The Copper City Men’s Shed held their annual general meeting (AGM) last Tuesday night with members reflecting on what has been a very busy year.
Returning to the position of men’s shed coordinator, Gordon Hill reported that over the past year members had completed somewhere in the vicinity of 90 community projects for a range of local community organisations and local residents which involved almost 3,000 hours of work by the shed members.
“With the completion of the shed extension in early 2015 the focus for the shed committee in the coming year will be to grow the shed membership from the current 23 members,” Mr Hill said.
“The shed now has an extensive range of tools and equipment to tackle most DIY jobs and local men of all ages are encouraged to join the shed to either work on their own jobs or to assist with the continuous range of community jobs.”
Mr Hill said being a member of the shed also has the advantage of having the opportunity to learn new skills from the existing members.
He said there appears to be a perception in the local community that men have to be retired or need mental health support to be a member of the shed.
“This perception is incorrect and while many shed members are retired, younger men are also members and encouraged to be members,” he said.
Mr Hill said men’s health support in all its forms is a very important part of the Men’s Shed organisation.
He said local community health professionals regularly visit the shed to talk to members and are also available to provide information and advice when requested.
“All men in the Cobar area are invited to come to the shed on Tuesday and Friday mornings at Ward Oval to have a look around.
“They can talk to our shed members and see if the tools and equipment we have available for use in the shed would help them to complete those jobs they have been putting off because they do not have the right tools,” Mr Hill said.
He said the extension to the shed has now provided them with a “state of the art work shop” (a workshop that many men would dream of owning) and growing their membership would maximise the use of these excellent facilities.
