THERE was once a time when Ian Wheeler would walk down the streets of Bindoon and not know or speak to anyone he passed by.
These days, he has to allow extra time for any trip into town because he ends up stopping to chat to every second person.
The social butterfly Ian has become is a direct result of the connections he has made through the Bindoon Men’s Shed.
The meeting point was established in 2012 after local Wayne Beard put the call out to see if people were interested.
According to Ian, who is the current shed president, the first meeting saw about 12 men gather, so a constitution was formed and a plan put in place to generate funding.
Initially the men’s shed was based at the Bindoon Museum every third Tuesday of the month, with a guest speaker at each meeting.
“It was decided that we needed our own shed and for that we needed funding, so we took on various jobs around town to raise money,” Ian said.
“But there was a conscious decision not to take on any jobs that could be done by local businesses.
“We raised $25,000.”
Further funds were raised through grants from Lotterywest, the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR) and Royalties for Regions, while the Bindoon Shire provided land and carried out site works.
Two years later members opened a large, shiny new shed complete with a meeting room and the necessary facilities, which are fully utilised by the 45 current members.
“A lot of men’s sheds have lots of projects on the go in the workshops, but we find that our shed tends to be more of a socialising shed,” Ian said.
“We do have a bit of work being done in the workshop, but we find out here most blokes tend to enjoy the social aspect more than anything, so they’ll come along to play snooker, darts, drink coffee and just have a chat.”
Despite the thriving social atmosphere within the men’s shed, the members also carry out vital work within the community.
For the last couple of years, they have been running programs during the school holidays for children in the region, where they create projects they can then take home such as kites and frames.
Ian said they had recently been working with a local youth group, the Bindoon Youth Krew and holding different life skills workshops.
The first workshop showed a group of children how to change a tyre.
“It’s simple stuff, but these skills often get overlooked so we’re trying to fill that void,” Ian said.
“It’s very rewarding for us as well.”
The shed is currently only open two days per week and has continued its monthly Tuesday ‘muster’, where they have a lunch and a guest speaker will come and address the group on various topics such as men’s health.
Members also get involved in community events to raise money for running costs, such as holding sausage sizzles and they still take on projects, such as building gates for the local second-hand shop in exchange for a donation.
Ian said he would like to see the shed open more as he thinks it is an extremely valuable asset within the community – for many reasons but perhaps most importantly, because it brings people together.
“One of the old fellas who passed away recently, had said to us that he came to the shed for one reason – to have a cuppa and a yarn,” Ian said.
“He never did anything else, but it was the best thing for him because even though he had lived here for more than 60 years, he got to meet people he had never met before.
“We’re bringing people together and personally, I just love it.
“You can really see the difference it makes to some blokes, who come in here on their first meeting and are shy and don’t say a word, then a month later they are a completely different person.
“They come right out of their shell and get involved.
“I was a firefighter for 32 years and in that job, you build bonds with blokes through danger and then when I left, I was sitting on the farm without having that interaction.
“I have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and I still suffer with that, but I find the men’s shed helps, because there are retired coppers and veterans as well as farmers, and it’s just good to talk because we can get stuff off our chests when we need to.
“There’s a few blokes there now that know when the PTSD starts to get the better of me and they’ll step in and talk to me about it.
“The bunch of blokes we have is just really good.”
