Tommy and Rick working on the old carpet store building.
Over the last few weeks, Tommy Jeffs has started the huge operation of painting the historic buildings in our main street.
After years of negotiating with building owners, many of whom don’t reside in Canowindra, Tommy has taken the direct initiative of seeking permission and organising the painting himself.
“I’m a proud Canowindra citizen, who loves our town and it’s people and after years of looking at some of our shabby buildings, I decided to be proactive about it,” said Tommy.
The Garden of Roses building was the first project. Following the initiative set by Tommy, more locals joined in, cleaning and restoring the lead lighting and windows in the Garden of Roses Café and polishing the tiles on the building.
Billy Paul’s old carpet store building was next on the list and stage one is now complete. “Next week, when the sun comes out we will do the geometric patterns in front of it with bright colours. I have paid for Guy to paint it and people have kindly donated money so I can buy more paint. We plan on painting the Royal Hotel next,” said Tommy.
The Canowindra Progress Association is calling on volunteers to paint the Old Vic Building. “Canowindra Rugby Club has given us some paint and any donations at all are gracefully accepted,” said Tommy.
Tommy is encouraging the owners of these buildings to take note of what a simple paint job can do, and to step up and start maintaining these buildings.
There are also ways to help with the project, such as donating Bunnings gift cards, paint and paint supplies, supplying your time to help prep painting or cleaning old buildings. Donations can be left with Tommy Jeffs or Darren Green.
Thank you to everyone who has pitched in so far, we are definitely looking forward to a brighter, cleaner main street.