WHILE men and their mental health are often at the forefront when talking about the benefits of men’s sheds, it was in fact men’s physical health which led to the formation of a group in Goomalling.
About seven years ago, a man by the name of Hans Collis set about raising awareness of prostate cancer amongst the male population of the Wheatbelt town.
Each fortnight or month, a group of men met for lunches, with funds raised donated for prostate cancer research.
Current secretary and treasurer Geoff Wise said from the frequent get-togethers, it was decided amongst the group that it would be a natural progression to evolve into a men’s shed.
And so, in December 2010, the inaugural Goomalling Men’s Shed and Prostate Group meeting was held.
Starting with around 12 members, the group has grown to around 15 men at some points, and included a range of age groups and backgrounds.
Mr Wise said some younger men had since moved away from the area, but had maintained their link to the concept by joining the local men’s shed in their area.
When they started out, the men kept themselves busy by doing minor repairs and restoration work to homes belonging to local pensioners, and also by making wooden toys and selling them to raise money.
A golf day was also held soon after the group started, with donations from various companies as a big fundraising event.
Now, as the members get older, Mr Wise said there were less of the events and more of a group of men getting together “for a cup of tea, a yak and to make things”.
“We’ve made sets of tables and chairs; hobby horses; and even some tables out of large slices of a York Gum that we were given,” he said.
The corrugated iron building where the men gather was the site of the local school from 1955-1973, before student numbers resulted in a bigger school being built.
It has housed the local State Emergency Service branch previously but was made available to the group by the Shire of Goomalling, who helped with both funding and expertise to get the building up and in order.
The Shire has also allowed the group to store timber in a yard next to the school for their various projects, including some floorboards donated from a century-old house and an old shop in the town.
These donations meant the group did not have to buy much in the way of materials and became self-sufficient, paying a $20 annual membership to cover insurance and a further $5 per week to cover the cost of biscuits, tea, and a fortnightly sausage sizzle.
The Goomalling group recently received a grant from the regional NRM group Wheatbelt Natural Resource Management in Northam to construct wooden nest boxes for threatened species to shelter in.
The boxes, which were built with the involvement of local school children, were of varying shapes and sizes to appeal to a variety of native bird and mammal species, including the Carnaby’s white-tailed black cockatoos and red-tailed phascogales, as well as owls, possums and microbats.
The Goomalling Men’s Shed and Prostate Group meets Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9am-12 noon.
Mr Wise said some men went one day, others both days – whatever they preferred, they were all keen to get there at least once a week.
He said as well as being good for the local community in the ways the group had assisted, it was also good for the men involved and their camaraderie.
“There are some men who have lived locally for 40 or 50 years but due to their jobs or sporting interests may have never met until they joined the men’s shed,” he said.
“It really brings together different walks of life, and we all get along pretty well.”
Despite living in a broadacre farming district, there was only one farmer amongst the seven current members, with the remainder from a variety of workplaces.
Mr Wise is a former school teacher who taught in many towns around the district, including Dowerin and Wubin.
He and wife Therese chose to retire to Goomalling because of the lifestyle, as well as its proximity to Perth, only being around a 130km drive.
Mr Wise said it had been a change to be no longer working, which made the local shed something great to be involved in.
“Some people have retired and chosen not to join, others continue doing other jobs that they don’t have time to come along, while others don’t feel as though it’s necessarily something for them,” he said.
“But we’re open every week, and people are always welcome to join us.”
Mr Wise said he had found the group gave the men a good platform for expressing themselves in a way they may not normally when partners or other women were around.
And their original reason for forming hasn’t been forgotten – Mr Wise said there was still a strong awareness of prostate cancer amongst the group.
