By JESSE GRAHAM
A BADGER Creek community group will have a brand-new shed worth over $30,000 constructed by the new year, following a government grant announcement last week.
The Badger Creek and District Men’s Shed members met Seymour MP and Eildon candidate, Cindy McLeish at their shed on Wednesday 29 October for the announcement, which will see a new shed established for storage and workshop use.
The new shed would be placed alongside an unused CFA appliance shed at the back of the Badger Creek CFA, which is currently being used by the Men’s Shed.
President, Brad Hampton, said the project would be completed in February, and would mean the group could take on new members and house new equipment once opened.
“The existing shed we’ve been given from the CFA can’t accommodate us, let alone an expansion, that’s why we haven’t advertised (for new members),” he said.
The Men’s Shed members had to raise $15,000 in kind to receive the grant, and managed to do so within the space of three weeks – Mr Hampton said the expansion would take the entire budget.
Ms McLeish congratulated the group on receiving the grant, which was delivered through the government’s Strengthening Men’s Sheds Program, and said the expansion would have a positive effect on the area.
“With the enthusiasm in this room, the work will be done before you know it, and we’ll have a wonderful, effective and growing Men’s Shed,” she said.
“You’re bringing this whole little area back to life.”
Mr Hampton said that the group had grown substantially in the last six months, going from having around eight people at the shed two days a week to having a dozen at the shed four days a week – with others working on projects.
He said the Badger Creek CFA had been ‘fantastic’ for hosting the group and that it was his aim for the Men’s Shed to help fund the brigade.
“That’s our aim in life, to do that,” he said.
“The Badger Creek community has supported us a lot.
“The aim really is that the guys do working projects and other things in the workshop that are meaningful and that, at the end of the day, they’ve accomplished something.”
For more information on Men’s Sheds, visit www.mensshed.org.
