Men’s Shed come through with fence for Dungog Preschool

The children and chickens of Dungog Preschool will be kept a little safer thanks to the work of the local Men’s Shed, who recently constructed a white picket fence for the service. 

 

Chickens at the service, Director Tina Overton explained, like to go free range, and the fence will support them to do so, also allowing the children to interact with the chickens without having to enter their pen. 

 

In a fine example of genuine community collaboration, Ms Overton approached a local Men’s Shed member whilst attending the Dungog Memorial RSL club, asking him about the possibility of them working together. 

 

“He asked “what’s your idea?” and I told him white picket fences,” she explained, “and he literally drew it up on a piece of paper and worked out the measurements and we went from there.” 

 

Community outreach projects such as this are a speciality for the Men’s Shed movement, which only charges for materials and not for labour. 

 

“I value community projects highly. We do projects for ourselves but there are only so many you can do for yourself before you run out of ideas,” Men’s Shed President John Martins explained. 

 

“We are very conscious about not encroaching on trades people in the area. We don’t go off site to paint houses but we will do the one off job that no one that we know of is involved with as a business.”

 

In a bid to incorporate sustainability, the Men’s Shed took apart old pallets before cutting them to shape and painting them. Currently the Dungog branch is keen to expand its repertoire and work with other businesses and services in the area. 

 

“The Committee is happy to expand into anything people want to do. We’ve got a bit of land here, if someone wants to come and dig a garden it’s no problem. It’s an evolutionary organisation that changes with the needs,” Mr Martins explained.

 

The Dungog Men’s Shed meets on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9am to 12 noon. The shed is located on 3-5 Simmonds Lane in Dungog.

 

To read local coverage of this story, please see here.