Kaitāia’s MenzShed wants new members — upholstery skills would help

MenzShed Kaitāia held a farewell for upholster Christine Klingenberg, who is moving to Australia, and the shedders are hoping to find a replacement for her.

MenzShed Kaitāia is looking for new members and is hoping one of them will be an expert upholsterer, after skilled member Christine Klingenberg decided to move to Australia.

Klingenberg, an upholsterer extraordinaire, was one of the first two female members of the shed when she joined after a recruitment drive early last year.

So, it needs somebody skilled in upholstery to take over from Klingenberg, and the club is always on the hunt for new members, male or female, MenzShed Kaitāia secretary/treasurer Dave Wase said.

After she joined the club last year, Klingenberg said she signed up to continue exploring her artistic side and loved the creativity it offered.

“I saw something on Facebook that they were encouraging a more broad membership. As a creative person I have to keep making things and this gives me the perfect opportunity to explore my creative side and also do a bit of good for the community,” she said at the time.

Christine Klingenberg, MenzShed Kaitāia’s skilled upholsterer, is moving to Australia and leaving a big gap to fill.

Klingenberg was concentrating on upholstering old, abandoned items to give them a colourful, new lease of life, and she loved the work. She said as a retired person there was not a lot of work in the Kaitāia area, so being at the MenzShed allowed her to keep updating her skills while creating items for people to keep.

“I get to continue my creative side, it keeps me occupied and there’s such a lot of work that needs doing. Also there’s the social aspect. I’d recommend it to anybody.”

Wase is hoping Klingenberg’s recommendation will inspire others to join up

“Christine’s work was greatly appreciated by all of us and we’re going to miss her. We had a sausage sizzle to farewell her, and wish her well for the future. But we now need another upholsterer.’’

Last June was the formal opening of MenzShed Kaitāia’s new premises, in a building attached to the Northland Waste Recovery Centre at the end of Church Rd, after moving from its previous cramped home in December.

The move served the organisation well, with membership more than doubling from six to 13 and two women became members, prompting Wase to joke it may have to be renamed the “PersonzShed”.

Wase said when Northland Waste Recovery Centre manager Darryn Shanks asked if the group wanted to move in next door, they jumped at the chance, seeing it as an ideal opportunity to expand.

It was a perfect fit, Shanks said, because it closely aligns with the company’s waste minimisation mantra.

Shanks said the addition of the MenzShed had proved popular, with the centre taking many of the items they repaired to sell in its shop.

Anybody interested in joining MenzShed Kaitāia, which is based at the Northland Waste Recovery Centre, Church Rd, can email Wase at davidwase@gmail.com