Russell Matheson (Macarthur, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 5 November I had the privilege to attend the AGM of the United Wollondilly Community Men’s Shed. The Wollondilly Community Men’s Shed is a community based volunteer organisation that aims to promote and improve men’s wellbeing in the local community. The shed volunteers are a fantastic group of people who provide the elderly and marginalised members of the local community with a safe and healthy environment in which they can enjoy each other’s company and collaborate on projects for the benefit of the local community while developing links with other members of the local community.

There are currently three men’s sheds operating within the Wollondilly area: the Oakdale Workers Men’s Shed, the Tahmoor Uniting Men’s Shed and the Warradale Men’s Shed. The sheds are a fantastic community initiative run by the community for the community. They provide men of all ages with the opportunity to share their life experiences and skills. They provide facilities for these men to take up a hobby or to work with others on community based projects such as landscaping, gardening, do-it-yourself fix-it jobs, carpentry and wood turning.

The Wollondilly Community Men’s Sheds promote men’s health and wellbeing by facilitating shared learning activities. The sheds allow men in the local area to return to a productive and inclusive lifestyle which they may no longer have access to due to retirement, sickness, unemployment and social or geographical situations. The sheds also give men the opportunity to meet with other men in their local area, providing them with a sense of companionship and peer support which is so important in some of the more isolated areas in the region.

Wollondilly Council has been instrumental in supporting the men’s shed program. The council has identified these sheds as contributing to improved mental health of the men in the region. The sheds provide council and local health and wellbeing organisations with a way to engage with men in the area through providing information on men’s physical health and mental health. For example, during National Men’s Health Week, through the men’s sheds men were given free health check-ups.

I would like to honour the hard work of Bob Lester from the Wollondilly Shire Council in overseeing the United Wollondilly Community Men’s Sheds program. I also thank the council for getting behind such an initiative and important community program. I congratulate the newly elected executive of Clive Hales. Ken Quarmby, Phil Hughes, Bev Garrick, Jackie Cheives, Tony O’Toole, Ron Grills, Terry Atkins and John Bartle on their appointments. I hope to see more of these men’s sheds in the Macarthur region as well as across the country. These sheds are a fantastic initiative and make a huge difference in the lives of men in rural and regional communities.