Cutting the ‘birthday cake’ former deputy Mayor Doug Phillips, Men’s Shed member John Simpfendorfer and former Mayor of Cootamundra Paul Braybrooks.
The Coota Men’s Shed is not just a workshop, but a place for socialisation, comraderie, solidarity and something to do for many people in Coota while also providing plenty to the community.
On Tuesday at 11:30am, the Coota Men’s Shed celebrated this milestone with a low-key, but significant celebration. President, Bill McCaskill, gave the Cootamundra Times the run down on how the celebration went.
“We had about 20 people turn up, which wasn’t a bad little turnout on short notice,” he said. “It was just a barbeque, a sit down, and a few people get together and talk about things. “It was to celebrate a good 20 years of the Men’s Shed in Cootamundra. Twenty years ago they had their first meeting where they decided to go ahead with the Men’s Shed concept and the Council at the time supported it and provided some money to kick it off.
“The Mayor at the time and Deputy Mayor at the time were there yesterday as well.”
Twenty years is a long time for anything, so it’s only fitting that over those years plenty of memories and highlights were had.
“Two and a half years ago, we moved into new premises, bigger premises in Hovell Street. “We have slowly been getting the shed up to what we want with the equipment we can and basically, it’s just providing a good, safe environment for the men to come down and either potter around making stuff or sitting down having a yak and a cup of coffee or tea.
“It provides an alternative for a lot of men to meet. “From an idea to have a meeting that progressed, we are slowly keeping our membership fairly stable now around between 30 and 40, which is not bad for the size of the town. “Most people are quite happy to come down, just enjoy the time and spend a few hours down there.
“A couple of blokes have said their wives encourage them to go down just to get them out of the house. “It is a fairly light hearted atmosphere and everyone enjoys themselves.”
– Jack Murray
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