Bateau Bay Men's Shed Links with Ireland's Killarney Men's Shed

Killarney Men’s Shed in Ireland approached AMSA for information on a Shed in Killarney in Australia.

Bateau Bay Men’s Shed was approached as we are located very close to Killarney Vale in NSW.

From this initial contact we have begun to exchange information about starting a Shed, Induction procedures, constitutions and governance as well as general chatter about our respective operations.

While the links are still in their early days it is hoped that they may develop and that our exchanges are frequent and rewarding.

Any volunteers to arrange a trip and act as tour guide?

The following is an extract from an early email received from Killarney Shed.

The name of Killarney is derived from Cill Airne in Gaelic means the Church of the Sloes. Cill or Kill is Gaelic for Church. There are a lot of cities, towns and villages with the word in their name. Killarney Vale came after our Killarney I am sure. Can you find out some more about it for us?

With luck we may have someone in our Shed with skills and interests in genealogy that can answer this question.

Santa's Helpers Have Finished Their Last Order

The last of the Christmas toys have left the Shed and all that is required now is for the parents and Grandparents to keep them hidden until Christmas.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a great New Year!

Shed Donates Marimbas to St John Fisher Primary School

Tom Greene had a great time teaching the students how to play the Bass Marimba he had made for the school. This is only 1 of 5 he made as OIC of the 2011 Marimba Team Project. The 4 other instruments were Tenor Marimbas which looked similar but were without the hanging resonance pipes.

The article appeared in the Express Advocate newspaper but was incorrect in stating the instruments were made at the Berkeley Vale Men's Shed as there is no such establishment.

Bateau Bay Shed Supports AMSA at Telstra 500

Four members of the Shed accepted the offer to promote AMSA at the Telstra 500, the final race of the 2011 V8 Supercar championship.

With "fair dinkum sheds" a corporate sponsor of AMSA the chance to jointly promote both organisations was also an opportunity to visit the sponsors pit and chat with the Carl Reindler the driver and his crew.

Our main role was to stand beside the dummy promotion car and hand out posters and talk about the role Sheds have in the community. Most other teams had a collection of 'scantily clad dolly birds' for their promotion team but fair dinkum sheds had to do with 4 grumpy old men.

That said, age and experience will always win over beauty and youth, or so they say!

Christmas Toys for the Salvation Army

The men from the Shed have been very busy over the last couple of months working on a number of toys to be donated to a charity for deserving children at Christmas. The colourful collection on display shows some of the gifts ready for delivery.

Marimbas for St John Fisher School

The Shed has presented 3 Tenor Marimbas and 1 Bass Marimba to St John Fisher School after a lengthy building program. Thanks to Tom and his team the musical instruments will enhance the teaching of music in the school for many years to come.

The quality of construction is only matched by the quality of the music the students have already achieved in the short time they have been playing them in class.

What a great way for the Shed to work in conjunction with our community.

Free At Last

When 'Bessie the Laughing Cow' first started out as a stick of recycled timber little did she know that one day she would be transformed into 'Bateau the Beautiful Bovine'. Today for the first time she was able to feel grass under her rockers and sense the sun on her saddle.

We just hope that she ends up in a good home and that small children will enjoy riding her for many years to come.

'Bateau the Beautiful Bovine' will be donated to the Salvation Army at a Christmas function and they in turn will hopefully find her a good home with lots of happy children to look after her.