![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Jo-Armstrong-Col-McKenzie-Rowly-Paterson-cut-cake5.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1\")
By Heather Fleming.<\/p>\nBy Heather Fleming.<\/p>\n
COMMUNITY Bank Willaura & Lake Bolac celebrated its twentieth anniversary on Thursday November 28th<\/sup> with a dinner at the Mininera Recreation Reserve.<\/p>\n The guest list included those who had been the original instigators and directors of the community bank, as well as former staff.<\/p>\n Current directors and staff were also in attendance along with bank shareholders.<\/p>\n Willaura\/Lake Bolac Financial Services Chairman, Rowly Paterson, said the community bank had achieved great things.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are immensely proud to have reached this milestone and there are an inordinate number of people who have contributed to our success.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, (our success) could not be achieved without our customers, and we extend our heartfelt thanks to those who have continued to bank with us for all these years.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Paterson also extended thanks to shareholders.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout your commitment we would not have been able to establish the business and continue to provide a banking service to our local community for the last twenty years.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Paterson went on to explain that during this time, Community Bank Willaura and Lake Bolac had contributed just over $420,000 to sixty-five local organisations, with $68,000 being distributed in the 2023-24 year.<\/p>\n A proportion of profits have also been deposited in the Community Enterprise Foundation.<\/p>\n \u201cThese funds are tucked away to make a significant difference to a local project in the not-too-distant future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Branch Manager, Suzane Neumann, also addressed the crowd, and said the team at the community bank were one of the main reasons behind its success.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff who have helped me settle into my new role and continue to do their best for our customers and the community every day. We all live locally and support our community by being involved in a variety of ways.\u201d<\/p>\n Guest speaker for the evening was Tim Harrison, CEO of the Ararat Rural City Council.<\/p>\n He congratulated all involved in the Bank\u2019s achievements, saying it took a great community effort and to see it survive and thrive.<\/p>\n Dr Harrison suggested that having a bank in a town\u2019s main street was an important statement that indicated a town\u2019s confidence in its future.<\/p>\n He also noted that Willaura\/Lake Bolac\u2019s twentieth anniversary showed \u201can incredible resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr Harrison also spoke of the importance of independence in rural communities, especially given the disconnect he saw apparent between those living in large cities and their rural counterparts.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must make our own lives, and can\u2019t wait for governments to save us. Communities decide to thrive or die,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The work done by all involved in the establishment and ongoing success of Community Bank Willaura Lake Bolac illustrated the truth of Dr Harrison\u2019s words, and those assembled were pleased to be able to come together to celebrate their community\u2019s vision and determination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" COMMUNITY Bank Willaura & Lake Bolac celebrated its twentieth anniversary on Thursday November 28th with a dinner at the Mininera Recreation Reserve.
\nThe guest list included those who had been the original instigators and directors of the community bank, as well as former staff.
\nCurrent directors and staff were also in attendance along with bank shareholders.
\nWillaura\/Lake Bolac Financial Services Chairman, Rowly Paterson, said the community bank had achieved great things.
\n\u201cWe are immensely proud to have reached this milestone and there are an inordinate number of people who have contributed to our success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[31],"class_list":["post-2932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/All-staff-and-directors85-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdqUu4-Li","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2932"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}