Hammer it home

They've got the tools, they've got the skills ... all they need is a shed. Sophie Bond reports on a Shore men's group's search for a home.
Chips of wood spray on to the footpath as Ross McEwan taps steadily on his chisel.
The retired Silverdale resident usually doesn't do his woodworking on the streets but, today, he's trying to hammer home a point. Mr McEwan is chairman of the North Shore Men's Shed, a group of retirees who are passionate about woodworking, engineering and electronics and who are missing just one vital component for their club - a shed.
It's been over two years since members began hunting for land or a building on the North Shore.
"Not a hell of a lot has been happening," says Mr McEwan, "we've really been treading water. We've investigated several sites."
Once again, however, Mr McEwan's hopes are rising. "The Elliot Reserve in Glenfield has become available and we feel that would be ideal because it's a central site, fairly easy to access and with plenty of parking."
The Glenfield childcare centre moved out of its building on the reserve earlier this year, leaving the council-owned spot vacant. Mr McEwan says the Men's Shed's last application for a potential site was 18 months ago, "but we never heard back as to whether it was available or not".
Last week, the group met representatives of North Shore City Council and applied for the Elliot Reserve site.
Mr McEwan says the group is ready except for having somewhere to meet. "We achieved charitable trust status in December and became incorporated," he pauses and chuckles, "the legalities of the North Shore Men's Shed Trust Incorporated have all been signed and sealed, but we've still got no place to go."
There is also a growing pile of equipment earmarked for the group's future use.
"We put a small notice in the Age Concern newsletter and that generated a heap of calls from widows who have all this gear they don't know what to do with. Now the tools and nails, etc, are building up and up. We already have a database of about 30 members and we haven't even started to advertise ourselves yet."
Mr McEwan expects the Men's Shed application to use Elliot Park to go before North Shore City Council this week. "As far as we know, there's a councillor who doesn't want anything put on the property but, overall, it looks like there's a strong possibility for us to get approval."
If the group does gets the green light, Mr McEwan believes building consents and the council process mean the men still won't have their shed "this side of Christmas".
Birkenhead and Northcote community coordinator Jill Nerheny has been helping the group search and is frustrated with the wait. She hopes the council will see the merit of the Men's Shed application, but is worried some councillors might want to keep Elliot Reserve vacant.
"Any other time there would be heaps of sites coming up for grabs, but now there's not one little site to be had. There might be a generous person out there who has a commercial site to lease in the meantime so they can at least get started."
Mr McEwan hopes someone in the area will come forward with an offer. "That would be great because it would give us a home and allow us to start promoting the project."
Got room?
A Men's Shed provides a workshop and meeting place so men - mainly retired - can get together in a relaxed environment and practise their skills. The movement started in Australia in 2000 and there are now about a dozen sheds around New Zealand.
If you are able to offer a temporary home to North Shore Men's Shed, please call Jill Nerheny on 486 8400, ext 8854.