Bendigo Bank returns

Boom times: new Meeniyan branch manager Trevor Walder and Toora/Foster branch manager Allison Drury were all smiles.

THE Meeniyan branch of Bendigo Bank has come back.

Nestled next to (and supported by) Brown Wigg, the revitalised banking venture was officially opened last Wednesday, with hard working advocate and unofficial ‘mayor of Meeniyan’ Lindsay Moore invited to cut the ribbon.

In 2011 the bank closed after the community fell short in its capital fundraising efforts and First National Prom Country Real Estate (which housed the former branch) moved from Meeniyan to Leongatha.

“There’s been frustration, because the community really enjoyed having it in town originally. The closure was just out of our control,” Mr Moore said.

“You don’t realise until how significant it is until you lose it. We’ve been looking forward to this day for a long while. Rob Francis (Bendigo Bank regional manager for South West Gippsland) and the rest of the team were desperately searching for a place to have it.

“Brown Wigg has come along and offered this building, which is just fantastic. It’s been somewhat lucky. We’ve got a really good possie. It’s all fallen together. History is behind us. It’s like when we didn’t have the supermarket. When you haven’t got it it’s terrible, but when it comes it’s great.”

Mr Moore believes Meeniyan is “booming”.

“Things are really happening. The shops are all busy and not many places are like that at the moment,” he said.

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Posted by Simone Short on Mar 19 2013. Filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry