Farmers’ Market – Last Farmers’ Market at the Mall raised over $600 with $400 paid for marshalling covering 2 markets. This was a bonus as we were filling in for Rotary. This week’s Farmer’s Market at the Lake has raised around $250. The bbq team have also been asked to cater for Mazda organised by 3BA, and next week another bbq at Bridges Wade again through 3BA. They have also recently done the Million Paws Walk for RSPCA. Ray and Marj volunteered to run a bbq at RSPCA in Albert St. It was slow on the Saturday and again fronted up on Sunday. A big effort by all, thanks everyone!
Community Market – Raised $360.80. Workshop $266, BBQ $66, Kitchen $28.80.
IGA Supermarket and Haintz Pharmacy – These two businesses support BECS by a token scheme (IGA) and a rebate on prescriptions (Haintz). Members and their families are encouraged to support these businesses.
New Members – We have had a number of new members join in recent days. Please make them welcome and get to know them. Many have interesting stories to tell. It is encouraging to see new members actively involved and taking the initiative in projects. A Health and Safety assessment has been developed by Ron L. This will continue to be rolled out and enhanced if required.
BBQ Helpers – Thank you to all who have helped on the bbq’s this month. We appreciate the regular volunteers but for newer members please put your hand up to help as this might enable someone else to have a week off. The bbq trailer is one of our most successful money making ventures and our good reputation has been gained through the hard work of this small group of volunteers. We also need volunteers for our monthly market. This is not a difficult job as it often only entails just keeping an eye on things.
New BECS clothing – We have a new supply of shirts, jackets, hats etc. Please see Denis C if you are interested in ordering some of these items.
Ute update – No further details
Wet Area upgrade – Doug S has returned from holidays so hopefully we will see some progress soon.
Workshop – Lynton R has been working on a cubby house for Ballarat Library. This is a freebie and children will be involved in completing the project at the Library. This is using up some of the donated lining board and we would be prepared to make a couple more while we have the materials available.
Thanks to Andrew C who has built a herb planter box. Hope these are all Kocher plants Andrew! And for the smokers they are definitely not for butts. Graham S has been busy painting the Christmas trees. I think he is just about sick of this job but we still need to put the wheels and feet on them. Trevor has been very busy cleaning up the back yard. A lot of the useable timber has been stored under the rec room. Thanks Trevor for a good job!
Nissen Hut - The repair to the Nissen hut roof is well under way. This would not have been possible without the very generous support of Coates Hire who have loaned us a scissor lift and extended our usage a couple of times. We would particularly like to thank Wayne for all his efforts and also Len, David, Paul, Doug, John, Mario, John and Fergie. I know I will have missed some people who were working at ground level to clear space for the lift. Thanks guys! We are at the moment applying for a grant from VMSA to cover the cost of electrical and glazing. The committee agreed that we could purchase some laser light to weather proof both ends of the Nissen hut while we have the lift.
Grass cutting – Thanks Ray and I presume Marj for cutting the grass a couple of times. Ray has not been 100% so a great effort.
Visits - Francis Day from Fed. Uni. visited with 55 students .Some of these students will end up working in the Health and Allied Services, most do not have a good knowledge of Men’s Sheds. Lance Hately from National Relay Service visited to give us a talk on assistance for people with hearing impairment.
Mens Health Week – A few of the guys went to the Library to hear Greg Champion from ABC radio program the “coodabeens”. Picture show him with a bunch of “woodabeens”.
Smoking ceremony – After a weeks delay we finally had the smoking ceremony, with a picture in the Courier. The photo shows local Elder Brian who performed the ceremony, Dianne the artist, and Sparra !
Mens Health Week – As part of activities for Mens Health Week we will be having a talk from Dr Wayne Spring who is a sleep specialist. This event is open to other Mens Sheds and men in the community. He will speak on the 21st June from 10-11am with time for questions.
Donation - We have been given a man’s pushbike from Peter B. If you are interested please see Tim F as it is virtually unused.
CGU Awards - We have put together an application to enter the CGU small business awards for 2014.
Terry Steer – Unfortunately Terry is leaving us to return to Queensland to look after his elderly parents. Terry has been a great worker and will be sorely missed. Wishing you all the best Terry!
Solar - The solar is still not generating for us even though we have had 2 inspections and it was all go. Hopefully it will be generating for us in the near future.
Solve disability – Three of our members Lynton R, Ray A and Alan A attended an information session. This group modifies disability aids to better suit an individual’s needs. If we can help we will, but we are not committing ourselves if we cannot do it.
Baker’s Delight – The owners of Baker’s Delight Sebastopol are concluding their business. They have been giving us bread each week. Thanks to Kirrilee and Chuck Read for their generous support. We wish them well in the future. The new owners have agreed to continue the same arrangements.
New BBQ - The portable bbq which was donated some time ago by Kevin Nagle has been converted from town gas to bottled gas. Thanks to Gerard of G&D Air con services for doing this job.
Lost Money – What was lost has now been found ie the tatts winnings. Just a warning that if people bring valuables to the shed they come at your risk. We ask members to be observant regarding tools and equipment. What we have is for the benefit of all members.
Insurance – We have now taken out the top up insurance on the facility. Insurance is costing us a lot more than in the past but the replacement costs would be much greater.
Soup Bus - We have been asked by soup bus for room to place a 20 foot container on the block to store all their supplies as they lost use of a facility elsewhere in town.
Nominations – As all positions will be declared vacant before our AGM please consider if you would be prepared to nominate for a position. If you need to know what is involved please ask. We are particularly looking for someone with secretarial experience.
New Aprons – Thanks to Janet, Richard’s partner, for making aprons for the bbq teams. Sorry about the model…he was cheap, as he only needed travelling costs for the job!
