When cinema buff and avid volunteer Jennifer Body and her husband decided to leave Gin Gin in Queensland, they wanted to make this move their last, and choose a place where they would settle for the rest of their lives.
For her, the main attraction in Glen Innes was something most would presume would be a turn-off: the cold.
“I really like the cold. It’s perfect cold, cold enough, but it’s not that cold,” Jennifer said.
The couple have moved regularly from town to town but were drawn to the Glen Innes community.
“I always wanted to come back to Glen Innes, even though I’d never lived here before, I really feel drawn to it.”
The perfect mix for the final move
“We made the decision on where we were going to settle for the rest of our lives, our final move, and we kind of went well, the temperature, the fact that you’ve got good schools, in case the grandkids came up, you’ve got the cinema – we really love cinema, you’ve got the hospital, the ambulance.”
“It’s a small enough town to be friendly, but big enough that we’ve got all the facilities,” Jennifer said.
“You’ve got Woolworth’s, you’ve got Coles, you’ve got enough big shops that you don’t need to be going to Inverell or Armidale.”
“Some of the places we have lived, there’s only a FoodWorks or IGA, and they can be charging high prices because that’s all there is, but here you’ve got the big conglomerates.”
“And you’ve got a lot of local small shops too, which I really like, like Rhubarb and Rosies, and Bourke Street Vintage, The Premier Store – it’s a really good mixture of small business and big business.”
“We even have a furniture store and Betta Electrical, which is locally owned, and that’s really good.”
Additional resident is also an extra pair of hands
The former registered nurse is currently retraining at TAFE in accounting and book keeping, while her husband has found work at the jail. But she likes to spend most of her time getting involved through volunteering, giving back to her new community so much more than just another consumer for local businesses.
“I volunteer for the art gallery, the chapel, the cinema.”
Jennifer’s voice is full of joy as she talks about all the things she likes to get involved in, and all the different interests in town.
“I’m also with Lions too, I forgot.”
Glen Innes’ busy social calendar has also won Jennifer over, for both its variety and affordability.
“There’s so much to do. Every month there is something on.”
“In January you’ve got the races, then you got the show in February, Minerama in March.”
“And in May, of course, the Celtic Festival. There’s just so much happening all the time.”
“And a lot of them are free events. Like, if you volunteer a couple of hours, three hours, you can get in for free!”
“I don’t understand why they’re so generous!”
Welcoming and friendly
Jennifer speaks very highly of her new home town, particularly how welcoming everyone has been.
“Everyone is really friendly. We found this constant welcoming from different people, even like the old locals, which is really weird.”
“We’ve travelled a bit. We lived in a lot of small country towns in Northern Territory, and this is the first small country town where we found everyone really welcoming, really friendly.”
“Everyone’s happy to tell you where things are. There’s no, ‘Oh, that’s the local swimming hole, but you can’t go there because you’re not a local here’; here, they tell you! They’ll go, ‘Oh, there’s the river and this is how you get there’.”
“They’re all really supportive and willing to share with us.”
“I was quite surprised by the Council, I find the councillors really friendly.”
“You can ask them a question and they’ll try to answer. They’ll try to be helpful, which is really good.”
About the only thing she thought needed improvement was that the swimming pool needed to be made an indoor pool.
“It’s a very forward thinking town and we’re moving forward with everything,” Jennifer said.
“We got the skate park done, we got the hospital done, we got the ambulance station done.”
“The indoor sports centre just got redone.”
Attract Connect Stay a game-changer in Glen Innes
Glen Innes, as a community, has made a deliberate decision to take recruiting new residents into their own hands. Attract, Connect, Stay – Glen Innes Incorporated is a grass-roots community-led charity organisation with a vision of creating a “thriving community that is supported to inspire, attract, connect and retain local workforce.”
They started with healthcare and are now growing to incorporate other essential and professional services, through innovative and evidence-based solutions to attract, connect and retain workforce across multiple sectors, including trades and essential services. And their approach works.
“As of 30th June 2024, we have supported the employment of 44 healthcare professionals, 18 partners and 14 children to settle and connect into the community,” a spokesperson for Attract Connect Stay said.
“We have assisted with access to housing, access to education and childcare, and provided opportunities for new-to-area professionals to establish social connections.
“Our economic impact over 12 months is $3,260,400 based on the average household expenditure of the 44 new-to-area professionals.
The group has identified the lack of housing and access to a local doctor as the main challenges, followed by access to childcare and partner employment. As well as attracting professional families, they are also interested in delivering a solution to “grow our own” workforce by providing clear pathways to retain youth aligned to local business and industry needs.
A welcome initiative set to expand to more parts of the New England
The efforts and success of Attract Connect Stay have been recognised. It has been named one of the groups to receive funding under “The Welcome Experience”.
This NSW Government program, initially trialled in Broken Hill, is very similar to Attract, Connect, Stay’s work, providing a concierge service for new residents. It has seen hundreds of police officers, teachers, firefighters, doctors and childcare workers among hundreds of essential workers and their families receiving support to relocate to regional New South Wales.
The expansion of “The Welcome Experience” program announced this week by Premier Chris Minns, will see Attract Connect Stay as the lead agency in Glen Innes, while Uralla, Armidale, Tamworth and Moree will also join the program.
NSW Minister for Regional NSW and Minister for Western NSW, Tara Moriarty, said that since the program was launched they have had some 1800 enquiries from essential workers considering moving to the regions.
“Locals can give insights on different locations in towns to suit housing needs, or finding a reliable removalist or even knowing which café boasts the best cappuccino in town, and that is why The Welcome Experience pilot has been such a resounding success.”
“The NSW Government’s decision to expand the program shows what a difference a warm welcome can make for workers moving to a new community,” she said.
“It fosters people to grow roots in the town and be part of the community they are looking after.”
Great choice for community
Jennifer says that the diversity and strength of the community would be what she would say are the selling points for Glen Innes for anyone considering a move.
“It’s a great place if you want to raise your family, whatever your family be, whether it be with kids or fur kids,” she said.
“It’s a real friendly town. It’s small enough that you get to know a lot of people, but big enough that it’s got all the facilities you need without having to leave.”
“There’s lots of diverse interests and clubs. And everyone’s really supportive and friendly. Everyone helps each other here.”
“We really enjoy the community.”
Top image: Jennifer Body at her home in Glen Innes (Jim A. Baker; New England Times)
Our series on people who have moved to the New England is supported by a micro-grant from the Local Independent News Association (LINA) and the Walkley Meta Fund Grant that has enabled New England Times to have an investigative unit.