Shed has no roof above

By Emma Sun
THE Cranbourne Casey Men’s Shed is searching for a new place to call home.
Casey Council officers will be investigating possible sites for use as a Men’s Shed after a motion moved by Springfield Ward councillor Bob Halsall was passed by council.
The Men’s Shed is an organisation for men, specifically a place for men to drop in, have a chat and take part in programs.
They gather in a member’s garage, and Men’s Shed secretary Glenn Foster said they were looking into the Cranbourne area because a large part of the community is aged 50 and above and many have disabilities or health problems.
Mr Foster said there werevarious reasons why a relo-cation is needed.
“Having the shed will allow us to run programs that we can’t run at the moment because right now we’re just a group of people getting together to do a bit of stuff in a mate’s shed,” he said.
“By having a permanent location, it will allow us to run suitable programs, give the guys somewhere to come, open their minds up and give them something to do.
“The kind of programs we’re looking to run is to do with men’s health education, where we provide basic information for men, because men don’t talk to other men.”
A lack of space at their present location restricts the number of members they can take in at one time and they currently have a waiting list that is bigger than their membership.
“At the moment we have seven full members and a waiting list of approximately 15-20, which we would expect that once we’re operating, would grow to a minimum of 50,” Mr Foster said.
“There are health professionals that want to access our services for clients as soon as we’re up and running, which include retirement homes and health professionals in the mental health field and disability services.”
Cr Halsall said there were many benefits from opening a bigger and better Men’s Shed.
“It’s a pretty good concept; there aren’t a lot of facilities for men that they can hang out other than pubs and bars,” he said.
“It would be a great facility for the residents as well.”
For further information, contact Glenn Foster on 0437 007 077.