Well, here we are. The little outback township in WA, edge of the wheatbelt, had introduced me to..ta da..a Men’s Shed.

Young Maurice..well, he was hitting 80 at the time, so a bit of poetic license, there..was instrumental in getting it Off The Ground.

He had to have a project..or a Something to get his teeth stuck into. I caught a glimpse of an Awesome set of teeth, one night..see post labelled Maurice.

With a bit of help, it was up and running in no time flat. The land was donated/loaned, maybe, by the shire. Funding came from various local and state govt bodies..all I really know, is he got a grant. Slab poured, shed bits arrived, willing helpers poured in, and there, one day, it was. We had a grand opening day, a fancy schmancy board out the front with artistically placed spammers and suchlike, denoting the name of our shed. Various machinery wasn’t long in coming, to be fixed up. One or three tractors..not the big sods they have today, mind you…little ones. Thirty or fifty horsepower, maybe. In various states of repair, rust was a common sight. They got themselves a sandblaster type cabinet..whack your bit of metal in, close the cabinet, hit the go button, put your hand into a set of gloves, and spray the aforesaid bit of metal with excoriating sand. Worked a treat!

One of the local stalwarts was appointed the main head honcho..he seemed to know everything about every bit of machinery ever invented, where to get bits for it, and how to sort it all out. Various old cars came in as well..mudguards were a tad fragile..heh..you can’t get too enthusiastic with the sand blaster….the blessed things fall apart if you look at them the wrong way.

Many’s the hour spent happily de-rusting bits and pieces there.

So, that shed saw a steady stream of old stuff, past its use by date, being given a new lease of life. Every now and then, strrrange items came in. A caravan, all aluminium..panels dangling off it, eg.

So, people brought their own stuff in for the most part, and worked on it..with occasional help from all and sundry. Bill..you got a spare half hour?..Sure thing! Two hours later..Yeahp, you got most of it..just a spot over there you missed..

When I lobbed in Queensland, it wasn’t all that long before I was pointed in the direction of their version of a men’s shed. A bit different..city type one. Noo tractors there! No old model Tees, either. This lot had a list of projects on the go..punters came in, wanting their precious artifact fixed, maybe put back into running order. There is an old Victa lawn mower out the back..seemingly defied all attempts to get it working. Not for the want of trying, mind you! It seems that they were waiting for spare parts to turn up, eh. There’s a whole host of experts there..electrical guy. Welder guy. Small motor guy. A lathe guy, painting guy or two. The resident health and safety rep..he could be a bit sudden, but I suppose he had his reasons..not every guy there could run a particular bit of gear, some of it needed almost a ticket to run. Some downright dangerous tools were available…
Two people on this saw..and only a couple of people out of us..fifty or so little old gentlemen, were allowed anywhere near it. Downright scary!

We had schools wanting benches fixed up, tables fixed or made..visits from a heap of eight year olds, watching how our experts Did Things. Morning teas arrived here and there..even local pollies got into the act.

Most pollies have long realised that for them to be welcomed at all, to any unisex gathering.., be it a group of women or men, they need incentive. ie, a sufficient bribe, to garner any attention at all. In our case, a heap of morning tea usually suffices..although, the bribes tend to ramp up according to the perceived calibre of the audience. Captains of commerce, for example, require something more substantial. Along the lines of promises of money, that you and I as ratepayers provide in the long run, spent in appropriate to the audience ways. Especially if there is a journalist present. Which the polly usually alerts, them deeming that a quiet promise isnt as effective as flashbulbs, front page articles, some controversy, and publicity.
We didnt rate an alert to a journalist..which most of us were grateful for. Pictures..ah…put in the local paper..ah..its bad enough when the state mens shed lot promote some of their sheds..we might have escaped so far..
Membership increases by word of mouth amongst us retired lot…and a lot of the time we have a wife, who points her little old gentleman in our direction.’Out from under her feet; is heard fairly often!