Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Reminder Cluster Committee Meeting Wednesday

Central Coast Shed Cluster Inc

Committee Meeting
3pm
Wednesday
1 June 2011
San Remo Community Men’s Shed

28 Brava Avenue
San Remo

papers distrubted by email please read prior to meeting

Monday, May 30, 2011

Barefoot Bowls - Swansea Mens Shed

10 things men need to know

Dear All,

Belmont Men’s Shed & Community Garden invites you to an afternoon not to miss!

We are lucky enough to have author and men’s health advocate Greg Millan come and talk to us about the “10 things men need to know (to stay healthy & happy)”.

We would love for you to join us on Wednesday 22nd June at 2pm to listen to Greg speak. We will also have displays, light refreshments and giveaways throughout the afternoon. More information can be found on the attached flyer- please feel free to pass onto your friends and colleagues.

Bookings are essential on 49470031 or theshed@bnc.asn.au

who's who in the amsa office


Hey did you notice the new AMSA logo pretty cool!!


If you wanted to know who is who staffing the Australian Men's Shed Association .. go to the AMSA staff profiles.... to see profiles of ..

Ian Palmer - National Risk Management and Insurance Manager

Andrew Stark - National Market, Fundraising and Communication Manager

Garry Green - Communication Engagement Coordinator

Bateau Bay Men's Shed Extensions

The Bateau Bay Men's Shed have extended their shed in the traditional manner by putting up awnings.

The Awning out the front provides an ideal space for some extra workshop area and doubles as a cool shady spot for bar-b-ques.

The side extension will provide some much needed undercover storage area.

Photo courtesy John Sharples

Saturday, May 28, 2011

The Queen and I ... we're like that

Tim Mathieson chats to local reporters at the Narromine Men's Shed.
Photo by Andrew Meares.
Sydney Morning Herald
28 May 2011

Tim Mathieson is at ease with people on any level, but especially blokes in sheds, writes Tony Wright.

TIM MATHIESON, surrounded by mates from his school days in Shepparton, is having a beer in a cabin at Kidman's Camp out beyond Bourke on a near-freezing never-never night, talking about meeting the Queen a few weeks ago.

He and Julia, which is to say, Mathieson's partner, the Prime Minister, were required to walk down a long hall in Buckingham Palace known as the Queen's Corridor. There, at the end of the corridor, in a little office, sat the Queen, warming her feet with a two-bar electric heater.

Mathieson, it seems, got on famously with the Queen. A couple of days later, after the wedding of her grandson William to Kate Middleton, they met again outside the wedding reception for 600 at the palace.

''You again?'' Mathieson relates that he said to Her Majesty. ''Are you coping?' '
It is a slightly bizarre story in these surrounds. The State of Origin match is beaming fuzzily from a TV atop the fridge and Mathieson has just finished a steak and sausage on a plastic plate by a campfire. It gets weirder when, somewhere in the outback night, a car takes out a power pole and the lights and the TV blink out.

But there is a point to the story about the Queen.

Tim Mathieson, as the first male partner of an Australian prime minister, has been required to search for a purpose in what he admits is an odd situation.

''Once Julia became Prime Minister and I'd had to give up work, I felt I really needed a niche of some sort,'' he says.

In the 17 uncertain days between the election last year and the negotiated deal with the Greens and independents to form a Labor government, Mathieson had made dinner for Gillard every night to try to provide some sense of normality.

''I'd wake up at 2 o'clock in the morning, get out the iPad and check on what all the papers were saying, and I'd be at the newsagents at 5am,'' he says. ''During the day I'd walk around the lake worrying about what was going to happen. Julia was less stressed than I was. I don't know how she coped.''
Suddenly, the deal was done and Mathieson was in limbo.

Now he has found his purpose - in a shed. More correctly, 550 of them, with more springing up every week.
He is the patron of the Australian Men's Shed Association, a movement that grants a special place for men who otherwise wouldn't have much to do.

In country towns and cities, old halls and disused sheds are being converted to hives of activity where men - a lot of them retired or lacking social outlets for one reason or another - congregate around wood-working equipment, welding gear and lathes, there to tinker and share stories and a cup of tea, fire up barbecues and mess around with computers.

The sheds - with $3.3 million of federal money over three years, but mostly local funding - are credited with more than getting men out of their houses. The movement's research suggests they are saving 1500 lonely men each year from resorting to suicide. At Narromine, where the scout hall built in 1929 now has no Scouts, one of the men nods towards an old fellow and relates that he had lost his sight and, unable to read, the days had become unbearably long.

The elderly man's wife had become worried that he was losing his will to live. He wouldn't get out of bed. He was introduced to the men's shed at the scout hall and now he is up before dawn on shed days, Tuesdays and Thursdays, hardly able to wait to get down there with his mates.

Mathieson has a plan to focus national and international attention on the men's sheds movement.
The Queen is expected to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth in October and he wants to persuade her to visit a shed that will be built in Kings Park in the city. No point, he seems to suggest, in having friends in the highest places without introducing them to other parts of his world.
Travelling with Mathieson and his mates around the outback this week, it became clear he is a chameleon.

One of his friends said: ''Tim lives in the now''. Mathieson says: ''I like the disparity of this life.''

He breezes through the vastly varied worlds that life has served him with an airy ease, as if it were all one. Blessed with a near photographic memory, he devours media for political insights and can recite almost any detail, just as he can name every motorbike he has owned since childhood. Julia is ''PM27'' (the 27th prime minister), George Bush jnr was ''President43''.

It wasn't always so. ''I first met Julia in 2004. She was a client at a salon called Heading Out in St Kilda where I was head stylist,'' Mathieson says. ''It took me a while to ask whether she was a state or federal member. I think she was slightly intrigued that I didn't know.''

It was a year before he bumped into her on a tram and suggested they might catch up.
''She was off to Vietnam and it was another month or so before I rang and asked her out to lunch.''

The relationship is so comfortable now he mentions he gets comfort from religion. He attends the Anglican church from time to time - despite Julia's atheism - and when a young man went every Sunday. ''Religion has never come up with Julia and me,'' he says. ''I don't think we've ever mentioned it.''

It's the sort of comfort he takes into daily life, wherever he goes.

In Bourke, he peels a yabbie with the deputy mayor. In the rough opal mining settlement of Lightning Ridge, he chuckles at stories from miners about how the town's population is officially 2000, but there are so many blokes who don't want to be found that the stores sell enough bread and groceries for 5000 or more. In the old gold town of Gulgong, he gets behind a hotel bar to pull a beer. And in Buckingham Palace, he says to the Queen: ''You again?''. Hardly surprising that he has been dubbed the First Bloke.

When he decided to do the men's shed tour, he phoned three friends from his Shepparton days: David McNamara, Mathieson's housemate before Julia, who works in the construction industry and is known as ''the King''; Malcolm ''Syd'' Grieves, a teacher from Warrnambool, and Peter ''Pothole'' Coulter, a film and television producer from Melbourne.

The former country boys, who once rode motorbikes together and spent long nights at the Dookie pub, joyfully piled into a camper van and filled the portable cooler to accompany their old buddy ''Matho''.
Coulter's task was to produce a video of the tour to promote men's sheds, but the real idea seems to have been a boys' road trip. ''Yes, it's a case of the good old boys getting together to visit the old boys,'' says Mathieson.

Leading the party is the Men's Shed Association's marketing and communications manager, Andrew Stark.
He was an agent in the Australian Federal Police for 21 years and managed security for the former foreign minister Alexander Downer and then for Gillard when she was the deputy prime minister. He left the force to become Gillard's adviser and made headlines for attending National Security Committee meetings of cabinet on her behalf. He still bridles at the controversy during last year's election campaign and says he felt like fodder in a dirty political war of leaks and counter-leaks.

A committed Christian, he studied theology some years ago with the idea of helping the disadvantaged. With the election over and the knowledge that political advising was no longer for him, he applied for the job with the shed association. Now he finds himself travelling with his old boss's partner, tending to a movement where men everywhere help themselves, no politics involved. Just sheds.

For the original and more photos click HERE

Friday, May 27, 2011

Ginger Meggs Billycart Derby

Ginger Meggs Billycart Derby - is on Sunday 26th June 2011  ..

The organisers Central Coast Community Chest are looking for support to build billycarts for the event. Not just any old billy cart.. the organsisers have specs for the construction of the carts for the event...

Bateau Bay Mens Shed have already commenced construction of a Billy Cart.

for more information have a look at the event website

Mannering Park Mens Shed


Bruce Wall, Rob Regnis and John Sharples chat after the meeting


Bruce Wall is keen to start a Men's Shed in Mannering Park. At the Maitland Men's Shed Expo it was suggested that he invite the Central Coast Shed Shed Cluster to come and speak to interested men in the local area.

The Mannering Park Precinct Committee suppored the idea. Kim Hopkins and John Sharples from the Central Coast Shed Cluster were invited to attend and addresss an initial public meeting. The aim of this meeting was to assess interest and enthusiasm for the Mannering Park Men's Shed Program.

Around 20 members of the local community attended the Mannering Park Community Hall. Both John and Kim spoke of the success of Men's Sheds in improving the lives of men and their role in community. The Central Coast Shed Cluster óffered support for the group to move their project foward and join with the many sheds across the Central Coast that enrich the lives of the men that attend and the communities that engage with them.

Doug Vincent and Sue Wyn attended from Wyong Shire Council and offered their support for developing a Men's Shed in Mannering Park. Both are keen to see a shed succeed in the local area and encouraged the group to work with the Central Coast Shed Cluster who could offer experience and expertise in the planning and development of the Men's Shed.

With enthusiasm, the 20 men in the room voted to progress the Mannering Park Men's Shed Project.

Next meeting of the Mannering Park Men's Shed Project
10.30 am
Thursday
2 June 2011
Library Room
Mannering Park Community Hall
Dunvegan Street
Mannering Park

Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Alan Jenkins Seminar at Green Central

Alan Jenkins presents a role play with Simon
Alan Jenkins presented an excellent seminar on
"Making it fair"  
respectful intervention with disadvantaged young people 
who have enacted violence and abuse.

The workshop addressed the politics of intervention by highlighting dilemmas and principles for just and respectful practice. Invitational Practice fosters a foundation for fairness, accountability to the experiences of childhood, and the discovery of respectful ethics – all were outlined and demonstrated by Alan in the workshop.

The workshop highlighted practical ideas in the following dilemmas: 
  • How to challenge abusive behaviour without reproducing abuse.
  • How to address young people’s own experiences of victimization and oppression without sacrificing a priority on responsibility and accountability for their own abusive actions.
  • How can we work with shame without shaming young people.
The seminar was attended by 50 members of the Central Coast  community interested in learning these skills to handle difficult situations working with young people.

The Seminar was hosted by the Central Coast Men's Interagency , sponsored by Interrelate Family Centres and supported by the Central Coast Shed Cluster

Central Coast Men's Sheds had a strong presence at the event. Six members of the Cluster committee attended and six sheds were represented. Those that attended found there was broad application of the techniques that Alan Jenkins demonstrated.

The workshop was held at Green Central the facility at Somersby run by Youth Connections. There have been many improvments to the site by the 60 youth placements that have worked on the site in the last year. Green Central provided excellent support for the workshop setup, very presentable pastries for morning tea and a lunch of sandwiches, canapes and drinks on the front veranda.
photo courtesy D.Maxwell

2322 Mens Shed Annual General Meeting

The 2322 Men's Shed held their Annual General Meeting for 2011.

This shed is going from strength to strength. It has a growing membership and strong links with the community. 

The members of this shed are keen on mentoring and have been training for this role.  

John Bell

The Shed now has a full 7 member committee and a full executive of four.

Congratulations to John Bell on his reelection as President and Chris Smith in his role as Secretary.






Monday, May 23, 2011

Sad Blokes Workshop

Sad Blokes Workshop
The number of sad blokes in our society is increasing. Across most ethnic and age groupings men are over-represented in measures of poor mental health including depression and suicide. This is a serious challenge not only for the men but for the families they belong to.

This practical workshop presents an overview of why the increase in depression in men and what factors are contributing to it. Using case studies, research and the experience of the presenter and participants, the workshop will examine how depression shows itself in men and the strategies men often use to manage it. There will be plenty of time in the workshop for participants to share their experiences of supporting men who are depressed and to learn other helpful strategies. The workshop will also examine protective factors that help men stay well and enable them to respond to their depression.

With depression as a major risk factor for suicide, the workshop will examine suicidal behaviour in men and what can be done to support the man in crisis.


  • Dates: Thursday 30th June & Friday 1st July 2011
  • Time: 9 am to 4.30 pm each day
  • Cost: Funded by Uniting Care Mental Health for Carers in the family. Family & Mental Health Program
  • Location: Asquith Leagues Club
  • Address: 11-37 Alexandria Parade, Waitara
  • Facilitator: Barry Taylor
  • RSVP: by Friday 17th June 2011 with your name, organisation, email, postal address and contact phone number.

Please email training@ucmh.org.au
or phone Julie on 9689 2860 to register
.
    _______________

    Workshop Facilitator: Barry Taylor
    Barry has worked in suicide prevention for 24 years at the local, national and international levels including thirteen years in Australia. Barry is known especially for his lecturing, conference presentations and training work in mental health promotion, suicide risk assessment, Postvention and bereavement by suicide, loss and grief, spirituality and men’s well-being. He is currently the Suicide Prevention Co-ordinator at Wairarapa District Health Board and a Researcher at the Social Psychiatry & Population Mental Health Research Unit, University of Otago Wellington. He was a Winston Churchill Fellow in 1990.

    Saturday, May 21, 2011

    Men's Shed Labrador Garage Sale

    Men's Shed Labrador next big day will be 11th June  holding a “Garage Sale” outside the Shed.

    Surplus tools will be on sale, together with toys and other stuff made in the shed.

    Hope to raise some cash, so spread the word!!

    Thanks Dad Photo Competition

    Thanks Dad National Photo Competition will be running again as a part of Dad's Day Out 19 June at Colongra Bay Park. 

    Photos from the National People's Choice Exhibition will be displayed in the foyer of Wyong Shire Council as promotion for the event and the competition in the week leading up to the event Monday 13th to Friday 17 June.

    Contact
    Anna Dowley
    Ph: 4390 7888
    Email: anna@sanremo.org.au

    Thursday, May 19, 2011

    Large Sealable Drum

    Very Large Blue Drum available with sealable lid. ....

    for any shed interested please contact Kim at the cluster email


    [ About the size of a 44 gallon drum ]

    Stackable Blue Plastic Chairs

    San Remo Community Men's Shed have come into an excess of 30 heavy duty plastic chairs. ... very stackable!!!

    You can have any colour as long as it is Blue!!!

    For furthere information contact Will at the San Remo Community Men's Shed at sanremoshed@gmail.com

    Wednesday, May 18, 2011

    Alan Jenkins Seminar

    The Alan Jenkins Seminar is fast filling up !!!

    The 10 Tickets purchased for representatives of Men's Sheds to attend have been taken up strongly and only a few remain. If you have not nominated a representative from your shed please contact Darren as soon as possible to ensure reservation of your place.

    2322 Mens Shed Annual General Meeting

    Members

    Please be aware that 2011-2012    2322 Men's Shed Membership Fees are due on the 25th May 2011, the date of our Annual General Meeting. The attachments with this email are the documents needed for the AGM. These include, Committee Nomination Forms, the Minutes of the 2010 - 2011 AGM, a Letter of Notification of the AGM, and the Minutes of the last General Meeting on the 30th April 2011.

    Your attendance at the AGM will be greatly appreciated

    John Bell
    President/Secretary
    2322 Men's Shed Association
    Ph: (02) 4964 4542
    M: 0459 436 340
    e: mensshed2322@hotmail.com
     
    ABN: 17201 875 742
    INC: INC9892537

    Tuesday, May 17, 2011

    Blokes Cards


    A new reprinted and rebranded Blokes Card is available for distribution.

    The Blokes Card is a double sided wallet card for men who might need a contact number quickly for assistance, guidance or to find a friendly service at just the right time.

    Take one for yourself or give one to a mate.

    Mens Interagency - Central Coast

    The Mens Interagency Çentral Coast meets monthly in the Tuggerah Lakes Community Centre Function Room.


    Service providers, mens groups and other organisations on the Central Coast working with men meet to discuss the issues', challenges and opportunities to develop resources and services.


    The group met today and discussed opportunities for working with the corportate sector to deveop sustainable social enterprises led by John Roberts of Community Consultations.The group also heard from Sally Jope of the Northern Women's Health Centre about innovative programs developed for men -


    Sally also notified the group about the Baby Expo at The Entrance Community Centre for Saturday 8 October 2011. The Entrance Men's Shed ran a very successful bar-b-que and stall at the Men's Shed for this event last year and plan to make the same facilities available this year.

    Mobile Men's Shed

    The Mobile Men’s Shed is used in a variety of ways:
    • passive display
    • workshop activity centre
    • community engagement
    • machine active
    Here are number of the places where the Mobile Men’s Shed deployed at community events -
    Launch of Mobile Men’s Shed, Kincumber Men’s Shed, August 2009
    Bateau Bay, Fun Day 2009
    Central Coast Community Congress, Ourimbah 2010
    Dad’s Day Out, Gosford 2010
    Kid''s Day Out, The Entrance 2010
    Nailing Depression, Memorial Park, The Entrance 2010
    Dad's Day Out - Colongra Bay 2010
    NAIDOC week, Narara 2010
    Official Opening, The Entrance Men’s Shed, 2010
    Cynthia Street Neighbourhood Centre Family Day, 2010
    Join the Dots, Warnervale Community Centre, 2010.
    Davistown Regatta, 2010
    Wyong Family Fun Day, The Entrance, 2010
    Official Opening 2322 Men’s Shed, 2011
    G.O.A.T.S Music Festival 2011
    Disability Expo, Mingara Recreation Club, 2011
    Watanobbi Fun Day, The Benevolent Society, 2011
    Ettalong Baptist Church Fete, May 2011

    Baby Expo

    Keep the day free and come on down to The Entrance Men's Shed on the day for a superior Sausage Sandwich and pickup a bargain from the wooden toys, household and desktop items on display and sale.

    Wrestling with Dad

    Wyong Neighbourhood Centre Community Eco Garden

    WYONG NEIGHBOURHOOD CENTRE COMMUNITY ECO GARDEN

    WE ARE LOOKING FOR INTERESTED PEOPLE TO JOIN OUR NEW COMMUNITY ECO GARDEN

    COME ALONG TO OUR MEETING AND FIND OUT MORE

    Where: Wyong Neighbourhood Centre Old School,
    cnr Ranken Court and Alison Rd Wyong

    When: Thursday 2nd June, 3pm

    Contact: Colette Baron 0488225004
    colette@wyongneighbourhoodcentre.org.au

    The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses.  ~Hanna Rion

    Sunday, May 15, 2011

    NSW Mens Shed Association 2011 Zone Representative Elections

    Nomination of Candidates 
    2011 Zone Representative Elections

    As explained in previous e-mails the elections for a Regional Representative will be held simultaneously in the nine NSW Zones. These nine representatives will then constitute the NSWMSA committee.

    The election process will be:-
    ·  Sheds nominate one candidate.
    ·  NSWMSA circulates the final list of candidates and their details to all Sheds in the Zone.
    ·  After four weeks assessment each Shed votes for one candidate.
    ·  NSWMSA informs all Sheds the results for their Zone and also the successful candidates in the other Zones who will then constitute the new NSW committee.

    The purpose of this  email is to start the first two stages of the process.

    Nomination of candidates

    Nominations for candidates must be received by NSWMSA before 1st June 2011. 

    Each independent Shed that is registered with AMSA can nominate ONE candidate. The nominee can be a member of their Shed or a member of another registered Shed in your Zone.

    The nomination form is attached and needs to be completed and signed by the member who  Is registered with AMSA as the Shed contact.  A seconder is required and the form should be signed by the nominee to confirm that they are willing to stand for this position.

    The completed form can be posted to the Secretary, NSWMSA, PO Box 68, Windale, NSW 2306  to arrive before 1st June or the completed form can be scanned and e-mailed to nswmsa@mensshed.net  to arrive before 1st June.

    The AMSA Shed Registration number for the nominating Shed must be quoted to verify the nomination. 

    NSWMSA will confirm receipt of the nomination by e-mail to the Contact member and to the nominee (their e-mail address is required for this).

    The nominee is requested to forward a short biography (not more than 200 words) and a photograph (optional) by 1st June. These will be circulated to all Sheds in the Zone who are eligible to vote.  It is then the candidates responsibility to contact the other Sheds in the Zone to give them the chance to get to know him. Details of the other Sheds in your Zone are attached.

    Voting

    Voting will close on 8 July 2011.  Details of the voting procedure and voting forms will be sent out when the nomination of candidates has been completed.

    Ted Donnelly – Interim Secretary