The guest Speaker was Jon Barrett from the Menzshed, which can be found at 125 Latham Street near the YMCA.John said he is in his 10th year at the shed and that throughout NZ there are also six “She Sheds” and two “Sheila Shacks”. It’s a sort of “hangout” for retired blokes who are looking for something to do.
He joked that the men are dropped off at Menzshed by their wives to attend ‘Daddy Daycare’, but they achieve a lot of work while they are present.
For instance, the very large very colourful chairs on the Ahuriri foreshore were made by the members at the Menzshed.
They now have 90 members with 50 attending on any one day, They don’t have a formal committee – anyone who joins is a member of the committee, he said. People donate what is in their shed when they pass, and these tools are then forwarded on to the Pacific Islands. They don’t affiliate with the coffin club as they don’t want to make ‘death’ too obvious to this age group of people. They invite anyone to come in for coffee from 8 am to 12 noon on any day.
You are most welcome to check them out. In thanking the speaker, Garth speculated that we could perhaps achieve the same thing by returning our Rotary Club to an ‘all-male’ institution. (Some members present hoped for Garth’s self-destruction