A devastating fire ripped its way through the old Glenray Industries commercial laundry on May 5, 2018, but nine months later since the damage was done, things are starting to look much brighter.

Glenray Industries treasurer Ian Hooper said on Friday morning that the building will be fully processing on Monday, February 11, after months of subcontracting its laundry work, including its laundry business operating out of the former St Catherine’s nursing home. 

Mr Hooper’s comments came on the day that federal Member for Calare Andrew Gee announced $380,000 funding boost for Glenray.

“[Friday] is a special day for Glenray. In May last year, the fire destroyed the laundry and all the equipment in the laundry, but the laundry has been rebuilt and we’ve bought new equipment,” Mr Hooper said.

“That cost us $4.7 million and insurance was $4.1 million, so we were about $600,000 short. 

“The board of Glenray spoke to Andrew Gee and we outlined our situation. Andrew Gee made inquiries and was able to find funds.

“It’s been nine months and I want to thank Inland Builders who have been able to get the job done in nine months and that’s an amazing thing.

“In those nine months we’ve been able to subcontract out our laundry business to laundries at Blayney, Lithgow and Parramatta. Fingers crossed this is all working and we hope to be in full production next Monday.” 

Mr Hooper said that if Glenray hadn’t secured the $600,000 from the federal government, it would not have had the money to build a new administration building.

“We would’ve had to rent expensive buildings down town,” he said.

“Having this administration building [at the Glenray site] makes the efficiency a lot better.”

The new laundry now has new state-of-the-art equipment worth $2.2 million, which according to Mr Hooper, will allow the team to be more efficient and productive and allow Glenray to expand its services to the whole of the Central West and NSW. 

Mr Gee said its been incredibly uplifting to see the community come together and support Gelnray through the rebuilding process.

“This funding will allow Glenray to continue providing meaningful employment opportunities for people with a disability in Bathurst,” he said. 

“It’s been incredibly uplifting to see the community come together and support Glenray through this tragedy.”