$20,000 grants boost helps men at work
MenzShed Invercargill plans to buy new equipment with grants, totalling $20,000, from the Invercargill Licensing Trust and Community Trust South.
Shed manager Peter Bailey and MenzShed chairman Graham Sycamore said the new equipment would enable the group to work on bigger projections.
The 30 members of MenzShed make timber products for schools and various organisations, with payment covering the cost of materials only.
During the 18 months MenzShed had operated in the old Plunkett rooms in Forth St, members had made many things, including outdoor furniture, child centre playground equipment and repairing an outdoor church chair.
A kitset of a wooden gingerbread playhouse was put together and decorated by members for a hospice fundraising raffle.
‘‘We had a lot of fun putting it together,’’ Sycamore said.
‘‘It’s really good to get support from the Licensing Trust and Community Trust,’’ Bailey, a retired joiner, said.
His tools were widely used when MenzShed opened last year. Tools to be bought with the $20,000 include safety saws, drills, drill pressers and thickness planer.
Bailey and Sycamore said MenzShed was likely to move to bigger premises next year as more room was needed.
A bigger building would allow metal work and welding to be done.
Membership should rise after the shift, Sycamore said.
‘‘We’ve got people wanting to join. They’ve contacted us about metal work but we don’t have room to do that at the moment.’’
Next year some members will make display cabinets and other joinery work for Transport World, Invercargill, to house moulds, equipment and other memorabilia from Dunedin’s old Cadbury World. Cadbury World closed earlier this year.
Sycamore said the MenzShed was good for the community and provided older men opportunities to use their building skills.
‘‘Hardly any of us knew each other before this started. When you go home, you don’t feel like you’ve wasted your day.’’