FINAL preparations for Bendigo Bank's 150th birthday celebrations are well under way as one of this city's oldest and most respected corporate citizens prepares for next week's historic commemorations.
In perhaps one of the great symbolic gestures of recent times, a temporary structure has been erected in Rosalind Park, almost in the shadows of its modern state-of-the-art new headquarters still under construction.
Surrounded by trees as old as the bank itself, this is where its planned festivities will take place over four days next week.
The City of Greater Bendigo has worked with bank staff to put together celebrations befitting the institution, celebrations that appropriately start with the Community Bank on Tuesday and culminate with an event for the general community on Friday, July 11.
The Bendigo's vision and commitment to regional Australia at a time when much larger competitors had turned their backs on rural communities has helped it foster a reputation and respect from customers that is the envy of other financial institutions.
The importance of the Bendigo Bank to the development and growth of our region cannot be overstated, and its key role in trade and commerce in those early days provided an ideal backdrop for the organisation to lay the foundations for the success and popularity it enjoys today.
No community has benefited more from the Bendigo than Bendigo itself and, as the only bank with a regional headquarters, it's most fitting the city centre of Bendigo plays host to next week's festivities.
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