A whole lot of tinkering going on

Sometimes blokes just need to go down to the shed and potter, as do some girls.
Arrowtown MenzShed now has 35 paid-up members, after just two years, and that’s growing, with affiliation to the New Zealand MenzShed Association. Members’ skills are in hot demand in the Wakatipu community and ages range from their 30s to 80s, with three women joining recently.
Retired Southland farmer Russell Heckler first called a meeting of a few blokes for a bit of a yarn about five years ago at the Arrowtown Bowling Club to gauge interest. There was plenty of that, but it took until November last year to find a ‘shed’ space for members to gather.
Fortunately the Spijkerbosch Partnership held a long-term lease on Queenstown Lakes District Council-owned property in the Arrowtown Camping Ground and “bent over backwards to help”, says Russell.
Some of the younger members are still working, but most are retired. “As people age they have to downsize their workshops and garages, and most have a lot of tools so they just need somewhere to go,” says Russell.
Pottering in the workshop is “therapeutic”, he says. “It gets you away from your wife,” he jokes, giving both parties a break. “People come and have a yarn and a cup of tea or coffee, and use the equipment and tools we have here.” Someone from the group is there on duty Monday, Wednesday and Saturday between 10am and 1pm and usually interested people somehow find them and just turn up.
MenzShed is for love not money and recently the blokes turned out in force to build and paint the new World Language Lilliput Libraries for Frankton Library. They’ve put shelves into the local Presbyterian Church hall and refurbished and revived old furniture and toys that have been donated, doing their bit for sustainability too. “We’ve done up an old Sunburst sailing dinghy and sold it on Trade Me for funds for MenzShed,” says Russell. They restored a beautiful, carved rocking horse, built it a stand, and it will also be sold soon to raised money. “It looks pretty good,” says Russell, proudly.
People have brought in old dining room chairs that need restoring, park benches are being built for Lakes District Museum and picnic tables for the resurrected Bush Creek Skating Rink.
While fire risks mean they can only do woodwork and not metalwork on site, the group now boasts a former female metalwork teacher from Auckland, who can now throw a bit of girl power into the mix.
That’s not something they’re opting for up in Glenorchy though where they’re a bit shy of the girls. Another MenzShed group has been officially formed but they’re still searching for land to set up in the community. “Men like to talk about men’s problems and only really let their guard down when they’re with other men,” says Glenorchy MenzShed vice chair Rob Koch. “We have a lot of lonely people in our district, younger people too at a loose end. They need somewhere to gather where there’s no alcohol, and we have full support from the community.”
“We’re relying on the Queenstown Lakes District Council to give us part of a reserve up here, but we will need a resource consent,” he says.
A planner has donated time free of charge and a group of at least a dozen men are at the ready with skills in everything from motor bike mechanics and engineering to carpentry. Members are ready to work on projects and share their knowledge with younger guys, he says.
“As soon as we have a site our numbers will expand,” says Rob.
Jobs are already lined up, including replacing the local church piles.
The members plan to chop and collect firewood, and have plenty of damaged and broken equipment at the ready in need of love and repair which they’ll sell on for funding.
Rob says they’d love to hear from anyone with a suitable piece of land that they could use, reasonably close to Glenorchy, which has cellphone coverage for safety. “We’ll probably use Portacom buildings or shipping containers for our shed space.”
Both groups would welcome any donations, whether financial, or tools and machinery, and the Glenorchy group would love donations of spare portable buildings. They’re already applying for trust funding to get the project off the ground.
There are some 120 MenzSheds groups set up in communities around New Zealand.
Anyone interested in buying the Arrowtown MenzShed’s restored rocking horse contact Russell Heckler on 027 284 8814 or hecklerdenise@hotmail.com