, said Angela O'Neale, manager of the Wairarapa Services and Citizens Club.

"We pretty much have a production line," she said.

"We had about 400-something through last year."

Masterton and Petone are both serving breakfast after their dawn parades, but many other clubs in the region appear to have scrapped the meal, and in some cases their entire dawn service.

"I lot of them [only] have a service at 10am or 11am and they put on a finger food luncheon," Hill said, who is also the national vice-president of the Royal New Zealand RSA.

"I think if people have taken the effort to come down in the morning - we start at 5.30am - it's a chance to say thank you to them."

The club is asking for a $2 donation for the breakfast to help cover additional costs.

The club was established in 1917 for soldiers returning from World War I, Hill said.

It's never had a clubrooms, and operates out of the Wairarapa Services and Citizens Club where members can make use of the pool tables and restaurant at any time.

LAST CLUBROOMS STANDING

All but one of central Wellington's RSA clubrooms have shut their doors, many due to dwindling members and failure to meet costs.

The last remaining city clubrooms lay in one of New Zealand's biggest suburbs - Karori.

President Bruce Johnston said the club has managed to survive, and thrive, by renting out its clubrooms to local groups such as Rotary and the Lions.

"That's what pays the rates. We pay full rates and electricity. The whole heating is paid for by the bar."

When Johnston took over as president 20 years ago, members numbered 45. It's now 103.

"That's looking people up and checking and saying to people, 'Your dad was a soldier, your grandfather was a soldier,' so there are people out there."

Despite the rent contribution, Johnston conceded the club had "no money" but was helped along by the kindness of local businesses donating services such as printing posters when the club needed to advertise.

He said it was sad so many clubrooms had closed, and suspected some were due to high overheads.

"What's happened is far as I can see is they have nice clubrooms and pool tables and those things but it costs money.

"The older the people get, the less they go out at night. You can just imagine a man saying to his wife, 'I'm going down to the club' and his wife saying 'like hell you are, a) we can't afford it and b) you'll fall over'."

A ;aw change due to a member's bill introduced to Parliament by National MP Paul Foster-Bell, and passed earlier this month, will save the club about $500 this year.

The change enables RSAs to serve alcohol before midday without having to incur the costs of getting a special licence.

Helping clubrooms cut costs, and prevent more from closing was the motivation behind the bill, he said.

"It's crucial that we preserve the RSA clubs – not just because they provide a useful gathering place for veterans including the new generation of Timor, Solomons and Afghanistan veterans, but because they are living memorials which commemorate the service and sacrifice of our forebears."

The bill reportedly garnered significant support in Karori and Foster-Bell was made an associate member of the club.

There are clubrooms at Seatoun and Tawa, as well as the Petone club which is part of the Workingmen's Club, Foster-Bell said.

SERVICES NEAR YOU ON ANZAC DAY

Wellington:5.30am: Dawn Service Pukeahu National War Memorial Park9am: Wellington Citizens Wreath-Laying Service Cenotaph Precinct, corner of Lambton Quay and Bowen St11am: Anzac Day 2016 National Commemoration Service Pukeahu National War Memorial Park2.30pm: Ataturk Memorial Service Ataturk Memorial, Tarakena Bay, Strathmore5.10pm: The Last Post Ceremony Pukeahu National War Memorial Park6pm–10pm: WWI Remembered: A Light and Sound Show 2016, Pukeahu National War Memorial Park

Paraparaumu:6.30am: Dawn parade and Citizens Service, Paraparaumu Memorial Gates

Hutt Valley6am: Hutt Dawn Parade and Service, Hutt Cenotaph, Riddiford Garden, Lower Hutt, followed by an Anzac breakfast at the Petone Club, 45 Udy St. Members of the public are welcome6am: Upper Hutt Dawn Service, Granddad Statue, Civic Centre, parade assembles in Queen St, marches to Pine Ave, down Main St to Fergusson Dr to Civic Centre7am: Centenary of Anzac Day, Petone Railway Station, followed by commemorative train ride to Wellington8.30am: Petone Anzac Service, Garden of Remembrance, Bracken St, Petone9.45am: Civic Service, Hutt Cenotaph, Riddiford Garden, Lower Hutt, followed by morning tea

Napier: 6am: RSA Dawn Service, Napier Sound Shell 11am: RSA Civic Service, Napier Cenotaph, assemble at lower Emerson St and march to cenotaph for formal civic service.

Gisborne: 6am: Dawn Service, Gisborne Cenotaph at Lawson Field Theatre 9am: Civic Service, Peel St

Masterton:5.30am: District RSA Dawn Service, Meet at the World War II Stadium where two wreaths will be laid. March up Dixon St to the cenotaph where the main RSA and civic dawn service will take place.

ROAD CLOSURES AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Roads closed from 12am - 10am on Monday: Tasman St from Rugby St to Pukeahu National War Memorial Park, Southbound lanes on Taranaki St from Vivian St to Webb St (including side streets), Arras Tunnel.Closed from 2am – 12pm on Monday: Tory St from Vivian St to Pukeahu National War Memorial Park

Train services will be running to a normal public holiday timetable with limited extra early services on the Kapiti, Hutt Valley and Johnsonville lines for the dawn service. Extra capacity will be provided on scheduled rail services throughout the day.

Bus services will be running to a normal public holiday timetable with some minor southbound diversions on Route 11. No northbound diversion is in place for this road closure. There are no extra bus services from Wellington City suburbs for the Dawn Service and no additional capacity on normal scheduled bus services. Due to congestion in the city there may be some delays.

Limited free shuttle buses will be running on demand directly between Wellington Station and Pukeahu Memorial Park between 4am and 1pm.

For more information visit metlink.org.nz or tranzmetro.co.nz

WEATHER

Wellington city and the Hutt Valley are due for long, sunny spells on Anzac Day and a high of 16 Celsius. Sunrise is 7am. Kapiti, Paraparaumu and Masterton will be fine and warm with temperatures reaching up to 19C and 20C.

Umbrellas may be need at the Napier and Gisborne services, with early showers forecast for both places, then a mostly sunny day with temperatures up to 21C. Sunrise is 6.50am for Napier and 6.44am for Gisborne.