Grove men’s shed officially opens after nine years

OCEAN Grove & District Men’s Shed officially opened last week, nine years after its first meeting took place.

Patron Jason Corless officially opened the shed on behalf of the Corless family during the celebratory event, which was attended by men’s shed volunteers and their families, members of parliament, councilrepresentatives and sponsors.

Coordinator Bruce Ward said the opening had been a long time coming, but it wasn’t until now that the men felt they had a permanent home to officially open.

“Up until now we have considered ourselves to be in temporary premises,” Mr Ward said.

The inaugural meeting was held in September 2009 under the auspice of the Ocean Grove Neighbourhood Centre, and their first workshop began operating at Queenscliff Neighbourhood House in July 2010.

The men moved to factory 1 at their present location in Smithton Grove in August 2011.

The members turned the factory into a temporary shed.

Ed Corless agreed to provide the shed rent free for two years, and eventually gave the men factories 2 and 3 in 2014.

Mr Ward said rent never ended up being charged, and the shed entered into a three-year lease with two three-year extensions in 2015 at a “peppercorn” rent.

Grants of $30,000 from the state government and $10,000 from the federal government were received to carry out refurbishment of the sheds they worked in.

Jason said his father Ed was very proud of the men who put their own blood, sweat and tears into building the facility to what it was today.

“My father Ed had a very big soft spot for the association, this shed, he was proud to have played a very small part in what the shed has come to today,” Jason said.

“I think my father was proud of the men of this shed, the men who built this shed with whatever they could, whatever they had and whatever they received in donations.

“It’s the men who built this shed, the men who came up with an idea and they worked hard and built it with their own hands.”

Jason said making the most out of everything, and every opportunity was who his father was.

“My father was also a man who liked to plan things – he was a pre-planner,” Jason said.

“So before he passed away, he made sure this building would be able to continue and run into the future.

“So in his estate, he has made a provision that this facility will continue as the Ocean Grove Men’s Shed as long as the men’s shed would like to use this facility, and further to that, the family has committed to support the shed with funding and assistance for the future as well.”

The men’s shed will now be known as the Ed and Win Corless Centre.

Mr Ward said men’s sheds were an investment in safe, shared spaces they had created, which enabled members to remain confident, connected and productive members of their local community.

“The government, both state and federal, fund us as a men’s health initiative and we are having to report back, particularly at the state-wide level, on health outcomes,” he said.

“We know that over the last 18 months we have actively prevented three men from moving from suicide ideation to completion.

“We know we are very successful in getting men socially included back into our community and reducing homelessness, which is now considered to be a major health issue of senior men.”