It’s Annual General Meeting time at The Entrance Men’s Shed. To be an effective community organization The Shed needs a strong membership base so if you are interested in supporting men in The Entrance area please consider joining.
The Entrance Men’s Shed Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held at The Shed, 15 Battley Avenue, on Friday the 21st of August 2009, at 12pm.
Please use the links below to download the official documents for the AGM.
Members of The Entrance Men’s Shed have recently been constructing donation boxes for the Kids In Need organization. Rhonda from Kids in Need has coordinated with a shoe store chain that has offered to put them on each of their service counters.
This organization raised over $150,000 last year for cancer support, making this project one The Shed is proud to support.
The Entrance Men’s Shed would like to acknowledge the generous sponsorships and donations listed below that make day-to-day shed activities possible.
Our primary sponsors are:
Our ongoing sponsors are:
We acknowledge generous donations from:
The Entrance Men’s Shed had flyers on display at the recent Centrelink Forum at Mingara.
The forum was organised and promoted by Centrelink. Attendees presented, displayed or promoted the services that they offer. Attendees included The Salvos, The Samaritans, Centacare, The Department of Housing, The Department of Fair Trading and many other community groups.
There was considerable interest in The Entrance Men’s Shed from a broad cross-section of services that deal with men who are in need of a place to spend time, develop skills, build relationships and improve their self esteem. All activities we support at The Entrance Men’s Shed.
The Entrance Men’s Shed has received a number of loose spanners in generous donations of tools.
Finding the right sized spanner when it’s needed can be a challenge so shed member Michael has been constructing a wall rack where spanners can be sorted by size and easily accessed.
This project required a lot of patience in drilling and installing the numerous screws needed to hang the spanners. Other shed members have joked with Michael that he may end up with an ongoing job constructing tool racks!
The Entrance Men’s Shed held its first BBQ today! Shed member Kevin arrived with sausages and after a quick shop we had the sauce, bread and margarine needed for a first class sausage sizzle!
Come on down to The Shed and learn more about our activities and who knows, you be in time for the next sausage sizzle.
The Entrance Men’s Shed has recently received a generous donation of equipment from Open Shutters. We gladly accepted a large table-saw, a large air compressor and a photocopier. Thank goodness for three-phase power!
Despite the challenges of very wet weather the delivery and installation went smoothly. Renting a forklift saved a lot of bending and lifting. We’d also like to thank Dave from Mingara Club for his liaison with Open Shutters and for organizing transport from Berkeley Vale Steel. Thanks also to Peter from Open Shutters who helped identify equipment at the factory and organized it for collection.
Some donated equipment was too large for The Shed, but it was quickly adopted by other Men’s Sheds of The Central Coast and The Hunter region.
Express Timber Solutions (ETS) of Long Jetty have recently donated the docking saw shown in the image below. This is a welcome addition to the equipment at The Shed.
ETS have also recently donated other materials and tools to The Shed. Donations like these will allow us to grow and better serve the local community.
With the docking saw and other equipment available, it’s never been a better time to join The Entrance Men’s Shed and work on a personal or community project.
The Entrance Men’s Shed has a formal evacuation plan (shown in the image below).
If you’re visiting The Shed please familiarize yourself with the plan posted in The Shed. The plan also shows the location of fire extinguishers around The Shed.
Committee members from The Entrance Men’s Shed are starting to bring equipment to The Shed, including our first substantial piece of equipment: a band-saw, which can be seen in the images below. The toolboxes in the image below contain our first hand-tools, with more arriving on a regular basis.
In the kitchen area we have tea and coffee making supplies and in the workshop area and table and chairs. Although not as impressive as tools and equipment, these facilities support shed members and visitors in having a quiet cuppa and chat about shed projects or just life’s ups and downs. This in turn helps to reduce social isolation in the local community–a key mission of The Shed.
Since opening day members of The Shed Committee and interested visitors have been dropping by to see progress on equipping The Shed. Some visitors have also brought contributions of tools and materials. Many thanks for these donations folks!
For visitors to The Shed, The Entrance Men’s Shed is located in The Entrance Community Centre, 15 Battley Ave, The Entrance. Building F.
When the shed is open the Community Centre car-park is also open, so please feel free to drop by and say hello.
The Entrance Men’s Shed hosted visitors from Mingara this morning: Dave Betts and John Millard. The were there for a tour of the newly opened facility and to meet members of The Shed Committee.
Coincidentally, this is the first opportunity for the new key-holders to open the shed and test the alarms. We’re pleased to report everything went smoothly.
It’s opening day at The Entrance Men’s Shed! The new facility looks wonderful in its landscaped setting at The Entrance Community Centre.
The Committee can report the alarms and entry procedures worked well. Andrew from Wyong Shire Council dropped by to take us through the entry and departure checklists.
There’s plenty to setup at the new shed, so if anyone has sturdy benches, outdoor furniture or a jug or an urn we’d love to hear from them. More equipment and amenities are coming for members and volunteers, so in the meantime we will have to make do.
If you are coming to The Shed please BYO chair.
As of late April 2009 The Entrance Men’s Shed is ready for operation. The fence is now installed and forms a formal enclosure for The Shed. Site materials and tools have been removed and The Shed Committee is looking forward to receiving the key soon!
Stage 2 construction of The Entrance Neighbourhood Centre (including The Entrance Men’s Shed) has continued into early 2009.
The following images show construction progress from January 2009 to March 2009. In the images below we can see that The Shed now has white cladding on the upper portion and clearly defined spaces for the windows and main door. It’s becoming clearer how the shed will fit into The Entrance Neighbourhood Centre.
In an historic day for The Shed, Julie Vaughn, Community Development Manager for Wyong Shire Council invited The Entrance Men’s Shed committee to view construction of The Shed in early March 2009.
The Committee was delighted to have this opportunity for “first entry” to The Shed. Chairman Geoff led the contingent of John Sharples, Alan Kember, Col Kennedy, Kim Hopkins and John Roberts through the construction zone. The committee reported that it was good to get a feel for the size and layout of the new facility.
Construction is essentially complete inside, but final construction is waiting on the outside surfacing and building of the main awning. The planned operational date for the Centre is the end of April 2009.
By the end of March 2009 The Entrance Neighbourhood Centre precinct is nearing completion with the finalising of landscaping, pathways and gardens. Since the visit with Wyong Shire Council at the start of this month, the shed now has a driveway, fence and new awning at the front.
As The Shed becomes ready for use, the contractors are using the shed for materials storage during the completion of landscaping, so in a way it is already functioning as a shed, albeit until the official handover.
Stage 2 construction of The Entrance Neighbourhood Centre (including The Entrance Men’s Shed) has begun! This is a very significant moment in the long process of creating a facility to support men in the local community.
The following images show construction progress from September 2008 to December 2008. In the first image below we can see the profiles in place to ensure The Shed is correctly located and sized.
In the next stages of construction a retaining wall has been built to support the slab for The Shed.
Here we can see the start of the bricks and mortar construction of the building.
Here’s a rear view of The Entrance Neighbourhood Centre, clearly showing the foundations and masonry underpinnings of The Shed.
After site preparation, the builders are ready to pour a suspended cement slab to form the floor of The Shed.
By December 2008, the steel framing components of The Shed have been delivered to site and erection can begin once the suspended slab has cured.
In the following image we are looking north across the forecourt of The Entrance Men’s Shed to the car parking. Work continues to prepare the parking area and access, while the shed is being erected.
This access door at the rear of the shed will provide much needed access to underfloor storage.
In the following images The Shed appears to be rising from the apparent chaos of a large building site. Here the crew from Tri-Steel are busily constructing the framing of The Shed, now that the slab has cured.
By mid-December 2008 the support beams are in place and The Shed is ready for roofing. In the images below we can also see the deck of the proposed Art Gallery and Coffee Shop taking shape.
Late afternoon (when building activity has stopped) is a good time to safely take photos of The Shed construction process. Here’s your correspondent on site in mid-December 2008.
The Entrance Men’s Shed is now clearly visible from The Central Coast Highway (with temporary fencing in place).
The image below from the rear of the site shows the foundation and structure. The men from Tri-Steel were hard at work erecting the shed for us when this photo was taken.
The Entrance Men’s Shed as seen from Central Coast Highway, between the existing buildings. The deck on the exhibition space and cafe will provide a great vantage point to view the shed against the backdrop of trees and the lake.
In the image below we can see the shed from Norberta Ave. The newly installed cladding is visible, making the building envelope of The Shed clear.
With the The Entrance Men’s Shed now clad, it forms a stronger visual western end of the plaza of The Entrance Neighbourhood Centre (TENC).
The images below shows the view looking out from the verandah of the existing buildings along the eastern perimeter of the TENC and from the northern driveway into TENC.
And to complement the view above, the images below show The Shed from Battley Ave looking south into the site. The newer materials and darker colours of The Shed cladding gives it a stronger visual presence on the site.
By late December 2008 the exterior and interior of The Shed is clearly visible, giving an idea of its future form and function.
The Entrance Men’s Shed is located on the western side of The Entrance Neighbourhood Centre precinct.
The Entrance Neighbourhood Centre is located on the site of the original The Entrance Public School on The Central Coast Highway between Norbert and Battley streets.
The Entrance Men’s Shed Inc is an incorporated Not For Profit organisation. The mission of The Entrance Men’s Shed Inc is to secure premises and funding to allow a Men’s Shed to operate in The Entrance area.
The Entrance Men’s Shed Inc has established a Steering Committee drawn from community members and volunteers that care passionately about the success of the shed.
The Steering Committee members are:
Chairperson: Kevin Armstrong
Treasurer: Geoff Dunn
Secretary: Kim Hopkins
Member: John Sharples
Member: Colin Kennedy
Here are some images from the recent official opening (11th August 2008) of Kincumber Men’s Shed.
In the left image, from the left are Chris Hartcher (Member for Terrigal), Pastor Frank (Kincumber Uniting Church), Kevin Armstrong (Chairperson, The Entrance Men’s Shed), and Geoff Dunn (Treasurer, The Entrance Men’s Shed). In the right image are Peter Jessop (Kincumber Men’s Shed) and Kevin Armstrong (Chairperson, The Entrance Men’s Shed).
The Entrance Men's Shed 