Melba Shed Background

Melba Shed meets each Friday from 10AM to around 12.30PM in the Neighbourhood Centre next to the North Belconnen Uniting Church, Conley Drive, Melba (opposite Melba Copland High School). Click on the location map image below

To get to the Shed - just follow the purple line from Verbruggen St, Melba, ACT, 2615. Take ACTION bus 315 along Kingsford Smith Drive, or transport can be arranged

The Shed has been operational since Aug 2008 and has a regular meeting attendance of between 20 and 35. There is a nominal cost of a gold coin donation which helps covers the cost of coffee, tea, biscuits and cake. Everyone is welcome to attend the Melba Shed so please feel free to invite any friends who you think would enjoy the experience. If you are new then just turn up

Members entering Melba Shed

Melba Shed members at Mt Coree excursion April 2009

Members waiting to visit the CSIRO Discovery Centre in May 2010

Road sign in Nth Qld - compliments of Terry

What is the Shed ?

The shed is based on the "Mens Shed" concept that developed throughout Australia

If you are really interested in the background to our shed, its policies, reports, its members, then we have more information on Our Shed Page

Melba Shed caters typically for older men no longer in the workforce meeting regularly to socialise, listen to a range of speakers and undertake various excursions. However this does not preclude younger persons nor ladies from attending. Some community support activities and projects may occur from time to time

The shed welcomes new members - if you know of someone who might enjoy our company at Shed activities then please invite him along. The shed is has a regular meeting attendance of over 30 men. The shed provides a friendly meeting place where participants can pass on skills, engage in hobby activities or simply enjoy one another's company over a cup or two of coffee or tea

The shed has also evolved a program of guest speakers, outings and excursions rather than being ‘hands-on’ like many other men’s sheds. This program has been developed in consultation with members and is continually updated

We have a meeting every week (except Christmas or Easter) mostly on Fridays mornings. At these meetings we usually have a guest speaker, however we also have coffee/tea, biscuits/cake, plus we talk to each other, and hear from various members about what they are doing. We seem to have developed a group of poets, ('Our bards') who weekly astound us with their witty repartee. You can see some of their work on Our Shed Page or our Funnies Page

We mix up the meetings, with usually a monthly excursion to a place of interest and also a monthly BBQ/Sausage sizzle or similar. After the Friday meetings some members go to lunch at the McKellar Soccer Club, and all are welcome to join them

We have regular charity type activities where members can volunteer to help groups such as the YMCA at their garage sales, Greenhills conference centre at the Cotter, and other groups as required

We have some members, such as Steve making parrot nesting boxes and supplying members. Steve has branched into making special parrot boxes with advice from the Woodcraft Guild. These boxes are made from waste hardwood planks mostly fence palings so that they seem as natural as possible which the parrots apparently like. So far Steve has made around 15 of his new Mark 4 models

We have several members (4 at last count) who have made or acquired Indian Myna Bird cages to help capture and eradicate Myna Birds and Starlings

We have several members (also 4 at last count) who help out with Lifeline Bookfairs. Several of us have helped Don Gruber make trolleys for Lifeline

We have also developed some special activity groups (SAGs) or special interest groups (SIGs), SIGs sounds better, for things such as:

So that's an overview. Hope you enjoy our site. Don't forget if you want to get onto our email distribution and the Newsletters that are also emailed, simply send a request to email address on the top bar. Also all our Newsletters are available through the Newsletters page

You can browse all our pages by simply clicking on the Next Page at the bottom of every page, or you can use the Site Index page, or you can use the Tabs on the Navigation Bar on the left. Each Tab will have sub Tabs

Background to the Shed (What is the shed?)

What is the Shed ?