Bateau Bay Men's Shed

Friday, October 14, 2016

In early August Clive Tubnor, one of our long standing members, attended a function where the new member for Dobel, Emma McBride MP was present.
He introduced himself & in the course of conversation the activities of Men's Shed movement were discussed.
Emma showed keen interest in what he had to say & asked if it would be possible to visit our Shed at a later date. A visit was arranged for 26th September & she arrived at 10am in time for morning tea.
Emma was gracious enough to answer all the questions the members had without being too political.
She then asked to be shown around the Shed as well as the Community garden at the rear of our premises.
She was suprised by the mens many activities as well as the machinery we have & left with a lasting impression of what Men's Sheds are all about. As soon as Emma arrived back at her office she posted the days events on her Facebook page together with photos. It turned into a worthwhile visit for all concerned.

Saturday, August 27, 2016

The shed has formed a strong relationship with the Central Coast Amateur Bee Keepers & have been working with them on their experiments to increase bee & insect population.
2 of these experiments are shown below.

A Swarm Box is the start of a Bee Hive


Racks inside the swarm box; there are about 7 when installed

Perspex cover over the bee's entry for transportation

The completed unit ready for hanging in a suitable tree or elsewhere

This is a Critter Castle..........Home for all sorts of insects

AGM results for Bateau Bay Men's Shed Inc.

Held 9 August 2016

Present were 45 Financial Members as well as John Sharples (AMSA - NSW Secretary/ Public Officer) & Colin Henson representing ADSSI Home Living Australia our major sponsor.

As there were only enough nominations to cover the vacant positions the members were not required to vote.

The uncontested positions are as follows:

Fred Murray President

Graham Craike Vice President

Richard Howison Treasurer/Secretary

Peter Crabbe Public Officer

General Committee

Clive Tubnor

John Mills

Ron Belshaw

John Innis

Alex Lee

The President also reported :

We are into our 8^th year of operation this year.

Unfortunately this year we have lost some members due to their illnesses.

Shed members have been present at their memorial services, offering help & support to the immediate family. The shed executive hopes & encourages you all to continue this important & comforting roll in the future.

It’s good to know you understand the Shed belongs to you; the members, and you are making decisions for the good of all when asked to do so. The executive need & appreciate all members input.

Once again we have had a busy year that has past all too quickly.

The committee has been slowly improving & updating workshop machinery & purchasing upmarket consumables to make life a bit easier for our members.

We participated in numerous events & functions some to raise money & others just to spread information about the Men’s shed movement.

We continued to support the Samaritan’s Purse for children in 3^rd world countries, now in its 20^th year . 400 blackboards with chalk as well as 60 small toy cars; were made & have been donated. Some members donated bags of educational needs & clothing. All these will be packed & shipped to New Guinea, Vietnam, Fiji, Thailand, & a few other countries close to home.

Due to a strict clause in our insurance policy governing age, we find it impossible to host Whoosh before and after School Care children in the workshop, but we still have a strong relationship with them.

Graham Craike & his disciples made stacks of possum boxes & they remain a good source of income for us.

He also tried his hand at micro bat boxes.

We have become involved with the Central Coast Amateur Beekeepers & have made numerous experimental items for them, that could lead to another good source of income for us.

Then there were all those small projects you were involved in, for people who simply call in seeking assistance, advice, a repair, or to have something made.

Our members are given until August 30 to become financial so our financial membership at present totals 65 with an average daily attendance of 25.

This shows the importance this Shed has for many men in our community.

We all need to acknowledge the aid & support we receive from ADSSI Home Living Australia. Their ongoing support & donations from the day we were offered the use of this building up to the present time has been nothing but outstanding.

Thanks to ADSSI this Shed is un-rivaled, with equipment and facilities second to none; but this will not continue if we don’t look ahead and plan for the future.

I wish to thank the outgoing executive and committee for their efforts & help during the year and especially their willingness to accept responsibility in their various rolls.

To the Administration Graham Craike, Richard Howison, Peter Crabbie, & general committee, John Mills, Clive Tubnor, Ron Belshaw, Alex Lee, & John Innis my sincere thank you.

The committee also thanks Robert Colet who needed to resign mid-year for personal reasons but still managed to keep our finances in check.

The eagerness of you all to be involved in running the Shed has been invaluable.

Once again we should all be grateful to John Innis for his enthusiasm in picking up cakes for morning tea every day as well as looking after the timber storage, garbage disposal, organising & catering for our regular BBQ’s & the myriad of other things he does for the shed. Our thanks to you John; it is very much appreciated. Also a special thank you to Barry Mitchell & his team for their efforts in keeping our amenities clean.

I now declare all positions vacant & wish the incoming Executive and Committee a successful year knowing the Shad has policies in place that will make the transition as easy as possible.

Would the returning officer please take the chair.

Fred Murray President

Saturday, June 4, 2016

AMSA sent us an Email with an invitiation to take advantage of the BBQ Plumbing Plus would be hosting to aid a local Men's Shed raise funds. The participating store in our area

Eagles Plumbing at Long Jetty.

They were to provide everything but asked us to have a few members organise the cooking etc. & others to answer any questions the Tradies may have about the Men's Shed Movement.

We are to eventually receive all the funds raised. There was also a CAROMA promotion attached to the program where for every toilet suite sold in the months of May to 30th June a donation of $5 would be sent directly to AMSA. Although the Tradies were in a hurry to pickup their supplies & get to site at 6.30am we managed to raise around $400.

We sincerely thank Eagles Plumbing for their generiosity & enthusiasm in this fund raiser.

And not forgetting the contribution of our volunteers

Graham Craike - John Innis - Clive Tubnor - Robert Colet

Peter Crabbe -Chris Hendley

Clive, John & Graham with an early starter

Come on fellas you've only served one customer

What's Graham doing........SUPERVISING!

Mission Australia pre-school at Tumbi Umbi, asked if we would be interested in making a Mud Kitchen for their playground. Nowdays pre-schools are being encouraged to opt for natural wood products
& to educate children in the outdoors wherever possible.

One of our newer members Jim Dickason, reckoned it would be a bit of a challenge for him so he opted to have a go at making one. The rustic effect is all the go with this type of thing, so we supplied it in the rough (with no chance of splinters of course) un-painted.

The results of his efforts are below

Nice one Jim

Ross Jenkins went on the Postman's Riverboat Cruise up the Hawkesbury River recently & brought in some information for the boys to read.

After much interest & some phone calls it was decided by the members to go on this excursion before if became too cold to enjoy. Members were informed that this outing could include women so most of the boys brought their wives along too.

We wanted to go on a day the Shed was not open and it was suggested 30th May would be the best day for all.

There were 23 members and wives supposed to be going but, Ray Thompson contacted the dreaded virus going around & Andrew being Andrew, forgot the date so the number was cut to 19.

It turned out to be a most enjoyable day, the weather was excellent & the narration (by the Captain) of the area was outstanding. Most of us never knew there was so much history and activity in the area from the late 1800's.