Building More Than Just Projects

The Herbert River Men’s Shed has been operating in Ingham since 2012, and they have a focus on men’s health through building various metal or woodwork projects.

President of the Herbert River Men’s Shed Dave Willoughby said the main priority of Men’s Shed is for men to talk about their health with each other.

“We plot along this table here and some of the guys get together and tell each other their troubles, and that's why Men’s Shed is all about men talking shoulder to shoulder in a husband’s day care centre, type of thing,” said Dave.

“Men's health is the charter of the Australian Men's Sheds Association, and we follow through with that.

Dave explains there have been occasions they’ve invited a doctor to attend a meeting so they could answer any questions the group may have.

“We got the doctor to talk about prostrate cancer and by the time the doctor had finished, he'd answered every question from the blokes on prostrate, heart health and all sorts of other stuff.”

While men’s health is at the heart of the group, so too is contributing to the local community.

Member of Herbert River Men’s Shed Ian Merritt said they are approached with a variety of projects.

“We do the odd commission job, we do stuff for ourselves and we occasionally go out and do some work for the hub on a semi-professional basis,” he said.

“If the kindy brings in something, we tend to fix it for them.

“I guess you could say it’s community service for what is worthy or eligible.”

The Herbert River Men’s Shed, build and make repairs to various different items, but Ian said they try to not compete against other businesses.

“We do a little bit of commission work but we try very significantly to stay away from competing against any local businesses,” said Ian.

“We do the sort of stuff that they're not likely to do.”

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Members of the Herbert River Men’s Shed. Photo credit Daniel Heggie

Photo credit: Daniel Heggie

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