Men’s Shed delivers bookcase to childcare centre

WHALE OF A TALE

THE Torquay Community Men’s Shed has made a splash at a Torquay childcare centre with the delivery of a bookcase to be used as a free library for children and their parents.

Woodworking shed manager Brian Burch and president John Williams delivered the custom-made whale-shaped bookcase to delighted staff at Elements Childcare and Early Learning on Tuesday morning.

The bookcase, which the Men’s Shed christened “Willie the Whale”, was specially designed to fit in a specific space in the centre’s foyer and will be used as a public bookcase.

Centre director Jen Bond said she was inspired to have the bookcase built after learning about the Little Free Library movement, which started in the United States in 2009 and has now spread to more than 80 countries around the world.

“The idea is that parents will bring in books that the children may not read or they’ve grown out of them at home.

“Some of the families with younger children can then come in and do a swap – and it’s for adults as well as for children.”

She said she was very pleased with the final result.

“It’s exactly as I envisaged it.

“They (the Men’s Shed) have been thoroughly engaged from the beginning and visited often to ensure that our vision came to life.”

There are about 50 children attending Elements Childcare and Early Learning at the moment, and Ms Wood said she expected books would start moving in and out straight away.

“It won’t take long to fill it up at all. As the number of families grow, the library will grow.”

Mr Williams said the bookcase took the Men’s Shed about four months to build from scratch.

“It took quite a while, because we were only there for a couple of hours each week, mainly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the mornings.”