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The Men’s Shed (North Shore) Trust

Dec 2017-Jan 2018

Sheddies’ Chatter

Welcome to the December 2017 Edition

of Sheddies’ Chatter. Can’t believe it’s that time again! It seems like only yesterday I was doing the December 2016 Chatter. It’s been a really busy year at The Shed. The electronics extension is well under way, heaps of projects have been completed and our membership has increased substantially.

Thanks you all for your company, friendship, knowledge and humour throughout the year.

Hope you all have a great break and enjoy a very happy, healthy New Year. Take care and we’ll see you in January

Roger Curl, Editor Ph: 027 264 1932

editor@mensshednorthshore.org.nz

Holiday Closure

The Shed is now closed for the Christmas holidays and will reopen on Monday 8th January 2018 at 9:00am

Clockwise from Top Right:

Lawnmower Ramp for the Orewa Croquet Club about to be delivered

New range of Tiny Houses

Dave W with the truck for Cam Gower & Family

Barry sands a bench

John and Winston supervise Dave

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The Christmas Lunch was a lovely time - and we received accolades from Danielle Grant, the Chair of the Kaipatiki Local Board for our community work and the spirit in the Shed. It was a really nice! Barfoot & Thompson donated a

gift basket for a raffle. Shelley Boyed distributed the tickets, and Jim Rogers won the draw!

Larry Klassen, Chairman

Christmas Message from Chairman Larry Klassen

Was it really a whole year ago that we had our last MSNS Christmas Function? How quickly time goes!

The Christmas Function this year was well attended but with a slight change - this year we had a professional Chef! Thank you to Dave MacGregor for helping us to make a great event even better, to Leonard and Colleen Sears for cooking the lovely ham, and of course to Dave Whiting for organising the whole event! Thanks also to Barfoot & Thompson Glenfied (Shelley Boyed and Lance Clarke) for providing a gift basket for a surprise draw.

This past year has been even busier (astonishingly) than last, with the completion of OVER 150 community projects, the construction of our Electronics Extension, supporting Rotary's Tools for Schools project (providing hand tools for Fijian islands) plus our normal flow of work.

We continue to grow our facilities and our membership. Last year at this time, we had 110 members in comparison with 168 members now as we ready for Christmas Break. We will also have an influx of new members in the New Year - there is a queue of members wishing to join. This has also meant that we have spent over 12,000 man-hours at the Shed, most of which was for community projects.

The ongoing sponsorship of Metlifecare is much appreciated, and this year we welcome additional sponsorship from Shelley Boyed and Lance Clarke of Barfoot & Thompson, Glenfield Branch. Thank you to these organisations for their support.

Bunnings, Placemakers, and Mitre10 have supported us in various ways including sponsoring our year-end awards presentation.

Awards to members who especially supported the Shed through their involvement were presented to Roger Dallimore, Laurie Gibbs, Gwynne Jones, Barrie Eynon, Bernard Gardner, Barry

Coyle, Chris Hall, Leonard Sears, Athen Ananda, Tony Moore, Trevor Pugh, Matthew Cantell, Roger Curl, Alan Collie, Lin Wilson, and Jim Rogers. Also recognised for their support this past year were the Board of Trustees Dave Whiting, Kerry Stenhouse, Ross Miller, David Wardlaw, John Sutherland, Winston Garnett, and Graham Ritson. Collectively they stepped in while I had to take a break to undertake a work project, and it is much appreciated.

I think however, the icing on the cake has to be the environment and culture at the Shed. This is not something that can be bought or commanded, but something that needs careful nurturing by everyone involved. Together we have built a group that provides camaraderie and support, while also giving back to the community. A testament to this is the visitors we get from overseas that come specifically to see what we have done and how we do it. This year we had a delegation from South Korea and visitors from Washington State, USA.

So here we are, the end of another very productive year at The Shed, and a new and exciting year about to begin. There will be lots of new projects to work on, an electronics area to complete, and people to meet. I am very much looking forward to all the new projects coming in.

So with that, I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year from myself and my family, and look forward to a fantastic 2018 at The Shed.

See you next year Sheddies :)

Larry Klassen, Chairman

Christmas Lunch

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Shed Sale and Open Day

The recent Sale and Open Day on Saturday 25th November was a new venture for The Shed. Among the many items for sale were second hand tools, toys and craft items. It was very successful and made us around $490. It is planned to hold more in the future. Several ideas have been put forward to make the event even better next time.

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Electronics Extension

At last! The Extension is under way. All the consents have been granted. Work has started and is still on target for completion by mid-December.

Some work still needs to be done to move some plumbing and wiring in preparation for thr building. The rear lunchroom window will be replaced by a ranchslider and the window relocated to the extension.

Some of the interior of the shed will need to be removed so the builders can access the framing so the new part of the building can be connected.

The new ranchslider will lead out to the new deck which is planned for later next year.

Once the shell has been completed, members will be able to assist in the interior fitout, but this probably won’t happen until early next year.

Many thanks to Ross Miller and John Sutherland for the extra photos

The shell of the Electronics Extension is now complete and looking great.

Early in the new year, we will be looking for willing hands to assist

in the interior lining and fit-out

The lunchroom window has been replaced with sliding doors and it is planned to build a deck outside next year.

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In April 2013, the North Shore Men’s Shed opened for the enjoyment no mainly older men who wanted a place to pursue woodworking and engineering hobbies in their retirement. The Shed was purpose built to a high standard but almost all of the equipment was donated and much of it really old.

At opening, the Shed had about 75 members who were free to do their own projects or help out on community projects or merely drop in for a chat and a cup of coffee.

From the outset, the Board of Trustees have strived for continuous improvement in both the accommodation and equipment. Many members will be aware of how crowded the Shed became in the first year – leading to our first extension 2 years ago. All the while the trustees were trying to upgrade key equipment to the point now that almost all the main equipment in the woodworking area is new within the last year and the engineering shop is fitted out to a high standard.

All the while the main purpose of the Shed has been met and private and community projects flourish side by side. The community projects provide a good supplement to our income and help in keeping membership fees low.

Now, as we approach a new year, we are, as part of the continuous improvement programme, at the start of another

extension - the electronics workshop. This is a $60,000 investment that all members need to be aware of because fitting out this new space will bring pressures on our operation that we need to understand and address.

The pressures are partly financial but more significantly involve manpower. In January we will start fitting out new space and adding a mezzanine storage area but this is only one of a number of jobs that needs to be done in the next 2 – 3 months to keep the Shed up to standard. These other jobs include making good the Lunch Room and old electronics room, building new benches for, and realigning the workshop, realigning the carpark area adjacent to the Shed, carrying about external maintenance, refurbishing the trailer and finishing off the storage area under the tennis club.

Those tasks need to be completed in quick time or else they will simply drag on. Obviously, this will draw manpower away from the jobs we do for the community and could inhibit cashflow and such jobs may need to be put on hold for possibly 3 months UNLESS we can find volunteers to help with both aspects of the work in hand, i.e. fitout etc and community jobs. We now have close to 170 members. The trustees will welcome any offers of help and work with you to make your contribution count.

Dave Whiting, Secretary

The Big Cleanup

Workload in 2018. Can you help?

It was all hands on deck on Friday 15th Dec with many of the guys coming in to help on the end of year cleanup. The Shed is now spick and span ready for next year’s activities.

A huge thank you to all of you who helped out

Photos: Larry Klassen

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Major Supporters

The Men’s Shed (North Shore) Trust, PO Box 311012, Glenfield, Auckland 0747 442 2145

The Men’ s Shed North Shore

Address:

Elliot Reserve 34 Elliot Ave, (off James St) Glenfield

Hours:

Mon, Wed: 9:00am - 4:00pm Fri, Sat: 9:00am - 2:00pm Phone:

09 442 2145

website:

http://www.mensshednorthshore.org.nz/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Mens-Shed-North-Shore-214684608553333/ - feel free to add comments or interesting stuff.

Send your ideas, photos, comments or contributions to: editor@mensshednorthshore.org.nz see me at The Shed, or phone 027 264 1932

January BBQ Lunch -All Welcome The January Barbeque will be at 12:00 on Wed 10th January 2018.

Sausages and bread will be provided. Feel free to bring your own salads, desserts etc. to share. Guests welcome!

$2 per sausage, please put your money in the dish provided.

New Members: Welcome to the following new members who have joined the Men’s Shed North Shore since the last edition of The Sheddies’ Chatter, bringing our membership to nearly 170 people:

Ben Matthes and Ian Howarth

Please extend them a warm Sheddies’ welcome when you meet them.

A little story to start your Christmas season in the right spirit.

When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.

Then, Mrs. Claus told Santa her mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more..

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.

When he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, (It was obviously not built at The Shed! Ed.) the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.

Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a glass of cider and a shot of rum.

He went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drunk all the

cider and hidden the rum.

In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor.

He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and an irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.

The angel marched through the door, leaving mud and snow all over the Claus’ carpet and said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?'

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

Not a lot of people know this.!

Shed Visit We were recently visited by a group of South Koreans. They were sent on behalf of the governor of the North Jeolla Province, Mr Song Ha-jin to look at what we have done, and how we have accomplished it - they were most impressed with our facility. The party was lead by Kim Kang-mo. Sophia provided translation services and had a nice time showing off our Shed! Sarah Nilson (a local who lived and studied in South Korea for a while) also joined us.

True Story: Christmas - The Explanation of a Tradition

The Shed is now closed for the Christmas holidays and will reopen on Monday 8th January 2018 at 9:00am

Photo: Larry Klassen