Can anyone tell me how to go about setting up a Men's/Ladies's shed please. My little town ( Mallala S.A. ) seems to be an ideal place for one. It would allso assist the local kids I rekon.
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Can anyone tell me how to go about setting up a Men's/Ladies's shed please. My little town ( Mallala S.A. ) seems to be an ideal place for one. It would allso assist the local kids I rekon.
Hi cookie48.
Step 1. Put together a small core group of blokes, who are interested in establishing a Men's Shed.
2. Get a few public meetings happening, to find out if your community wants/needs a Men's Shed.
3 If the answer is yes, the next step is finding a venue (shed) and an auspicing body, Councils and local medical centres might be helpful.
4 Try to find a shed close by to advise you.
5 Register with your State body and ask for help.
Register with this Assoc. Men's Sheds - Australia | Australian Men's Shed Association | Mens Sheds Association Australia
Good Luck. It will take some time to get your shed off the ground and running, but well worth while for your community when it happens.
Paul Fannon.
Coordinator.
TasmanMensShed.
If there are little pockets of people already doing their thing, then don't try to re-invent the wheel, it's already going round. In a small town where I was once living there was a very well established group of wood turners working out of each others sheds and then displaying their finished product for viewing and sale at a disused railway building, open on weekends. This is what I mean, these s.i.g.s (special interest groups) are out there just waiting to be discovered. Another group is the scrollers; I believe they bring their own saws to each others living rooms and scroll away in group therapy. But, big but, no-one is waving a flag shouting "I'm here I'm here". You'll have to go underground and find these people by word of mouth, they don't advertise in the yellow pages.
If there is already a building you can use, use it. Again, don't re-invent the wheel when easier options are there. The group I was familiar with had to build their own, they got a grant, it can be done. From personal preferences and experience, the more people you involve in the actual physical building and/or setting up of the shed, the slowerer and harderer it will be. Involve a few core people who can decide for others as well as themselves and get stuck in. One final thing:
"shed... noun
a small, rough building or lean-to, used for storage, workshop, etc.
keep it really really simple.