Doors open at Women’s Shed

THE Bendigo Women’s Shed was a hive of activity last Thursday morning when doors were officially opened to the public.

Movers and shakers behind the organisation, Prue Clarke and Jo Haynes, said they were overjoyed to see the turnout of women coming to chat, connect and plan for the future of the shed.

“The sound behind me is what we’ve wanted for nearly a year. To hear that just makes me feel so happy,” Ms Clarke said.

Ms Haynes, who originally floated the idea for one of her TAFE classes, said it was bigger and better than she ever imagined.

“When I first started designing this concept for that original project, I was only thinking of a little tiny shed with about 10 people,” she said.

“Then Prue and I got together and it was like ‘woah, no, let’s think bigger!’ and we have.

“Constantly, ideas are flowing at us. It’s all a matter of now finding time, planning and putting it into place.”

“We’re writing the book,” Ms Clarke added.

While the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the establishment of the shed, behind the scenes work was done to prepare the space.

An October bake sale and Bunnings sausage sizzle were held to fundraise money for workshops, while a recent working bee saw women remove almost 400 kilograms of weeds from the exterior of the site.

“Humbling was the only word I could think of,” Ms Clarke said.

“We’ve developed a real team now and it’s branching out,” Ms Haynes said.

“Prue and I keep checking in to say, ‘always go back to what people wanted’.”

Planning committee member Andy Schloss said, for many women, that was learning home maintenance like how to hang a picture, replace a tap washer or even service a lawn mower.

“There is so much we can do. Each group is set up for the women and what they want, then it can really run itself,” she said.