Men’s Shed representatives from across the Gold Coast region gathered at Tamborine Mountain Men’s Shed to exchange ideas, discuss challenges and strengthen connections between their organisations.
Presidents and representatives from Canungra, Labrador, Nerang, Springbrook and Oxenford attended the gathering, which provides an opportunity to discuss funding, facilities and programs supporting men’s wellbeing.
The meetings are held twice a year, with different sheds taking turns to host, amd with 18 men’s sheds in the Gold Coast region means it could be approximately six years before the gathering returns to Tamborine Mountain.
Queensland Men’s Shed Association CEO Frank Pearce said maintaining regular contact between sheds was important for understanding the challenges facing individual organisations.
“From our perspective it’s really important to keep in contact with people, because if we’re not doing this on a regular basis, we don’t really know what’s going on,” Mr Pearce said.
“Everybody has similar stuff going on in their sheds and often there’s new grants available or there’s different programs, so it gives members a chance to ask what are you doing and how are you doing this?”
Tamborine Mountain Men’s Shed member Keith Fraser said visiting other facilities allowed representatives to discover practical ideas they could introduce at their own sheds.
“Crossfire of information is amazing,” Mr Fraser said.
“I’ve been to a number of these meetings and I’ll walk in and say, see that’s a good idea, and you bring it back.
“Or conversely you can say, see what you’ve got there, we’ve got a better idea than that.”
Mr Fraser said the gatherings also highlighted the importance of Men’s Sheds beyond their woodworking and community projects.
He said the daily morning tea break was particularly valuable, giving members an opportunity to connect and discuss matters they might otherwise keep to themselves.
“Sometimes I just sit there and look back and just listen and watch the conversations,” he said.
“It’s keeping the mind active building things, but it’s also the mind and the soul active by having a chat over a coffee.”
The gathering also included a tour of the Tamborine Mountain facilities, where representatives inspected workshop equipment and ongoing projects.
