Paynesville Men’s Shed gearing up for opening

Paynesville Men’s Shed has been successful in receiving funding of $3,410 that will allow its members to undertake OH&S, First Aid and Appliance Safety training to help strengthen its governance, sustainability and future planning.

Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull, said the funding was offered through the Victorian Men’s Shed Association’s Capacity Building Fund, which supports activities such as training sessions on occupational health and safety, first aid, governance, and to host networking events with sheds in neighbouring communities.

“Increasing bodies of research show that sheds are uniquely situated to support the social, civic and economic participation of men, with men’s sheds having experienced an upsurge in popularity and growth in recent years.

“They are increasingly recognised as critically valuable to older men’s well-being, particularly their social enjoyment, ongoing learning capacity and ability to contribute to their community,” Mr Bull said.

Kevin and Chris Svenson of the Paynesville Men’s Shed, said this funding will be an enormous help in enabling our members to undertake training and set the standards to ensure we’re around for the long term.

“We are just finishing our beautiful new purpose-built shed at Paynesville (behind the RSL) and after 4 years of local fundraising and hours and hours of work done by our band of volunteer workers we are nearing completion of the project.”

Funding provided by the overall Men’s Sheds Program has supported the construction of new sheds and the upgrade of existing sheds and there is now great variation in the capacity of individual sheds to manage their own governance, training and future planning.

Community Services Minister, Mary Wooldridge, said “volunteers contribute countless hours to supporting their members, and the Coalition Government is pleased to support their efforts,”

VMSA president Paul Sladdin said Men’s Sheds were increasingly being recognised as valuable to older men’s wellbeing, particularly to their social enjoyment, ongoing learning capacity, and ability to contribute to their community.

“Men’s Sheds provide an environment where productivity and being of value to the community contribute to a man’s feeling of self-worth and help to develop a sense of meaning in the years following retirement, loss or other hardship.”

There are about 160 Men’s Sheds in Victoria. The Coalition Government has committed a further $4 million in the 2011-12 Budget to continue to strengthen Men’s Sheds for the next four years.