River red gums: Rochester Secondary College Year 7 student Jackson Taylor and the artwork that was inspired by local river red gum bark.
Three pieces of artwork inspired by Rochester’s landscape, flora and fauna were the centrepiece of the Mackay St reopening of Lockmore Financial Services’ Community Bank branch last week.
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Six Rochester Secondary College students produced artwork inspired by an aerial view of Rochester, the much-heralded kingfisher and the red gums that line the Campaspe River, with the support of teacher Meg Doller.
“We went to the secondary college and the works were created by Year 7 and 8 students. The three pieces hang in the three offices and are an important connection to the community,” Rochester branch manager James Pietromonaco said.
Eight months after flood waters devastated the town, including the Bendigo Bank facility in Mackay St, it was almost business as usual for Mr Pietromonaco and his team.
“Everything is pretty much up and running, apart from the ATM,’’ he said.
Mr Pietromonaco said he was hoping the ATM would be operational by the afternoon of Friday’s official branch reopening.
“The community will be very grateful when the ATM is up and running. The tech is coming later today,” he said at Friday’s reopening.
Community support: Lockmore Financial Services’ Lauren Ross and Rochester Community Bank branch manager James Pietromonaco with Ruby, Sophie and Alice Connelly and the new Rochester Netball Association gear that was purchased as part of the bank’s flood recovery grants program.
Branch manager of Rochester for the past 13 months, Mr Pietromonaco said he arrived only a few months before the floods hit and had been operating remotely from Elmore, Lockington and at the pop-up site in Rochester ever since the flood event.
"Our pop up branch in the old bank building served a purpose, but it is great to have this state-of-the-art facility.
"Everyone who has been in today is happy to see it open,“ he said.
Mr Pietromonaco said he probably didn’t realise just how important it was to have a bank in a small town.
“It’s the one thing I have realised, just how important having a branch in town is to people,” he said.
"People do their banking, then they do their shopping and it feeds off in several directions,“ he said.
The pop-up branch was up and going only four weeks after the flood event, but the Community Bank had experienced the same problems as every other resident, in regard to delays with insurance and trades.
“We were in the queue like everyone else. What it did do was allow us an opportunity to make the branch better than it was before.
“We probably took a month longer to open because we wanted to get it right. Rochester’s community deserves something nice and I reckon we’ve delivered,” he said.
Welcome back: Helen McCaskie serving Alan and Debbie Harrison on the first day of the Mackay St branch’s reopening in Rochester.
Year 7 students Jackson Taylor, Brooke Frith, Tahlia LaFrantz, Aaliyah Pump and Ella Treacy and Year 8 student Tom McCormick worked super hard on these pieces for the past couple of months with support from their wonderful teacher Meg Doller.
The bank’s team were presented with the artworks last week and were simply blown away.
From the air: Rochester was the simple title of Tom McCormick’s work, inspired by textures in aerial shots of Rochester. He is with Community Bank branch manager James Pietromonaco.
Artistic collaboration: Azure Kingfisher was the title of the piece created by Brooke Frith, Tahlia LaFrantz, Aaliyah Pump and Ella Treacy, all Year 7 students at the secondary college.
Mr Pietromonaco said the quality of the branch was a sign that Bendigo Bank was here to stay.
“You always hear stories of banks closing, but we are in Rochester, Elmore and Lockington to stay and support the town of Rochester through the recovery effort,” he said.
In keeping with the community focus of the opening, Rochester Netball Association’s Megan Connelly, and her three daughters, were on hand to thank the Community Bank for its two $2000 contributions through the flood recovery grants.
"We used the funds for new uniforms and equipment that were flooded,’’ she said, with daughters Ruby, Sophie and Alice Connelly modelling the new uniforms.
