Date: 17 August 2011

Third visit to service as a subscribed member
From this posting onwards the researcher will be referring to himself in the first person.
During this visit the researcher was involved in the following activities (listed chronologically). Areas will be expanded upon in subsequent notes.
• Catching up with shed members and discussing visit of Alex men the previous Wednesday, Bunnings stocktaking, member illnesses
• Talking about tools in particular old planes that I’d brought along to the shed
• Helping on continued construction of wood storage shed
• Smoko
• Planning discussion on moving and ordering wood into storage shed
• Early finish due to poor weather.

Catching up with shed members and discussing visit of Alex men the previous Wednesday, Bunnings stocktaking, member illnesses
On arrival I caught up with a number of the shed members I’d not seen for a couple of weeks. Numbers were slightly down on the previous occasions that I had visited many contributed this to the last few days of heavy snow fall and continued bad weather.
IM and myself talked about the following topics. Other members also came and went during these conversations
• The visit from the Alex men was successful. They had 6 visitors in total and by all accounts they were impressed by the community project work that was happening at the shed as well as the space and resources that had been built up.
• A number of the TBS members also traveled with them to visit the shed at Kings High. IM and other were impressed by the way this shed had been set up as in many ways it was built for purpose from scratch. IM noted some short comings in comparison to TBS. There were no designated kitchen, planning or meeting facilities; members had to clear a space for this.
• IM felt the TBS was able to give the visitors some good advice about set up planning. One example we talked about was spending money wisely on tolls and equipment getting trade quality rather than DIY tools. Better quality tools ‘last longer’ and they are more accurate, this is demanded by many members.
• IM and two other members did say that there was disagreement with the visitors about aligning themselves with the Men’s Shed movement. The was this was described highlighted again that the members of the shed are happy with the way the shed currently operates and see no benefit from being part of a wider organization. They believe that membership of a wider group could restrict what they do and how they do it. A number of members talked with confidence about what they do at the shed having meaning for themselves and for the community group who they work with. They also pointed out that they have had little difficulty gaining grants and donations for the TBS from local funding authorities.
• IM updated me on members who were currently ill. This included the treasure DS who I’ve been working with on the blog. The way members shared information here suggested they had good networks of communication outside of the shed and were aware of other members health issues and provided support. I plan to call DS in the coming week to discuss his plans for the Blog, IM thought this would be a good idea.

Talking about tools in particular old planes that I’d brought along to the shed
Due to the bad weather in the past three days I was unsure if there would be many shed members attending so I’d brought some old wood planes to fix up if no group project were happening. After talking with members I started pulling one of these planes apart. This soon attracted the attention of two other shed members whom stopped to discuss the quality of the planes and tips on fixing and sharpening them. One member told me about a website www.tooljocks.cam he had found where people submit their toll renovation projects and offer each other advice. I only managed to spend 15minutes on fixing the planes before joining the ongoing woodshed project when other members turned up.
Helping on continued construction of wood storage shed
It was pleasing to see the progress that had been made since my last session. The roofing and guttering was on and the shelves were framed up. J, F and myself worked on securing the framing and fixing roofing iron for shelves. J took the lead on this project as on other occasions. He seems to be accepted as the project Forman and is very good at providing jobs for members, offering tips and advice and getting members to share their opinions. J is a builder by trade and talked to me about seeing his role at the shed as ‘someone who drives the projects to completion’. Having fitted the roofing shelves we started to stack wood into the shed.
Smoko
Over a cuppa and a biscuit I caught up with other members, discussing recent trips overseas, health issues and interests outside the shed. One member alternates his Wednesday attendance with golf. IM asked me if I wanted to volunteer for the upcoming Bunnings stock take the shed members do as a way of repaying the sponsorship they offer. I agreed to help out.
Planning discussion on moving and ordering wood into storage shed
After smoko J and myself discussed the reordering of wood supplies from the main workshop to the newly built woodshed. J was very keen on organizing a labeling and ordering system. I did notice that wood was stored in a very unorganized way at present and there was a large load on the current shelving this was also a concern for J. The plan is to start shifting the wood in the next 2 weeks.
Early finish due to poor weather.
Members finished at the shed about 11.45 due to poor weather setting in. J and myself cleaned up the wood shed work are and the yard around before leaving.