Some Auckland Sheds

I visited the Claystore Community Workshop in Devonport a fortnight ago and was pleased to meet Tom Murray and George Crook from there. I appreciated that their “shed” has been ticking along under the same management for 29 years! (Tom Murray showing us the evidence  - a receipt book from when he joined and retired about the same time!). What an amazing feat Tom. I would think that could make the Aussie Men's Sheds seem like newbies! Amazing and a pleasure to see the great opportunities they provide for the Devonport and Takapuna communities. At that same meeting, I also met Ross McEwan (2nd from left) and team members from the Men’s Shed North Shore Trust who were also keen to make contact ahead of the construction of what will become a large purpose built Men’s Shed project on the North Shore, scheduled to begin hopefully before the end of the year.

New Shed info

New Zealand Sheds are progressing well

On the home front, I am pleased to hear of the recent launch of the Te Awamutu Community Men’s Shed in Te Awamutu on Saturday last and this excerpt from a contact in Oamaru stated “our formation meeting will be held on site at Te Mahi this Saturday at 2.00pm. You are all most welcome to come along! Over the past couple of weeks we have managed to get news articles into local media  and in addition approximately 30 posters have been distributed”. I wish the Oamaru shed every success and from other details in the email, it seems they have already received some tools and have community projects to undertake. All the best for 2011 Oamaru!

on deck again

Men's sheds are alive and well in New Zealand. 2011 has been a busy year and one of the highlights was attending the 4th National Australian Men's Shed Association's conference in Brisbane ( August 22-24) and Victoria Shed Crawl and Forum in Ballarat (August 25 -26) and sadly the only Kiwi delegate.

However, I will use this forum to disperse shed related bits and pieces that I have come across that may be of interest to other NZ sheds as we try and build on the 30-40 sheds in some form of startup or existence.

Information please

Yes I am preparing (mid March),  to visit sheds in Aussie and the UK with assistance from a Winston Churchill Fellowship. Apart from harvesting hazel nuts, chest nuts, walnuts, Nashi, pears, grapes, apples and passionfruit from the garden, trees and vines at this time, I am also keen to hear from you if you re courses for adults in the community. I am exploring a picture of what men are accessing in terms of personal development / interest courses in NZ communities in particular (but further afield internationally too).
If you would like to assist me.......please answer the questions below and forward your responses to me.

BLOKES SURVEY 09 for those providing non-formal (non-credit bearing) adult and community education programmes:
Please return this section with your information to Neil Bruce nb001@wave.co.nz

Include

• contact person:[name] + [email]
• Type of Organisation - target group [ ].
• Organisation has [ ] enrolments per term {specify terms 2008 / 2009}.

1. What courses do you offer in the community? (if it is a broad range, just include main categories rather than courses)
2. number of courses (that ran) last two terms
3. categories on offer
4. what proportion of men attend over all?
5. what is the age range of men accessing your courses? (Approximations would be better than no information)
6. which courses that you offer attract most men? (comments also welcome)
7. Are there any men only courses?
8. Do you have any matters you would like me to explore for you re men's involvement in your programme?

Temporary home just the ticket

You can't hold a good man down and this fine bunch of men and supporters celebrates Andrew's (far right) initiative in offering us a man-space with some tools as a temporary venue while we look for a new venue. Tino Pai Andrew. Really appreciate also the visit from Australia of Alex (2nd L) and wife Lorelle (2nd R front) to give us added support. Awesome to see you again supporting our shed from afar.

A new year but not easy

The Hamilton Community Men's Shed has concluded the year with a number of specialist tools, a Coordinator, (Gund) and a great number of community projects under our belt.

In addition we have finally been able to attract some funding from the WEL energy trust for tools and coordination, and further funding for a men's learning programme that includes

• Induction into the Shed ( the guidelines, how to and elements of procedure)




• Shed safety - a five session set of instruction on each piece of equipment to learn of the dangers, and operate within OSH safety procedures and guidelines




• Sustainable Garden Projects (to support better health and less expenditure on food)




• Computer breakthroughs (Encouraging the reluctant learner about excitement, fun and usefulness.




• First aid and general safety.




• Men's Health - getting to talk about issues and support through a Warrant of Fitness programme (WOF is an analogy with Cars and other road vehicles)

BUT sadly! We have lost our venue! as of last week and our gear is in storage waiting for us to conclude a replacement venue - meanwhile a special big thank-you to Raewyn for allowing us to store our gear while the search goes on.

Stay tuned about how we manage to resolve the situation where we have had a number of offers of shed space but need to identify what is the Base shed site and whether we are able to organise / sustain satellite sheds about the city of Hamilton (NZ) which has about 120,000 inhabitants.

Progress after 6 months

The Hamilton Community Men's Shed

We launched it on the 19th March 2008 in Hamilton New Zealand with about 20 enthusiastic people in attendance. Following some initial discussions in the community we established a steering group that later became a board of trustees. With a core of people, we found a venue - albeit temporary - but appreciated the generosity of Roger Giles who made this venue available to us without charge - we didn't have any money!