Community Corner NEWS AND UPDATES FROM YOUR CORNER OF THE WORLD
Anglesea & District Men’s Shed 2020 began for the Anglesea and District Men’s Shed in early January in much the same way as we closed 2019, slowly. The year gathered pace as we started preparing ourselves for the Easter Riverbank Market. March saw a dramatic change as Victoria entered lockdown due to COVID-19 and the Shed closed.
on Mondays. As NewsA ngle went to print, we were still in Stage 3 restrictions but, all going well, the Men’s Shed will re-open to the community as soon as restrictions have eased.
During lockdown, we organised a phone tree to keep in contact with our members, visiting where possible, keeping appropriate distancing and coming to grips with social isolation. Some of our members found it much more difficult to cope with than others.
Men are most welcome to come and have a look, and see if the activities and social opportunities of the Shed might be of interest. Once we re-open, you’re welcome to join us for a cup of tea at 10.30 on Tuesday or Thursday mornings, at the western end of the Anglesea Bowls Club precinct.
The Shed recommenced activities on 23 June when the first round of restrictions were eased. There were many relieved faces and greetings from members in the first few sessions. Members adjusted to the new norms of social distancing, hand sanitising, temperature checking and being mindful of numbers of people in each room. In late July, quite a few of our members turned up with face masks, which soon became the norm for all of us. During the lockdown, Shed members completed a number of community tasks, including a set of disability stairs for Zarah Marretta from Geelong. This project took longer than we had hoped, but it was worth it when we saw a photo of Zarah standing at the top of the stairs with a great big smile on her face. We also completed a ramp to enable a
28
Zarah Marretta showing her delight in the set of practice stairs made by the Anglesea and District Men’s Shed.
dog to get into a car without being lifted and a community library for the Anglesea Community House. We have been working on some seats for the Aireys Inlet Tennis Club, as well as producing Christmas decorations and other goods for sale at the Anglesea Riverside Market. The Shed will run a woodworking course for women as part of the Community House’s Spring 2020 program. Whilst social outings have been severely restricted, a number of our members have a weekly walking group
You can also contact the Convenor, Ross Davey, on 0432056270 or email the Secretary, Jeff Wilson, at sec.angleseamensshed@gmail.com to see what we are about.
Correction In the Winter edition of NewsAngle (Issue 142), the article about Offshore Café incorrectly referred to Pastor John Russell as being from the Lutheran Church, instead of the Trinity Uniting Church in Anglesea, where he remains an active member. Apologies to John for this error. Acknowledgement also to Margo Davey from the Trinity Uniting Church, who also visits Prue regularly to assist with the ‘Pay It Forward’ project, supporting people in need in the community.
NewsAngle | Publication of the Anglesea Community House | Community Houses are for Everyone