Double the Expertise: Meet Beachfront’s Community Managers
Getting to Know Mel and Jess Thornley from Beachfront
Mel and Jess Thornley are much-loved Community Managers at Hometown’s Beachfront Community, living onsite with their two children, Caleb now 12 and Layla-Rae 11 and their two dogs, Lola and Billie (Koolies). I chatted with Mel about their work with Hometown and their roles at Beachfront.
How did you and Jess meet?
We met in England while I was on a working holiday. Jess is from Manchester and had trained as a boilermaker and I was working as a legal secretary. We got married in England and had our children before moving to Australia in 2013.
How did you start working in land lease communities?
My parents were managers at the Pines, Woolgoolga and Jess and I were interested in getting to know the industry, so I took on a position as a housekeeper/admin person and Jess was the community grounds person.
A year later we became Assistant Managers for Lorikeet and the Pines which were residential and holiday communities at the time. We then went on to work as Community Managers at Salamander Bay (now Sandy Shores).
In 2019 we became the Community Managers at Beachfront. We worked with tourism, new and preloved home sales, and refurbishments. Eventually Jess became Community Project Manager overseeing the construction of 40 new homes.
How do you like community life?
Our kids have grown up in these communities and with our respective families not in the area, it’s like we have multiple sets of grandparents, aunties, and uncles so we never feel isolated.
What do you like about your job?
We work well together and it’s great being able to combine our skills sets. We love working for Hometown and we’re grateful for the opportunity to live and work at Beachfront. We care about our community, and want it to be the best it possibly can be.
What are your interests outside of work?
We love spending time with our family, exploring new places – beaches, waterfalls etc. with our doggos. We enjoy overseas travel especially to Dubai, Las Vegas, Dahab and Florida. Our kids play Rugby League for Forster Tuncurry Hawks which keeps us busy on weekends. A few times a year we try to get to Sydney for footy (South Sydney) and BBL (Sydney Sixers) concerts or theatre. We love renovating and going to trivia nights at the local Tavern.
What have been your career highlights?
We get great satisfaction seeing the communities improve and transform. It’s lovely meeting new homeowners and watching them form friendships, enjoy themselves and find joy in their life. Knowing we played a part in this important time, makes all the hard work worth it.
We’ve had a couple of professional wins too as finalists in the 2018 CCIA Land Lease Community of the Year Awards for Salamander Bay and receiving the 2022 Hometown Australia Community of the Year Award.
We are so grateful to our support staff. They’re dedicated, hardworking, respectful and we couldn’t do any of this without them!
Learn more about Beachfront on our website.
