Monthly Archives: July 2020

Since the Margaret River Men’s Shed has made its resources available to females, several ladies have joined the Shed.

Having undergone the necessary safety protocols and led by Honor Denby, the group has been busy executing a number of personal projects on Tuesdays – the day the Shed is purely dedicated to females. It is expected that under Honor’s guidance, the group will become comfortable without any male involvement, other than the occasional training workshop.

Projects include creating wooden puzzles made by Jane Hilton; a number of refurbishing jobs undertaken by Gitte Eyres; and some highly creative hanging spheres made from wine barrel hoops in which potplants are to be suspended designed and created by Honor.

The women were drawn to the Shed by the opportunity to learn new skills, express their creative urges as well as gain access to skills, tools and equipment which would not otherwise be available to them.

The Shed is located in the old Blacksmith building within the historic settlement precinct off Higgins Street. Ladies wishing to join the Shed need only click the blue join button to complete the online Membership Application form.

After four years of planning, negotiating and fundraising, the first step in the construction of the new MR Men’s Shed has begun.

Supervised by local builder, Gordon Temby, a crew from Margaret River Engineering worked with a specialist team from Capel Cranes to lift the iconic water tank and its base from the steel support frame on Wednesday 1 July.

Working at height and following a dedicated plan, the engineering team carefully severed all of the links connecting the base of the tank from the steel frame.

The crane specialists used a sling to lift the tank and its base from the frame and successfully lowered the combined unit to the ground safely. The entire operation was witnessed by a number of MR Shed members including Terry Hutchings, the Chairman.

The steel support frame is to be retained and modified as an entrance statement for the new shed. When completed, the Shed will comprise some 930m2 of space and include meeting facilities for a wide range of community groups to use as an affordable, versatile and accessible meeting place.

While more funding is needed to enable its total completion, Chairman Terry Hutchings said, “The new Shed will enable us to expand our activities, our membership including ladies, our skills base and to widen our offering to the Margaret River community as a whole. We also plan to continue and grow the positive resources to assist the mental well-being of those in our community experiencing mental health problems arising from isolation, loneliness, depression or anxiety.”