What's on at MenzShed 25 March

A number of the crucial Shed Executive Committee were not present on Thursday through other preadvised committments.

Advised that Kotuku Flats in Kilbirnie, which has a high male occupancy, have a special day coming up and asked if we wished to attend and promote the Shed. Andrew and Nigel have put their names forward to provide a general brochure for distribution on the day and to present a display and answer questions from those interested. Others also to assist once the details are finalised. Helen is to send details

Helen will print up some more project forms ready for next week so that projects cane be defined and clarified.

There are anumber of projects banking up and needing to be completed.

1. The Johnsonville West Kindergarten fire engine is sitting looking quite sorry for itself. At the end of the session Andrew and I paid a visit to Paul Wilson at Kilbirnie Bunnings resulting in Bunnings donating a 13mm ply cover sheet that will be perfect for rebuilding the damaged sides. He also supplied a part sheet of 10mm ply which will be useful in the rebuild. We loaded the materials on the car roofrack and delivered them back to the Shed in passing through the city. This project now needs someone to stand up and lead the a team in the restoration efforts. There is both woodwork and metal work skills needed here. I have a cheap jigsaw that is available to cut out the profiles needed.
2. The raised garden project including the one for the Sisters of Compassion and the Sheds own garden, need a person who knows a bit about such things to take control and bring the projects through to completion. With the gardens being on asphault and hard gravel base, special attention will be needed to correct drainage and retaining the soil once filled. The one shed person I know who is knowledgeable about gardening is Bill Wallace and I intend to see if he will become the man in charge. Bill already makes a regular effort to tidy up the Sisters of Compassion Soup Kitchen garden and he deserves a big thanks for these efforts.
3. Stuart delivered a beautiful old mahogany coffee table that needs reconstructing. Glue has dried out resulting in dowells breaking or coming out. This is a nice piece of furniture from Mary Potter that when repaired will fetch a decent return. Henry has volunteered as the handy person to accurately drill out the old dowells with his home drill press and kick this one off.
4. The Regency Table leg repair has commenced but is currently delayed due to Garry being unavailable through other committments. He may wish to hand this job over to another sheddie.
5. Refugee Services have a childrens pushchair waiting for its fold out sunshade to be repaired. All the bits and bobs are now there ready for completing that project and needs someone to step forward and take it on.
6. The materials to construct a storage board for our name badges are waiting for somebody to put it all together. We might remember to put on and take off our badges as we arrive and leave if this board made the labels obvious.
7. The fridge/freezer at the menzshed is at an unknown state. It was delivered just before Christmas and ownership is uncertain. If anyone knows the details of this project can they please advise. It may be a Matthew Porritt job.
8. The shelves to accommodate the donated jigsaw library was erected just before the Open Day and is ready for organising display and storage. A project leader would be welcome. The loan system and follow-up also needs setting up properly and maybe formalised.
9. There is one good student desk and a large number of carpet tiles for Refugee Services that need picking up by them. This needs a follow up.
10. The second heavy old government type desk might be suitable as a workbench if we put some wheels on it. Maybe an ingenious person might have ideas on how to make good use of that desk.
11. Finally we discussed a newsletter that needs to be sent out to our membership list encouraging them to come in one of the days of the week either with their own project or hobby and we need more members to step up and take ownership of the projects already waiting attention at the Shed.
12. One additrional matter that was part of the discussions between Paul Wilson, Andrew and Nigel, was the raised gardens for refugees that Bunnings fund. Paul is about to contact the person who coordinates these activities to get the next address chosen. When that happens, he will visit the site to assess needs, design the garden, have materials cut to approximate size, deliver all materials and soil needed to the address for the MenzShed to assemble and install according to the design. So there should be another good outside team job available soon. Any member interested in being part of the Bunnings Refugee Garden Team please let us know at the Shed.

Thoughts are that next Thursday we will write up all the outstanding projects on the whiteboard and invite anyone to put their name to the project teams that they would like to be part of.

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