BULAHDELAH Men’s Shed members have been busy, with another batch of News Of The Area newsstands completed and ready to hit the streets.

The men have now made more than 80 of the modern, high-quality stands, to keep up with the growing circulation of the three News Of The Area papers.

Shed Member John Renfrew, said they have “certainly enjoyed making them”.

“We gained a lot of experience, especially with a number of new tools that we used to build them,” he said.

“We lost sleep over it a few times, but the main thing about it is that we were up here doing it together.”

And a team effort it was, with all shed members having “a hand in each component of the stands”.

Max Burrows and John Renfrew lead the construction and Peter Millen and Barry Holm were the chief painters.

Neville Wing and Max took on the role of mentors, and all other members pitched in to help with each stage.

The men constructed their first newsstand more than 18 months ago, and have since modified the original design many times.

John said the project allowed them to work together in a supportive and social environment.

“It has been a good thing to work on, we really did enjoy it, and it is also good to be able to support men’s health in this way,” he said.

With the latest set of newsstands completed, John said their attention would now be focused on other activities.

“We’ll still be working on beehives, and we will work on other projects to help the community,” he said.

“We also have card nights twice a week, it’s a small shed, but we do get a big roll-up.”

The Men’s Shed is a registered health promotion charity and supports programs to improve men’s health and wellbeing.

By Daniel SAHYOUN