Bellarine Women’s Shed building momentum

THE prospect of a local ‘Women’s Shed’ type of group opening up on the Bellarine has sparked a flood of interest from people all over the region with hundreds of residents expressing their intrigue.

The group to be named Bellarine Women’s Recycle, Enterprising, Craft and Tools (BeWRECT) will encompass everything the proposed group’s name touches on.

Indented Head resident and leader Jo Hassett described the potential group as one of women wanting social interaction, learning new skills, imparting their wisdom, and helping each other to be their best.

The group will also be undertaking numerous projects considered DIYs, crafts and basic metal and woodworking to name a few.

“For almost 30 years or so years I’ve wanted to find a group that “fits me” rather than joining numerous groups that each offered a part of what I was looking for,” Ms Hassett said.

“I put a post out on one of the community noticeboards looking to see if I could get five or 10 people interested that lived locally to do more of an informal kind of group. From that, interest just exploded, which was quite overwhelming.

“I have created a separate group to try and wrangle up as many of the people that have expressed interest and currently there are around 430 members in the group currently. The next challenge will be to get an official group going and then expand from there.”

Ms Hassett noted that this isn’t a new concept, but the main focus has been localising a new group here on the Bellarine.

“There are women’s sheds all over the country as well as associations, but they are few and far between,” Ms Hassett said.

“The main benefit for something like this is just learning new skills or in part just adding to someone’s skillset. It’s a place where we can build each other up and it’s about time we had one on the Bellarine.”

There are two possible unnamed venues that the new Women’s Shed may call home, but it can be confirmed both of which are in Portarlington.

Acknowledging the group is still in its preliminary stages, Ms Hassett is also hopeful to have the group’s first meet and greet and couple of sessions in the books by the end of the year.

She has also reached out to some of the local Men’s Sheds for assistance regarding insight, knowledge, and suggestions.

Head to BeWRECT’s Facebook page for more information and the latest updates.