In the run-up to Easter, the Management of Cooleman Court invited us to run our stall over two days, outside Aldi.

The boys had been making cute little rabbits that held a chocolate egg each, and kept busy topping up their supply of picnic tables and owl money boxes for weeks beforehand, and so on the day, they had a great display of hand-made products to display and sell.

The pop-up stall went so well that there are no Bunnies left, not even one to take a photo of! Overall another very healthy contribution toward bolstering the funds of the WCMS was made and a huge big thank you must go to Allan Booth and his crew, they did a magnificent job.

2 April 2022 830-400

Our first outing to Bunnings at Majura Park. Despite the wind and rain and distinct Autumn coolness, we had another good day raising much needed funds for the Shed. We were perhaps taken a bit by surprise as the demand was instant and lasted all day, right up until the last sizzling snag was dispatched right on four o’clock. We were prepared for the 500 that had been advised, but much to our delight, had to go to the shops and get more, the new bread turning up just in the nick of time.

Many many thanks to all members who came out and stood shoulder-to-shoulder knocking out snags, With or Without, as the call may have been from the counter. Good on all of us.

A small group of shedders took the opportunity to visit St Andrew’s Cathedral and sped some time with fellow shedders.

Those that attended reported that the tour was quite interesting and that a good day’s outing was capped of with a decent feed at the Vikings Club

Well it took a bit longer than the first four containers, but #5 was finally sealed up and sent down to the good people at Quaama.

To celebrate its arrival they had a Grand Opening BBQ, catering for people from miles around, some from way down over the Victorian Border.

That’s how much reach our Community Service has, and when you consider that it cost WCMS nothing except a bit of time and effort, you have to appreciate just what the impact on these remote communities our involvement has.

We thought it such a good idea that we presented a case to widen the scope of the project to AMSA, but alas it has fallen on deaf ears.

Undaunted, Container for Good #6 is now on site and waiting to be filled up with quality metal and woodworking tools, garden tools, furniture, especially storage, and other useful items. We understand that the Quaama connection has funding for another two containers, a total of eight container’s worth of unwanted items that would probably have ended up in landfill that have instead ended up being recycled and reused by very grateful people.

On Thursday 16 December 2021, Thirty-seven members were treated to a hot roast turkey and hot glazed ham lunch with all the trimmings.

Yum-oh!

The Committee would like to thank all members for attending and making the lunch a resounding success. It was great to see lots of ‘old’ members and many new members all enjoying the occasion and each others company.

While the plate loads of food were being savoured and despatched to the interior, our President, Allan Booth, recapped the year’s activities that have helped so many people on so many levels. He also briefed us on the latest news from or Peak Body, The Australian Men’s Shed Association. He brought his address to a close with the announcement that the ‘Pud’ and custard was waiting in the kitchen for anyone who fancied capping of the excellent meal.

As the organiser, Brian would like to say a special thank-you to his fellow Committee members who did such a great job, not just on the day but the weeks leading up to the lunch. And, of course to all other members who were happy to pitch in and do their bit.

Shoulder to Shoulder – that’s the spirit of the WCMS.

The Shed was fortunate enough to be given a second shop-slot at Cooleman Court, this time in the prime position downstairs under the clock.

The workshop lads worked furiously for two weeks turning out reindeer, picnic-tables, toys and chopping-blocks.

Business was brisk from the off, the first lady arrived right on the dot of 9 and carried off over $200 worth. A huge thanks to her.

Each and every member of the Weston Creek Men’s Shed extends a big thank-you to the lovely people at Cooleman Court centre management.

20 November 2021

Today, twelve month’s of hard work by the workshop boys paid off with a very successful pop-up shop held at Cooleman Court shopping centre.

Cooleman Court Management have been exceeding good to us as an organisation and today was no different. They supplied us with the floor space, brand new display cabinets and chairs and some pre-sales day advertising.

We also had another windfall when one of our members, Bruce McKenzie supplied us with a large quantity of superbly made wooden toys. These, along with the latest timber reindeer, DJ Cats and picnic tables, were snapped up off the tables by delighted customers, so much so that pre-orders had to be taken for some items to be built and supplied by us before Christmas..

To quote Allan Booth :

There is no other word for it our stand at Coolo was an outstanding success that achieved a very pleasing level of sales. This will certainly add to our budget for the coming year and enable further programs and development to take place.  A big thank you to all involved, the challenge now is to prepare product for sale on the 7 December.  We already have over twenty orders for reindeer. I am sure all present will acknowledge that the donation by Bruce of toys  for sale was a major contributor to our success.  Thank you all, for your contributions.

Don’t forget, we have another sale day at Cooleman Court on Tuesday the 7th December, so it will be busy time in the workshop between now and then, all offers of help gratefully accepted!

November 6 was the date for our first BBQ at Bunning for some time. We were blessed with a dry day and plenty of customers happy to buy a snag or two and support our Shed.

We had a good crew turnout for both the morning and afternoon shifts and thanks goto everyone who helped. Members are reminded that these Bunnings BBQ form a huge part of our fundraising for the year and every endeavour must be made to ensure that Bunnings are happy with the way we conduct ourselves and are happy to continue having us back.

Well, finally, Covid related restriction were eased enough for the Weston Creek Men’s Shed to hold its delayed Annual General Meeting.

Our Secretary, Cliff Frost, who would have normally chaired the meeting was unavoidably called down to Melbourne to attend to family matters. Fortunately, John Webster, Member member of the outgoing committee graciously accepted the challenge to act as fill-in chairman, and did a terrific job. Our thanks to John for doing this at such short notice.

As per the agenda various reports were reported on and were well received by the members present, with all being duly moved and passed without question.

Prior to the major business of the day, the Committee elections, the outgoing President, Allan Booth, thanks all the current committee members, and those who had served on the committee at various times during the year, for their services to the well being f the WCMS

The chairman then declared all positions of the committee vacant and an election was held to fill the now vacant positions. As there was only one nomination for each of the positions, and in accordance with the Rules of the Shed, a motion was put from the floor that they all be elected unopposed. The motion was carried unanimously.

These are the results, and thus your new committee for 2021/2022

The vacant member position will be discussed at the first committee meeting and will be filled from the list of volunteers who expressed an interest after the event.

Today, Thursday 28 October, a few of the members helped our Garden Manager, Graham Lacey, shift 2 cubic metres of garden soil from the driveway and into the new raised garden beds.

A bunch of vegetables seedlings, grown from seed by Graham, were then planted and the dripper system reinstalled.

Vegies in the ground this year are : silverbeet, corm, beans, mini Lebanese cucumbers and tomatoes.

Graham says thanks to those that helped and we are looking forward to a bumper crop!