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Wentworth & District Community Bank® Branch

New ChairmanAlan Williamson

Alan was born in Hopetoun in the Southern Mallee region and attended school there. The family was involved in a small wheat and sheep farm. Without a clear career goal Alan commenced employment with the Commercial Bank of Australia and remained there for 11 years. It was while working in the bank Alan met Lynette and they married in 1978. Later came two sons and a career change as Alan joined what was then Thomson & Associates.

After several years of part time study and a final year spent in Bendigo, Alan completed his Bachelor of Business followed by Certified Practicing Accountant studies. More study followed to gain a specialist designation in financial planning from CPA Australia. Thomsons became WHK and after spending stints on WHK Group’s national research committee, agri research committee and property committee, Alan retired from WHK in July 2010.

By this time he had been employed with Thomsons/WHK Group for 25 years, the last 14 as a partner/principal. Alan retired with the intention to travel. However business interests overtook the travel bug and Alan has become Managing Director of Australian Premium Dried Fruits Pty Ltd and a Director of Golden Dried Fruits Pty Ltd.

Alan and Lyn have an active interest in agriculture, operating a cereal growing property locally and a wine grape property in SA. They have resided in Gol Gol for the past 12 years. Living alongside the beautiful Murray River, Alan and Lyn and their sons have found enjoying the river, water skiing and houseboating to be great leisure activities. Following many years playing tennis Alan now attends Gol Gol Hawks’s football games and is a member of the supporters “100 Club”.

In 2004 Alan was approached to join the Board of the Wentworth & District Community Bank® Branch. Knowing several of the Board members and aware of the respect for the Community Bank® model, it was an easy decision to nominate for a Board position.

On becoming a Board member Alan joined a committed group of Directors, several of them inaugural Board members, who are intent on providing positive outcomes for the Wentworth and district communities.

“The Community Bank® model clearly works where it has the support from the community, terrific management and staff and a focused board of Directors and these are the ingredients for continuing success,” Alan said.

Alan was elected to Chairperson of the Board of the Wentworth & District Community Bank® Branch for 2012.

Gol Gol FairWentworth & District Community Bank® Branch had a marquee at the Gol Gol Fair again this year with our new display stand on show for the first time. We had prizes of a gift pack of Varopodi Estate goods and a $50 voucher for dinner at the Gol Gol Pub each hour for those who completed our questionnaire.

We were able to chat with the community and show them the different projects we support.

We are pleased to be a part of this successful family day out and it was encouraging to see lots of people coming through the gate.

Driver TrainingWentworth & District Community Bank® Branch organised a defensive driving course and sponsored 16 Coomealla High School students to participate at the Aust Link training facility near the Mildura airport. The course ran from 12 - 15 December and students who had their learners or provisional licences were offered the chance to be involved.

The feedback from all who attended was that it was ‘great’, with students of all skill levels being challenged. Apart from honing general driving skills, time was spent on both sealed and gravel surfaces, reversing through a series of cones, parking, three point turns, reversing a trailer and braking on a wet surface. Having a controlled environment with experienced instructors gave them the opportunity to really test themselves. When not driving, students were passengers, which kept them constantly involved.

The students put the success of the program down to the instructors who they said were calm and friendly, and allowed them to test themselves in a way that they could not do on an open road.

With the success of this driver program the branch is looking at setting up regular programs to be held in the school holidays.

Wentworth District Capital Limited

36-38 Darling Street, Wentworth NSW 2648ABN 76 085 989 804Directors: Alan Williamson (Chairman), David Cross (Deputy Chairman), Bill Brook, Andrew Cottrell, David Dawes, Ted O’Shannessy, Cheryl Rix, Marg Thomson (Treasurer).

August 2012

Made possible by the customers of

The Wentworth & District Community Development Grants presentation was held on Wednesday 20 June 2012 at the Coommella Sporting Club. More than 80 people attended the night to witness the biggest ever investment back to the community from Wentworth & District Community Bank® Branch.

Two million dollars has been invested back to the community since the branch opening in 1999. This year’s grants presentation of $547,581 was distributed back to 32 groups with the Wentworth Ambulance Service being the major recipient with $220,000 towards the building of a new ambulance station.

The other two major recipients were Wentworth Pioneer Homes receiving $100,000 for the construction of a multipurpose room and George Gordon Oval Users Group funded $30,000 to build a new netball/umpires change room facility.

Many groups benefitted from this year’s round of grants from schools, pre-schools, Men in a Shed, sporting organisations such as the Wentworth Tennis and Golf clubs and Chances for Children just to mention a few. The grants covered a broad range of organisations with various different projects throughout the Wentworth Shire.

The Wentworth Shire community are benefiting from people banking with a Community Bank® branch as without these clients who bank with Wentworth & District Community Bank® Branch these amazing results would not be possible.

A big thank you to all our customers.

2012 Grants Community Development Grants

Above: Pioneer Homes L-R: Margaret Morrison, Ruth Humphreys, Neal and Glennis Williams, Pauline Garraway and Howard Clay.

Right: George Gordon Oval Users Group L-R: Kyra Cumming and David Dawes, Director.

Left: Ambulance Services L-R: Alan Williamson, Chairman and Steve Hegedus from Ambulance Services.

Wentworth & District Community Bank® BranchGood for

your community

Wentworth Girl Guides Support Group $900.00 Replacement of Switchboard & Power Outlets and rewire HWS

Wentworth Services Bowling Club $2,330.00Upgrade Irrigation system

Wentworth Public School P & C Association Incorporated $6,500.0010 iPad2 Units, docking station, computer

Sunraysia Cancer Support Group Incorporated $5,000.00 Donation

Coomealla High School $16,000.00Construct Portable Cabin

Wentworth Angling Club Inc $10,000.00Sealing of Toilet Block area - Fort Courage

Men in a Shed Incorporated - Dareton $510.00Engine Lifter/Crane

Murray Darling Early Intervention Service $938.00Psychoeducational Profile Tool

Mildura Specialist School $10,000.00Kitchen Garden

Wentworth District Football & Netball Club Incorporated $10,000.00Sponsorship

Gol Gol Public School $20,000.00Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation

Australian Inland Botanic Gardens Incorporated $15,000.00Funding for Education & Adminstration Officer

Dareton Kennel Club Incorporated $705.00Gazebos

Chances for Childen $1,000.00Annual Donation

Chances for Childen $10,000.00Scholarship

Wentworth Show Society Incorporated $5,000.00Food & Wine Marquee Sponsorship

Wentworth Show Society Incorporated $7,506.00Replace Animal Nursery Shed

Wentworth District Hostel Society Incorporated $5,580.00Refurbishment of Rooms Murray House

Mildura Wentworth Arts Festival Incorporated $10,000.00Arts Festival Wentworth

Gol Gol Pre School $11,030.00Pre school yard extension/upgrade

Wentworth Historical Society $700.00Historical Rambling - Bi-monthly Newsletter

Gol Gol Buronga Development Group $2,882.00Marketing & Promotion

Ellerslie Progress Association Incorporated $4,000.00Solar Powered Pump Community Reserve

Driver Training $5,000.00Driver Training program 2012

Wentworth Services Golf Club $3,600.003 Replacement Greens

Heritage Paddle Steamers Group (W/W Shire Council) $5,400.0010 day Heritage Paddlesteamer Event

Wentworth District Racing Club Incorporated $10,000.00Celebrating the Sesquicentennial “150th year“ of Horse Racing & sport in Wentworth

Wentworth Services Tennis Club Incorporated $15,000.00Resurfacing Courts

George Gordon Oval User Group Dareton $30,000.00Netball/Umpires Change Room facility

Wentworth Pioneer Homes Committee Incorporated $100,000.00Construction of Meeting Room/Office/Bedroom

Wentworth District Ambulance Service Inc $220,000.00Construction of Ambulance Station

Total Funds Allocated $544,581.00

Community Development Grants Program Announcements 2012

Wentworth & District Community Bank® Branch

Wentworth – 36-38 Darling Street, Wentworth NSW 2648 Phone: 5027 3362 Website: www.bendigobank.com.au/wentworth Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9.00am – 5.00pm

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited, The Bendigo Centre, Bendigo VIC 3550. ABN 11 068 049 178. AFSL 237879. BMPNL0427 (08/12)

Wentworth Public School Kitchen ShedAs part of the 2011 grants program Wentworth Public School received $7,000 in funding for an outdoor kitchen garden classroom and shed. This has now been installed and is a part of the very successful Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program the school has implemented to teach children the basics from growing the produce to cooking with it.

Agri business SeminarWhat the weather is doing is always of interest to farmers so it made for a great keynote topic at a farming seminar conducted by Wentworth & District Community Bank® Branch.

The seminar held on Sunday 8 July 2012 at Anabranch Hall was an opportunity for Wentworth & District Community Bank® Branch to support its farming clients with professional presenters that would not normally be accessible to local farmers according to Branch Manager Daryl Wescombe.

“It was important to us that the presenters are relevant to the current farming climate as well as interesting. This was definitely the case with Jane Bunn, weather presenter for Win TV and Chris Wilcox, Principal of Poimena Analysis and Chairman, Market Intelligence Committee of the International Wool Textile Organisation,” Mr Wescombe said.

More than 45 farmers from the area attended the seminar with feedback it was a success with both presenters being of a very high standard and the audience found the presentations to be very informative and entertaining.

Voyage of Discovery

Branch Manager Daryl Wescombe and Wentworth District Capital marketing officer Kate Stockman attended the welcoming home function for the Voyage of Discovery participants on Thursday 8 December 2011.

Feedback from the participants was that they were overwhelmed by the program and would encourage other students to get on board next time. Director David Dawes and Kate also attended the presentation breakfast on 18 January when the participants received their certificates for the 2011 leadership program.

The branch sponsored and mentored two students Bridie Atkinson and Joseph Roccisano both from St Josephs College. Bridie and Joseph said they had an amazing time and learned a lot and would be eager to talk to the various schools and their students to encourage them to participate next time.

Buronga IGA Xpress – ATM LaunchWentworth & District Community Bank® Branch is proud to announce it has partnered with Buronga IGA Xpress to install an ATM at the supermarket. This came about as Wentworth & District Community Bank® Branch consulted with residents from the Gol Gol and Buronga communities and the major concern was the lack of an ATM that was located in the area and easily accessible.

The branch launched the ATM on 14 February 2012 with a function at the Gol Gol Hawks club rooms, which was very successful with over 60 people attending from the community.

Bendigo Bank Community Strengthening National Manager Chris DeAraugo was guest speaker and spoke of the successful outcomes communities are having when they work in partnership with their local Bank branch to achieve their goals. The ATM was installed on 22 February. If you have any enquiries about your account and accessing the ATM please phone the branch on 5027 3362.

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Above: Jane Bunn, Gus Whyte, Greg Pollard and Chris Wilcox.