By JESSE GRAHAM
MEN around Healesville – your shed awaits.
The Badger Creek Men’s Shed, whose new $30,000 headquarters was recently finished at the rear of the Badger Creek CFA building, is seeking new men to come on board.
President John Layton said the shed was currently made up of about 14 members, and that the organisation had not previously advertised for new members due to their cramped space.
However, a more expansive shed, worth more than $30,000, has been constructed at the Men’s Shed site, opposite the Badger Creek Primary School.
Though the final touches are still being put on the building, such as balustrading on the stairs, the shed now boasts woodworking and metalworking tools, and space for plenty of members to use them.
The shed, ultimately, has given the group a new lease on life – all that’s needed now is new members to pick up those tools and put them to good use.
Mr Layton said an extra incentive for prospective members was that the new shed had two floors – the first was filled with machines, tools and workspaces.
But the second floor of the shed is bare, and Mr Layton said he wanted to get more members on board before deciding what would go in the space.
“At this stage, a lot of the guys haven’t thought about it, because they’ve been so involved in getting it all functional,” he said.
“We have room up there – we could have carpet bowls, we could have table tennis, we can have a reading room or they can have a TV.
“But I don’t know what they want, so I don’t want to make any firm decisions at this stage … until we’ve got a reasonable amount of guys, to see what they want to do.”
The $30,000 funding for the shed came from the former-Victorian Government, and was announced on 29 October last year by Eildon MP Cindy McLeish.
Then-president Brad Hampton said the members of the shed had to raise $15,000 in kind to receive the grant, and managed to do so in a matter of weeks.
Mr Hampton said at the time that the goal of the shed would be to help fund the CFA through projects and fund-raising – Mr Layton said that was still the goal of the shed, as soon as it got some fresh blood.
He said the group did not have any age requirements for membership.
And yes, according to the Australian Men’s Shed Association (AMSA), women are welcome at Men’s Sheds.
The Men’s Shed and AMSA were established to give men a place to go, to help reduce social isolation and to create an environment where friendships can be established and conversations about health, physical and mental, can take place.
The main concern the sheds address is that men are less inclined to talk about their feelings and emotions, or to take an interest in their health and well-being – having a close community in the sheds can help to open up those discussions.
Mr Layton said that, although numbers were lower in Badger Creek compared to larger sheds, such as Yarra Glen, he had made close connections with the members.
“By having the Men’s Shed here, I’ve met a lot more people from up around here,” he said.
“You go somewhere, and you see them, and they say g’day.
“We’ve made some fairly close friends here.”
To express interest in joining the shed, visit the Badger Creek Men’s Shed at 358 Badger Creek Road, near the back of the Badger Creek Hall, on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 9.30am-4pm.
