Pub-to-hub mission accomplished
Years of planning and fundraising to revitalise the Great Southern town of Nyabing has finally come to fruition, with the Nyabing Community Hub opening last Thursday.
What started out as an effort to ensure the community still had somewhere to drink turned into a whole town effort to create a world- class hub.
“Originally, we just wanted to save the pub, because that was not operating well, the owner was pretty unhealthy, managers were leaving and moving on,” Nyabing Progress Association’s Braden Johnston said.
“At that point, we didn’t want to lose our pub because we had lost our sport, so we just wanted somewhere to drink, we just wanted to buy the pub and keep it running.
“We sort of winged it a little bit.”
In 2012, local farmers began a cropping program to raise funds for the hub, an effort which has since raised more than $900,000.
Close to $2.5 million has been raised in total, including money from the cropping program, $825,000 from the National Stronger Regions Fund, $355,000 from the Great Southern Development Commission and dozens of donations from local businesses and families.
The large sum raised by the NPA prompted them to do more than just re-open the town’s pub.
Fully functioning offices are on offer at the Nyabing Community Hub for travelling salesmen and business groups.
Out-of-town guests can find hotel-quality accommodation, while a pristine dining room complements the pub.
“It wasn’t really the first idea we had, but as we kept going and the community crop was working, we thought, ‘yeah, let’s go for it’,” Mr Johnston said. NPA’s Christine Smith said it was a relief to see the project finally finished.
“It has been a journey of mixed emotions,” she said.
“We have gone through so much to get to where we are — lots of up and downs.
“It’s a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, that’s for sure.
“So many things this will bring to the town, number one being a meeting place, which will just boost the morale all the time.”
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