GNP360’s ambitious plan to renovate the Gnowangerup Hotel wins Foundation for Rural Regional Renewal grant

An ambitious project to renovate and repurpose the Gnowangerup Hotel was among a clutch of community projects awarded grants by the Foundation for Rural Regional Renewal.

Local co-op GNP360 has bought the premises with the aim of converting it into accommodation and community spaces and it now has $10,000 to go towards the cost of planning documentation.

There is already a master plan which includes turning the first-floor accommodation into more modern, ensuite hotel rooms, upgrading six old dongas at the rear into six new units with a caretaker’s quarters and revamping the interior to include a common room, function areas and meeting spaces.

GNP360 director Cassandra Beeck said the group was also planning to regenerate the outside areas and turn the whole complex into what would eventually become the town’s family and accommodation zone.

“It has the bones of a beautiful facility, and we want to renovate, not knock it down,” she said.

“There’s still about 60 per cent of the original features like the floors and a stunning staircase and we want to preserve all that.

“There is no short-term accommodation in the town and no real meeting places for the community.

“If you want to stay the night, you have to go to Katanning which is 75km away.

“It means we can’t hold hockey carnivals or sporting clinics if we don’t have somewhere for people to stay.

“The main businesses in town can’t host sales people or consultants.

“So we are partnering with everybody we can because partnerships are the key to getting things done in rural communities.”

She said the grant would allow the group to commission detailed plans and engineering drawings, with the units at the rear its first priority.

Another FRRR grant went to the Narrogin Art Group which has been given $8000 with the aim of fostering creativity via a series of ceramics workshops.

Linda Townend, the group’s vice-president and grants manager was delighted with the award and said the eight workshops would be run by experts from the Ceramic Arts Association of WA.

A new program in Ongerup to combat loneliness and isolation was also a winner.

The Don’t be a Lone Sheep project will start this month offering a series of events designed to tempt local people out of their homes and into the community.

Based at the town’s community resource centre, the grant of $8339 will go towards, among others, the bloom festival, a series of art workshops, a first aid course and a ‘quizmas’ family night.

Resource centre manager Emily Kelly said the award was a game-changer.

“It will have a massive impact for the community and it’s unlikely we could run these events without it,” she said.

“We want to bring the community together, so people aren’t alone.”

Others to receive money were the Katanning Historical Society who have been allocated $5179 to make its photography shed safer for visitors with a new concrete floor.