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Are Men's Sheds are only for retired fellows? (That seems to be what lots of the media and other descriptions suggest.)
I'm 34, have a bit of a background in furniture-making, but now work in IT and want to get back in to woodwork. Would I feel out of place?
Thanks!
-sam.
Go and check out your local and see if there are any members your age (which I am assuming you mean by being out of place.)
if age is not a concern go and see if there are people you can relate to or work with or learn from or teach
It depends on the particular men's shed.
The Australian mens shed association (AMSA) defines a Mens Shed as follows.
So apart from some special cases the membership should be open to younger men.Quote:
AMSA recognises as a Men’s Shed any community-based, non-profit, non-commercial organisation that is accessible to all men and whose primary activityis the provision of a safe and friendly environment where men are able to work onmeaningful projects at their own pace in their own time in the company of othermen. A major objective is to advance the well being and health of their malemembers.
Upon application, AMSA may admit to membership a Shed, which conforms to theabove definition in all respects. Where its membership is restricted to Aboriginalor Torres Strait Islander members for cultural purposes, or restricted to residentsof private facilities such as Aged Care and Residential Care facilities such shedwill be admitted.
The Mens shed I am a member of is just one activity of a local Senior Citizens Centre (SCC).
To be a member of our shed, members have to first join the SCC centre and to join that they have to be 55+ years old.
Despite this age restriction to membership of the SCC we do have younger members that can join via a special exemption.
Personally I would like to see even more younger members join the shed, but most of the older blokes are not supportive of this.
We are located in a residential suburb so we cannot operate outside normal working hours which together with supervisory issues means we have restricted opening hours that don't suit most working people and this limits the number of younger blokes that can join.
I'm also a demonstrator at a Mens shed in a high care facility retirement village. It's an official mens shed registered with AMSA but its membership is restricted to residents of the retirement village. There are many reasons for this not the least being that the type of activities that are carried out in this shed would drive younger members nuts.
BTW I am one of the youngest members in our shed and as I have a perfectly fine workshop at home and I love working alone, I initially only went along to help set up their new shed (electrics, plumbing mechanical etc). These places really like members that have a useful that can contribute to shed operations so if you can offer to do maintenance or teach skills you will be welcomed. I also though these old "Codgers" (of course I am not one of those!!!) will have nothing to teach me but I have been proven quite wrong on that score. Yes, there are many members running around not achieving much but I've learned that achievement is not the point of these places.
Thanks for the thoughts. Yeah, I'll head down there and see how it goes! I'll let you know.
@Pac man: I did mean "the only young one" when I said "out of place", it's true! But of course, that's nothing to do with it really. :) It's just a matter of being a bit embarrased about my lack of skills with tools...
@BobL: I like what you say about achievement not being the point. :) Sounds healthy! Maybe I'll get some (wonky) mortices cut after all. hehe
I was the young bloke at the shed I go to for some time when I was in my early thirties ( about 10 years ago) You can handle it.
Yes, very healthy.Quote:
Originally Posted by samwilson
While there are some very talented older guys at these sheds I would not be embarrassed AT ALL. My experience is that the majority of the guys have at most some DIY experience or haven't touched a piece of wood in years or at all.
Of the 80 or so guys on our books we're lucky to have 4 former manual arts teachers, a half dozen tradies (not all wood), a half dozen farmers who are pretty handy at most things, several machinists and a couple of builders. After that the ranks thin our considerably. We have some engineers, one is very handy but the others have some DIY experience but have spent too long at a desk, then it's financial, medical, legal, publishers, academics, small business etc. Some of these guys have never touched tools or machines at all before coming to the shed.