A very special day for the Weston Creek Men’s Shed!
GOVERNOR GENERAL VISIT
A very special day for the Weston Creek Men’s Shed!
On 6 March 2021, His Excellency General the Honourable David John Hurley AC DSC (Retd) and his wife, Mrs Linda Hurley, paid a private visit to the Weston Creek Men’s Shed.
His Excellency is a Patron of the Australian Men’s Shed Association.
The visit came from an invitation given to him by one of our members, Lindsey Dempsey, who was visiting Government House with his wife, Val, who was there in regards to her services to the St John Ambulance.
His Excellency was greeted by Allan Booth, WCMS President, and Mrs Val Dempsey who presented a bouquet of locally grown flowers to Mrs Hurley.
His Excellency and Mrs Hurley were then given a guided tour of the WCMS facility, speaking with members and discussing their involvement with the WCMS. They then inspected the new mural and spoke with the artist John Voir, before performing a ceremonial closing of the 3rd Container for Good, bound for Quaama, NSW.
After enjoying a cup of tea and chat with the members, Mrs Hurley entertained them with a song that she had written to celebrate all men’s sheds and had the members sing three choruses of You are my Sunshine.
His Excellency, in closing, gave a short farewell address and vote of thanks to the members for their hospitality.
It’s time to send CFG#3 on its way and get CFG#4 installed in its place.
Ever wondered how its done?
Here’s a step by step pictorial account!
Having dumped a new empty CFG in the carpark, you back up to the full one, move your tray back and proceed to winch the container on board.
Then you dump it next to the new empty one in the carpark and repeat the process with the new one, to put it in place at WCMS
Finally, you back up top that full one again and repeat the tray-out, winch up process. Except this time the container is much lower and its pretty heavy. At least it looks like the truck is having fun, jumping for joy almost.
And so there you have it. All loaded up and ready to go. Note: do not try this at home with your 6×4 trailer!
One of our members, and his lovely wife, invited WCMS members to their home to play with their trains, and enjoy a yummy scone or two. Or a Lammo, or a HotX bun. Thanks to you both, we’d love to be invited again, next time I’ll bring my grandson, who will freak out, I’m sure.
(Sorry, no names, no addresses here for security reasons)
This is aimed at ACT sheds for action and NSW for info. Today it was announced that the Check in CBR app is to become mandatory for most businesses and their customers.
I have checked with the call centre 6207 7244 and confirmed that this includes all sheds.
All ACT sheds have until Saturday 6 March 2021 to register to use the Check in CBR app.
I know some members do not have smartphones, but the app allows someone to sign in for them using their phone.
The benefit of registering is that load calculations only require 2sqM per person instead of 4sqM
Knowing some members may argue (or is it a sport?) that sheds are not businesses or clubs etc as listed in the announcement, it was verified through call centre management and a request registered on my behalf to eliminate any wriggle room with the wording by specifically mentioning sheds.
But, for the sake of the recipients, we need to be mindful of their needs and their capacity to handle the things we send them.
So…
Here in their own words are their preferences
Things we really need
Concentrating on tools and machinery for woodworking, car repairs/ mechanical stuff, gardening, and building equipment is our core ‘business’. ladders, barrows, mowers (in working order), power cords……
Things that are nice and always welcome
Anything that works as a storage unit/shelving unit etc.,
Almost anything of quality that is useful will get taken by someone, but we don’t want to fill the container with furniture at the expense of tools etc.
Anything ‘tradie’- many lost all their gear.
Things we just don’t want
Broken stuff, tatty furniture, cordless tools with dead batteries, missing chargers, frayed wiring etc. etc unless item is of a quality worth repairing, or has intrinsic value as an old tool to hang on the wall!
Not really chasing toys, so thanks, but no thanks.
We have a container of used curtains, carpets, bed linen, crockery etc. but can always use new stuff. Our rule for this is: Clean and in good condition. If you wouldn’t use it yourself, then we probably won’t either
We are not after ‘Vinnies’ type stuff
Here we are, The Crew at Grandparent’s Treasure Chest
Our second container was delivered to Quaama on Monday 8th February, and our President, Allan Booth mad the journey down to witness the opening, performed by the local Member for Eden Monaro, Kirsty McBain.
Allan reported that the local organiser, Don Firth, had this to say:
I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday’s handover and all the wind-up towards it, and was pretty tired today as the tension ebbed away.
I had a fabulous crew of 5 people who were there for most of the day and we busily tunnelled all the way to the back finding treasure after treasure for one grateful recipient after other. There were more people than at the first opening, some regulars, others first timers as news about Containers For Good has travelled. I decided to make it an all day affair to justify lugging so much stuff out! Everybody (bar one) went away well satisfied with their booty.
I even scored a couple of treasures for myself – a little folding wooden ruler that measured 2 ways at right angles – I’ve never seen one before, and an exquisitely patterned spanner – so worn that it isn’t much use – but great for a pretty paperweight!
Quite a number of specific requests were met including a stick welder and a compressor to two very surprised and very delighted ‘customers’. I have yet to get hold of the fishing tackle box requestor but quite a few fishing-rods went straight away. Sadly the mayor’s request for a tinny was overlooked. lol
Having managed to haul a lot of stuff out, I was able to photograph most of the remaining good items and they will go on our facebook page for people to claim. The Tathra Garden cooperative have got a really good starter set of tools and are stoked to get a wheelbarrow and hand trolley. And all the cordless drills went.
I even had a couple who had lost their billiards table…but unless it came with a room to put it in (!!!!) didn’t want to keep the memory.
The two artist’s easels were gratefully grabbed by arty types who had lost theirs, so that was great, and a roll of picture wire will help rehang the paintings we did of the fire, in the hall.
I lusted after the weighty old piston metal saw – just to see it going, so was glad when someone said they would come and take it next time along with the home-made metal lathe. We thought it a bit greedy to take both and they actually offered some money which has given me an ethical dilemma as I don’t want to set a precedent, but there are always things to buy that people need. We decided to call ourselves Team Solomon!
After packing up those things left over we came to the end of a long day and the one thing that needed no deciding was to enjoy a Crown lager – thank-you to the WCMS team member who thought that one up. It was really appreciated by my crew.
Again a huge thank-you to Allan Booth and the merry men from Weston Creek Men’s Shed.
This project involves collecting tools, hardware, building materials and other goods by Weston Creek Men’s shed in ACT from the local Canberra community and shipping them down to Quaama for distribution to households deeply affected by last summer’s bushfires. All affected households in the northern part of Bega Valley Shire are invited to view the collection and take the things that they need. The first container has now been fully dispersed to a wide range of very appreciative recipients and many eagerly await the next instalment.
This second container has a huge variety of odds ’n sods, from fishing rods, garden tools, light fittings, lawn mowers, a portable generator and even a ride-on scooter! Everything you could imagine, including a kitchen sink.
The current container at the WCMS will be officially closed up and sent on its way to Quaama, for the relief of bush fire victims, by the Member for Bean, David Smith, (https://www.davidsmith.org.au) on Thursday 28 January.
The WCMS will be hosting this important function on Thursday 28 January at 1-2pm which will include a BBQ and light refreshments.
Following the container’s transportation and delivery to Quaama, there will be an official opening ceremony.
This event will take place Monday Feb 8, 12pm to 1pm, with the Member for Eden Monaro, Kirsty McBain, (https://www.kristymcbain.com.au) attending to formally thank the members of WCMS for their generosity of effort and support and receive the container destined to help the bush fire affected community.
When: Monday Feb 8 Noon- speeches and opening. 12.30- proceed to Quaama Hall for BBQ.
Last week our container was sealed up and sent to the lovely people of Quaama, a tiny town just north of Bega and close to Cobargo, both towns devastated by the 2019 fires.
The container was cracked open and the event described by the coordinator, Don
Allan, We had our first very successful opening of the container yesterday. What a lot of treasures! A huge variety of really good stuff! One ‘customer’ said “OH WOW…I had forgotten I had one of those”.. a vindication of our efforts. Top ‘sellers’ were the ‘many’ boxes of spanners etc. and the actual tool boxes. I have a request for fishing tackle, otherwise yes, anything…. Well done and thank you to you and your merry men. Don
Even if one bloke on a farm or in town gets a tool or a bit of gear that helps them in any way, then it has been worthwhile.
A big shout out to everyone that helped pack the container or brought stuff in to be donated. Every bit helps. Also a big thank-you to the other men’s sheds around the area that sent over donations.
And of course three cheers for those businesses that support us and enable this kind of good work to continue.
The result was so good we have another container already!
With the communities help we can provide relief to so many families and individuals who were impacted by the devastating 2019 bush fires. Donations thus far have been hand tools and power tools of all types. Hammers, drills, saws, sanders, nuts and bolts, screws, door furniture and fittings in fact anything that could be used to build shelter or furniture. We even had room in the container to include craft supplies.
Much of the donated items came from families clearing out the garage or shed. Weston Creek Men’s Shed members can assist retirees clean out garage and sheds. Members will also be available at the Shed on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings till 12:30pm to accept usable items. Please do not bring broken or damaged items and do not leave items if the Shed is unattended.
