A Martinborough Men’s Shed?

On ANZAC Day those crosses on the square were such an important part of the memorial service. These were made at the Henley Mens Shed in Masterton for the RSA here and in the other Wairarapa towns.

This and many other community projects have been produced in that shed in the past 6 years which encouraged Greytown and Featherston to organised their own sheds recently. Annual membership fees are generally about $30 per year.

As of May 2015 there are more than 70 Men’s Sheds in New Zealand and more than half of them have joined forces to create a national body, MenzShed New Zealand, to support the development of autonomous sheds around the country.

Can we support a shed here? A small group is organising a public meeting to gauge broader community interest in setting up this workshop style facility
What is a Men Shed? The shed is a not for profit initiative designed to promote the health and wellbeing mainly of retired and older members in the community, but will also be accessible to younger people particularly in the form of proactive mentoring.  

Depending on the individual, those who come along to the shed can share and develop skills, make or repair things, talk, relax, socialise, tell jokes, relate experiences, listen to others, discuss health and other problems, talk about anything, support each other, cook lunch or do nothing if that’s what they want!
MENZSHEDS have proven to be great places to break the boredom that is often associated with a sudden influx of time through major life-changes such as downsizing of housing, loss of partner or retirement. It’s a great place for those with leisure time to tinker around in a communal shed tackling either personal or community focused projects. It is hoped a Martinborough shed will offer a fully equipped workshop to tackle all sorts of projects. Members can bring along a project to work on, or gain help and inspiration from others.

What is planned? An open public meeting is scheduled to gauge the interest in starting a shed in Martinborough. The meeting will be held at the Lions Den on Oxford Street starting at 10:30am on 13 June 2015. All are welcome. John Bush, Coordinator of the Henley Mens Shed, will explain what the shed is about and how it might be organised. As each shed is autonomous, it will be up to the Martinborough members to organise the structure and foundation documents.

Please come to the meeting or email support to MartinboroughShed@gmail.com or phone one of the organisational committee: Mike Woolley (306 8861), Derek Wilson (306 9722), or Ric Geisler (021 905 808).