Visit date: Saturday 12th January 2019.
Bangalow is a small rural town inland from the popular beach resort of Byron Bay.
As with all things today, the popularity of resorts such as Byron Bay is unfortunately changing the rural ambience of Bangalow to its detriment by suffering an influx of ‘rich townies’.
The Shed address of Station Street intrigued me as there were no railways shown on the local maps, but on arrival in the town, the road led to the old railway station building.
The Shed site sits in a small wooded valley, entry off Station Street leads to a large car park area and the shed buildings.
I was greeted warmly by Shed President, Brian Mackney, who then introduced me to the other Shed members.
The Bangalow Shed was initiated by the local Lions Club who negotiated a long-term lease of church land and went on to arrange building approval from the local Council and finance for the construction of the building shell.
They then appointed Brian as Convenor to lead the project. Being a local Civil Engineer who has run a farm and other businesses his knowledge has proved to be invaluable to the project for sourcing construction materials, and coordinating resources, machinery and funding for the construction of the car park and shed fit out.
The Shed building is designed to accommodate the use of other local community groups, and includes a large community/meeting room, toilets and changing rooms, an administration room and the two main workshops. An array of solar panels has been fitted onto the roof. The car park has an area which is intended to be leased to local shopkeepers, and an area for the members.
At the time of my visit, Brian told me that the members were consolidating their efforts to finish off a lot of the incomplete fitting out jobs, setting up the metalwork shop, and building a greenhouse on the roof of the metalwork shop. This work includes building a ramp for use by members with mobility issues from the car park to the greenhouse.
The building has been designed to offer a wide range of activities which include art classes, exercise sessions, table tennis, music jam sessions for the local musicians, and cooking classes, as well as the usual range of woodworking and metalworking activities. The Shed also works closely with the Lions Club, the local theatrical society and other community groups.
The Shed is continuing to implement and update its Health & Safety and self-accreditation procedures.
Training programs for members are high on the agenda.
The next project to improve the site for both the general public and Shed members is to open out access to the small stream that runs next to it. At present, the land through which the stream runs is covered with overgrown species of introduced / exotic weedy species. The aim is to clear these foreign invaders and replant with native species, with an emphasis on native ‘bush-tucker’ varieties.
As can be seen from the photos, Brian and his team have to be highly commended for what has been achieved!
The Shed has a Facebook page, but acknowledges it is not kept up to date. It seems few of the members want to get involved there, but a web search of www.byronnews.com.au and Bangalow Mens Shed reveals many interesting news articles related to it. Well worth a look!
A similar men’s health organisation known as ‘TOMNET’ was recommended to me. ‘TOMNET’ is an anagram of The Older Men’s Network.
There is a lot of useful information on the website tomnet.org.au
Martin's OZ and NZ Shed Stories 