“Somebody’s trash is another’s treasure,” as the saying goes, and two more community organisations took giant steps this week to establish themselves in Cambridge’s recycling hall of fame with that ethos.
It is all about teamwork as Menz Shed members race to get the restored Leamington dairy factory ready in time for the grand opening by mayor Susan O’Regan on Saturday. From left: Lester King, John Sheridan, Paul Wadey, Craig Ashby, Barry Harding, Bruce Larnach, Eric Hill, Rob Saywell, Les Walsh, Mike Brace, Mike Gast and Myles Prebble. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
The Cambridge Repair Collective held a repair café at Memorial Park on Sunday aimed at bringing people willing to fix items free of charge with those who have something broken or in need of repair.
Founder Geoff Bentley first started the venture in 2018, but it stalled during Covid.
Geoff Bentley gets to the bottom of why a toaster’s popper stopped working and discovered a couple of fuses have burned wires which required soldering. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Now the Urban Miners volunteer – another community group in the hall of fame – is on the lookout for others who can repair all sorts of item either by sewing or soldering as he was doing to a toaster when The News caught up with him at the Trash n Treasure Market.
“It’s much more useful when you have other people involved. I need to get more people, the ones who love repairing things.”
A group he wants to connect with is the Cambridge Menz Shed which will open its workshop this Saturday nine months after Waipā District Council entered into a community lease agreement for the former Leamington Dairy Factory in Carlyle Street.
Since then, the group of retired men – last count 65 – have transformed the 123-year-old building, with its leaking roof, rotten timber weatherboard cladding and broken windows, into an ultramodern workshop.
The renovation cost $100,000, some in kind and some from donations. Following some vandalism, the building is kitted out with an alarm system and monitored cameras.
Eric Hill in the Menz Shed’s hobby room. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Eric Hill, owner of Print House, plans to dissemble his woodwork shop at home and move it into the Menz Shed hobby room.
John Sheridan’s duties at the workshop are limited, he said. “I’m in charge of pencil sharpening.”
Barry Harding has found plenty to do, he is the scrounger extraordinaire securing cabinets for the group’s smoko room, the first area developed.
“If we didn’t have Barry, we wouldn’t have a kitchen,” said co-founder Mike Gast, who is president of the Te Kūiti Menz Shed.
Barry Harding inside the Menz Shed kitchen kitted out with unwanted joinery cupboards he secured from the retirement village where he lives. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
The building is a Category C Waipā-listed building that had become an eyesore.
Menz Shed secretary Myles Prebble had been on the lookout for something suitable since the organisation held its inaugural annual meeting in November 2023 following an article in The News which appealed for interest.
Brian Cooper at the bandsaw. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
It is now an incorporated society.
“The concept of a Menz Shed brings men together in one community space to share their skills, have a laugh, seek fellowship and work on practical tasks individually or as a group for the shed or the community,” Prebble said in his application to the council for the building.
When it opens, it will be Waikato’s newest Menz Shed and the second in Waipā – there is also an active shed in Te Awamutu – and others in Ōtorohanga, Te Kuiti, Hamilton, Matamata, Mangakino, Morrinsville, Paeroa, Pauanui, Tokoroa, Tairua, Taupō, Thames, Whangamata and Whitianga.
Saturday’s opening, for 50 guests, will include a tour of the new facility.
Rob Saywell shows his nimbleness as batten posts for the signage are unloaded for the Menz Shed. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
The smoko room was the first area developed in the Menz Shed. Before the opening on Saturday, new lino will go down. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Te Kūiti Menz Shed president Mike Gast, left, and Cambridge secretary Myles Prebble inside the refurbished facilities in Leamington. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
