April 27 2023

Last Thursday, 9 of us visited the Police Museum at Hume (after a pizza lunch kindly organised by Lino – thanks Lino).  The visit was organised by Alan Castle.  Terry Browne from the museum gave an excellent talk on the origins and history of policing in the ACT.  Another highlight of the visit was an opportunity to see various models of police cars and vehicles, including the last V8 Commodore for the police to come off the production line.  The vehicles were housed in large plastic bubbles for climate control and to keep sticky fingers off the merchandise !!  And there was a beautifully restored Kawasaki 1100 bike that one of our members (who shall remain anonymous) wanted to take for a spin. 

Author: Warren Jones

If our ability to get into the Museum is any way to guage how hard it would be to get into a police station, then we can conclude that they are as safe as houses. The usual ‘defences’ confronted us when we arrived and included: 3m high fencing, cameras all over the place and finally having to sign our lives away before we could put foot inside the door. From here our guide (Mr Brown) went through the history of the AFP from its inception to today. This proved vey informative and had all intent . That is to say that not person drifted off during this presentation. From there we went through 3 different areas whch contained a kings ransom of ‘toys’ from the police archives.

All of us decided that the Z1000 bike was the thing that we all wanted to take home. Secondly was the different cars and trucks that they have used over the decades. We all had our different idea of what we wanted to take away. The concept of how they keep them in pristine condition was also interesting – imagine huge blow up bags with pumps that switch out air every so often. Finally we were shown the different ‘keepsakes’ that the police keep to show both the public and new officers when they are in Canberra. Unfortunately we were not able to include photos – a big no-no! We were surprised to find that the visit had taken 1.5 hours. Our guide would have gone on for some more but some members had to get back to undertake chores. We thanked our guide and departd, vowing that we would make time to come back.

Thank you goes to Alan Castle for setting up this tour and we hope to go again in the future.

Author: Tony Burns

Thursday 20th April 2023

Health Literacy Officer, C Moore, from the Health Consumers Association presented a step-by-step guide to weaving your way through the intricate health maze that one faces when you are ill or in need of medical attention. Some 17 of us were spellbound by the multitude of different groups that we face when we become ill, starting from the first port of call – the Chemist – all the way up to the port of final call, the Hospital. We learned that each of the agencies has a part to play in the health area but are also constricted in what they can do, what they can dispense and any after care that may be required.

The system appears to be rigid and this leads the patient into a web of referral after referral to get something fixed. During the presentation some members gave first hand accounts of their experience with the health system and these seemed to confirm what nearly all of us thought of the system. The hand out given to all is very comprehensive even down to locations of walk-in places.

At the conclusion of the talk we were enlightened but puzzled by the complexity of the system and why it should be that complex. As for most of us, we did not know that ear wax can be removed by the nurses in the walk in centres. I, for one, have concluded that little piece of information will not be passed onto the ‘cheese and kisses’. That way I can keep up feigning deafness when I find it is required. The group have also concluded that we would like to repeat this speaker in the future. It was felt that a wider audience would be more appreciative of this information. To this end we will engage the same speaker from the Health Care Consumers Association ( if possible ) at a date to be fixed.

Author: Tony Burns.

Stall at Cooleman Court

March 23rd and 24th we has a stall at Coolo both to sell a few trinkets but mostly to put ourselves out into the Community, telling them who we are and what we do. Its was a two day event and though we didn’t sell a lot, there was plenty of interest in our group and what we do

February 16, 2023

A bunch of blokes took the Rapid R7 into town from Cooleman Court where they caught the light rail to Gungahlin. Luncheon was taken at a the Raiders Club, a short walk front Gungahlin terminus.

Then they did the whole ting again in reverse to get back to Coolo!

11 February 2023

There is always a lot of effort and preparation required to run a Bunnings BBQ. The substantial amount of “kit” needs to be brought out of storage, cleaned and checked. The sausages and bread need to be ordered the week before. Other stock items such as drinks and sauce and napkins need to counted and fresh supplies purchased to bring stock levels up to our required levels. The day before the big event, it all starts to happen.

The onion peelers and cutters move in and set to work preparing the ten kilos of onions. The drinks are put on ice in the eskys, the sausages and bread are collected….

Oops. Despite having confirmed our order, something went wrong at Woolies Kambah; no snags! The people at Woolies were magnificent in their efforts to supply our needs and pulled out all stops, raiding all their available supplies and making sure we were “set”. Thank you all so much.

With the snags safely in the pre-chilled freezer and the bread in the tubs, all that was left was to pack the trailer and car ready for an early start on Saturday.

As promised, Saturday was clear and hot, even by 8am when we sold our first sausage sandwich for the day. Fortunately for all the men who came along and worked tirelessly to provide a great service to the public, selling 800 sausages and heaps of cold drinks, there was a light breeze blowing all day which kept the temperature down in our gazebo. 

Highlight of the day was a change of fare for the workers. In their efforts to fill our order, Woolies had given us some mixed packs which contained hamburger patties was well as sausages. As Bunning has strict rules about what we can sell at the BBQ, naturally the patties became lunch for eight of us. What a great idea! We must keep that in mind for next time.

2nd February 2023

We had a pharmacist from Cooleman Court Pharmacy come to visit for one of our guest speaker sessions. Members had been putting together lists of their prescriptions and questions about those medications for a few weeks prior, so we were well prepared for our guest and looking forward to comments and explanations. As it turned out, the principal pharmacist, Brad, who we had been expecting, was called interstate at the last moment and a brand-new pharmacist, Ash, was given an hours notice that he was “on”. Ash came prepared to talk about prostate cancer, always topical, and was a bit surprised to be handed a bundle of medications and questions. 

Ash handled the situation brilliantly, abandoning his plan and taking up the new challenge, answering all and sundry question with clear and helpful answers. It was fantastic to see so many men taking so much interest in their health and the treatments that they had been prescribed.

Ash must haver felt like a doctor at a party!

Our many thanks to Ash, and to Cooleman Court Pharmacy for providing this very worthwhile service to the members of the Weston Creek Men’s Shed.

26 January 2023

Something new for the Shed; a great idea had been put forward that we celebrate Australia Day with a breakfast BBQ for all members and their better halves. Australia lived up to its reputation weather-wise and turned on the perfect show : bright clear blue skies and lovely warm weather. The cooks turned on a feast of bacon and eggs and buns. Coffee and tea and fruit juices flowed freely and the large gathering all thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Some lucky ladies were given a personal guided tour of the premises, the workshop and gardens. All of our ladies enjoyed being included in the event and appreciated gaining some insight into where their blokes get to and what they do in the name of “secret shed business”

8th and 9th December 2022

The lovely people at “Coolo” asked us back again and gave us a great stand at the top of the escalator, outside Aldi.

Maybe people had been waiting for us to arrive, as we were ‘flogged’ from the moment we stepped off the escalator and it continued all day. And the next. Reindeer ran out the door, aeroplanes took-off, toast tongs were taken two at a time and it turned out to be another roaring success for the Shed, Cooleman Court and the Community.

There can’t be anyone left in Weston Creek who hasn’t heard of us and more importantly, the facility and service we provide to all men who come along to join us.

Over the last few months we have been busy working on the creation of a small shed ‘annex’ designed to house the dust extractor and the air compressor.

First a site and size was decided, and a framework / platform erected.

Then we ran into a bit of a snag because a new shed to our requirements wasn’t immediately forth coming, but thanks to Colin from ACT Outdoor Structures, a local business in Fremantle Street Stirling, we were given enough bits and pieces at no cost to build ourselves exactly what we wanted :

The equipment has been moved in and with a few more little tasks attended to, will be complete. Just moving the gear out of the main shed has increased the amount of useable workspace available, and of course the dust and noise has also been dramatically reduced. As a bonus the airline was extended to the middle of the workbenches, making it convenient to use and removing a tripping hazard.

Saturday 3rd December 2022

The Shed was invited to provide a stall at the first ever Christmas Market put on by the Zoo and Aquarium. We really had no idea what to expect but the Zoo people were extra friendly and the grounds were grassy and pleasant. I for one was quite surprised how much the Zoo has changed in the twenty years or so since I had been there last, and I will say that it looks like a great place to take the grandkids!

There were other stalls present, the common theme being natural or recycled products, a community based ethos and of course animal welfare.

Even though the crowd wasn’t huge, we had a very pleasant day and made a worthwhile contribution to the Shed’s funding.

Well done to all who contributed to the making of the products and to those that manned the stall on the day.