THE Canning Men’s Shed is on the hunt for new digs, with its 50-strong membership overflowing from its Shelley base.
Shed founder and former president Eddie Holmes, of Riverton, said additional space was needed to house the burgeoning membership.
Mr Holmes said the shed at the rear of Riverton Baptist Church had bench space for 12 members and most equipment had to be wheeled out to an undercover area.
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READ NOWHe said membership could rise threefold if the group had more space.
“I get numerous phone calls, mainly from women saying ‘my husband, he doesn’t know what to do with himself, can he please come down and join the shed’,” he said.
Mr Holmes said they would be more than welcome but there was not enough space.
Mr Holmes, a retired builder, started the shed nine years ago for retirees.
“I knew quite a few chaps who were at a loose end and I happened to be in a similar position because I had retired and I didn’t know what to do,” he said.
He recalled visiting the Fremantle Men’s Shed, which was operating from a repurposed pigeon loft at the time, and it inspired him.
Mr Holmes started looking for additional space and visited several City of Canning properties five years ago, but was told they were unsuitable.
“The City has been quite helpful. I am not going to knock them. At the very beginning they gave us $20,000 to get started to buy machinery. That was a big help, and we get grants from them from time to time. They are helpful, it is just they can’t seem to find another piece of ground for us to build another shed,” he said.
Shed member Bill Gleeson called on the City to help find additional space.
“We could do better in a brighter and bigger building. This building is half brick and half shade cloth,” he said.
“If it rains all the electrical equipment must be shut off and moved to another location and at the end of the day session all equipment is put back into the storage shed.”
He said 20 metropolitan councils had supplied standalone buildings for Men’s Sheds.
“Men’s health is very important; the well-being of men is not a small thing,” he said.
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