JUNE Ed. 2018 “New Shed facilities finalised ”
Introducing the “The Sheddie” - your fast track source to what’s up with Nelson/Whakatu- MENZSHED ________________________________________________________________________________________
THIS EDITION IN SHORT New Shed facilities finalised * Refurbishing the new Shed - Report on Progress * Big Progress with WORKBOX project * Generous donations of Workshop equipment Continue * Wanted - list of Items * Community Projects assistance - how we intend to coordinate our efforts __________________________________________________________________________________________
New shed facilities finalised
Continuing negotiations with NCC, led by Co-chair of NWM Philip Chapman, have successfully accessed all the essential pieces to create a comprehensive and fully operational workshop environment at our new premises on Haven road. The generous office space has been put to good use in the form of seminar presentation, Smoko room and Visitor lounge, a Design room and Reception/display area. The ‘Lean To’ area now boasts a very comprehensive machine shop, and the newly acquired ‘Big Space’ now houses our WorkBox portable work shop container with its (planned) comprehensive set of hand power tools and gear which will be used specifically in this area on group and individual project work. Altogether the net result is a very comprehensive shed facility and probably more than we ever hoped for some months ago. Most of us would agree to that it compares very well with some of the best established sheds in New Zealand now and we are looking forward to maximising the use of the space as the final details of outfitting it are completed. A great job done and congratulations to all who help make this happen.
Refurbishing the new Shed and Big Progress on WorkBox Project
Under the watchful eye of shed workshop boss Wayne Logan, the Shed machine shop is pretty well set to go. Additional power points have been installed along the wall and in floor to serve the main saw bench. A small glitche with electrics on the saw bench has been repaired and work benches will soon be finished which will see this area fully operational. The WorkBox project is well underway with Wayne, John Rominger and Richard overseeing the making of workbenches and lining the interior of the container. WorkBox Partner Murray Leaning is lining up further assistance from committed tradies who will donate signwriting and electrical work to further progress the project. At some stage the Big Space will be marked out to delineate separate project workspaces and safety walkway paths, so that members can bring in projects and begin working on them.
Generous donations of Workshop equipment - and - “donor name plate” acknowledgements
We continue to receive significant donations of machine tools and power and hand tools which are always gratefully accepted and to date so far we have had very little duplication, so keep it up everyone, If you hear of anything being offered or has no place to - then please suggest our place – the Shed – reinforcing its going to be put to good use and probably much of the time to a deserved or needy cause. With major items eg. large workshop quality tools, we are starting a tradition of acknowledging the donor with a name plate which indicates the origin and name of the giver.
“Wanted” Items list
Virtually all our plant, furniture, tools and equipment have been donated to date, and we are very appreciative of donors /contributors who have thought of us first. Find below a short list of items we are immediately interested in obtaining:
Solid large workbenches / any kind of workshop tools and machine tools / hand tools / power tools in good going order / desk top computers and flat screens / large flat screen TV / adjustable design room lamp. Please contact Wayne 0273460069 or Rod Schmidt 022456 6941
Community Projects Assistance - how we intend to coordinate our efforts
A number of members have been asking whether our Shed will be actively responding to community requests for help and employing a coordinated approach to community projects . The answer to both these aspects is a categorical Yes. We discussed this aspects of operations at our last committee meeting and have set up a Community ( Partnership) Projects sub Committee (CPPC) to facilitate and rationalise our collective response to community projects. Clients requesting assistance will be asked to complete a simple request form which profiles their organisation or personal profile and outlines their assistance requirements. These requests will be considered by the CPPC and approved /declined on their relative merits and our ability to deliver. As one famous social innovator and social worker once said “ We can only do what we can do – no more “
The WorkBox portable container workshop is an important initiative in improving our capability to help and deliver this service. It means we can really deliver with some heavy hitting machinery and tools when we turn up to ‘lend a hand’ at some of the major projects we will involve ourselves in, in the form of “Working Bees”. Remember too that the WorkBox is a three way Partnership help initiative involving Mitre 10 Mega (and the Helping Hand initiative) and Boxman and we will liaise with them through the CPPC as to which projects we mutually agree to assist with. Later in the month we will be posting details on our website about how groups/individuals can apply for help and the processes associated with this, but also spelling out that our means are also limited both in terms of time and manpower.
