You may have noticed some great wooden newsstands with red and black paint that have popped up around Bulahdelah, Tea Gardens and Karuah, holding the latest edition of the Myall Coast News.

These were made by the Bulahdelah Men’s Shed.

The Men’s Shed meet on Wednesdays from 10.00am to 1.00pm to work on projects that the community may need.

They volunteer their time and materials and have built up their supplies of tools over the years through grants and donations.

John Renfrew spoke with Myall Coast News about their efforts.

“It took a couple of months but we did one newsstand as a prototype.

“When this was one was approved, we went on to make another 30 of them.”

The Men’s Shed consists of about 4 regular members but on Monday nights from 7.00pm – 9.00pm and on Thursday night when they sit together to play games or discuss ideas or to learn about a topic, there can be many more.

On Wednesday 23 September the Bulahdelah Men’s Shed was visited by Brian Durrant from the NSW Committee Zone 7 Hunter Region.

This was the first visit by Brian and the aim was to meet the men from Bulahdelah and to see how the group runs and what projects they have been working on.

“With over 1000 Men’s Sheds registered, it is now the largest Association in Australia focussed on male health and well-being.”

The AMSA will be holding its 6th National Conference in Newcastle from 17-20 October with the theme of “Innovation”.

The next project that the Bulahdelah Men’s Shed is working on is bee-hives.

Gary Haynes, a member of the Bulahdelah Men’s Shed, provides the timber and the skills and the men are learning and making a large number of them to provide bee-keepers in the area with them.