“Send him down to the Shed” is the theme for this year’s Menz Shed week being held throughout New Zealand in early September. Activities are being organised by sheds in the Waikato to promote the week.
Menzshed’s new home in Carlyle Street.
Men of the newly revived Cambridge Menz Shed are renovating the recently acquired old Leamington dairy factory. Myles Prebble, spokesman for the shed, says it is “all go” at present. Men are cleaning out the inside of the building, and the outside is being prepared for painting.
Myles Prebble has helped revive the Menzshed in Cambridge. Photo: Roy Pilott.
Once cleaned and machinery installed, the shed will be ready for business. Prebble is encouraging Cambridge seniors to get out of their armchairs and “call by the shed”.
“It is just a great place to be, yarning with old mates and making new ones,” he said.
Following on from their successful Men’s Health Expo, the Te Awamutu Community Menz Shed is embracing the week with a presentation by Sanders Pharmacy about gout.
Historically regarded as an “old man’s” problem, it has become relevant in today’s fast-moving world, chairman Richard Cato said.
Richard Cato
“Getting older men to speak about and seek help is a continuing problem for health professionals. When they are within their own company, they tend to “open up” more about their situation.
“Loneliness is one of the biggest killers of men, especially when they finish work. The shed offers men a sense of purpose, a safe, caring, and supporting environment,” he says.
A quote from their recently published “Sheddies” book sums up what happens to men who become armchair-bound and stay home.
“I have found the comradeship and fellowship at the Menz Shed most rewarding. It stimulates the mental well-being of fellows, and I have enjoyed teaching others the skills I have learned over the years. I tried to get my brother-in-law to join but he turned me down and just ‘cabbaged away’. I am still going strong and enjoying it at 89, doing what I love doing, working with wood,” says long time shed member, Ian Stratford.
Te Awamutu Menz Shed leader Richard Cato shows the branches’ recent Sheddies publication to national chairman David Broadhead.
The key message, Ian says, is “send them down to the shed”, where they will meet new mates, learn new skills, and most of all drink cups of tea.
Helping the community is a big part of the shed’s ethos, says Cato.
“Couples who are downsizing their homes, or where a partner has died, often do not have a place to store excess tools or other equipment and often they generously donate it to their local Menz Shed. Such donations are very welcome, and are either added to the equipment used in the sheds or are recycled through garage sales.”
See: At last a place of their own
Waipā District Council’s property projects specialist, Andrew Don and Cambridge Community Menzshed outside the historic Leamington Dairy Factory. Photo: Supplied.
