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.

  

A map of the tour including return journey

The public wharf at Brooklyn

 

The beast we cruised on

 

Some of the Members & wives down stairs after enjoying lunch

 

 The President of Milson Island & his sub-ordinate waiting for the mail.

More New Equipment

As promised here is the rest of the equipment we purchased with our grant through AMSA.

Our newly installed (double drum) Drum Sander

This Sander will enable us sand large flat items in a very fast manner & eliminate the tedious use of a belt sander.

The metal lathe suds pump

 

This fluid pump will be used on the metal lathe & will keep the work piece cool as well as preserve the life of the cutting tools.

 

 

We also placed an article in the Express Advocate on the 18/03/16

acknowledging the Federal Government's Funding support to the Shed movement in general.  

There are a lot of happy campers @ Bateau Bay Shed

 

Yahoo!!

This is the first of our purchases with the grant ($3500) from the Federal Government through AMSA the head body for Men's Sheds Australia.

A new Makita Compound Slide Saw with a 305dia blade.

It's basically the same size as the saw it replaces but Makita have addressed all the faults (which were many) of the previous model.

The members are extremely happy with this purchase & know that if it is looked after & treated with respect it will give us many years of service as did the previous one.

(Also combined in the grant is enough capital to purchase a floor Drum Sander & a Suds Pump for our Metal Lathe.

These items will be on the blog after delivery)

We acknowledge & are most grateful  to the Federal Government for its ongoing support to all Men's Sheds via funding, without which most of them would be struggling if not nonexistent.  

The members at Bateau Bay would like to thank Karen McNamara MP in particular; for her wholehearted support & enthusiastic approach  to the Men's Sheds movement on the Central Coast. Without people like Karen the movement would be nowhere what it is today. 

 

Another  Fundraiser

 

Early January some of our members were discussing raising money for various Charities. 

We raised quite a lot last year for the Prostate Foundation Big BBQ ($1424), so it was suggested we support The McGrath Breast Cancer Foundation this time. 

Since our members love their BBQ's we decided to have one for 3 consecutive weeks starting with Tuesday 19th Jan, then 

Wed 27th & finally Thurs 4th Feb.

They were a great success & the boys parted with around $400 to $450. 

As is usual we will be going dollar for dollar from our finances so the Foundation can expect a nice donation of around the

 $800 to $900 mark.

A big thank you to the guys who helped with the organising, cooking & claening up afterwards. 

A great effort fellars for such a worthy cause

 

Larissa is a lady who had serious health problems. 

Her doctor has brought her back to be as healthy as possible. 

She wanted to show her appreciation for his efforts & asked if we could make a box to house the torch she had bought.

As he is a keen surfer, she wanted an inscribed surfboard plaque made & mounted to the top of the box.

Master box maker Graham (that's what he will tell you), took it on & with the help of Tom Green to tweak it they did a great job. 

We even managed to line it with blue felt. 

Nice work Guys