Friday, 31 January 2025

Baxter Men’s Shed

TWO YEARS, EIGHTEEN DAYS AND SIX HOURS.

By Graham Balmer

President, Baxter Mens Shed.

That’s the period of time from when the Baxter CFA told us there had been a fire at the shed, to when we received the keys to our new shed. As we start to rebuild our shed both physically and socially it’s probably a good time to think about the lessons learned over that drawn out no shed period.

1. Have realistic expectations.

The Mornington shire council owned and therefore insured the building. We insured the contents. The first Council employee l met after the fire told me that as the property was under $500,000.00 this would be a relatively quick process, Six to nine months. Six months later, he had long moved on to another position and the insurance companies were still arguing over what was contents and what was building. As councils manage building codes and regulations they must abide by them. There are no shortcuts when dealing with a council and obviously insurance companies will try to limit their payout figures.

2. Members are more important than place.

Fairly quickly after the fire, alternative meeting places were established. The Bittern shed offered their facilities to us one day a week, the local CFA offered there’s on another day and we had access to the community hall right next to our shed so we could watch the total lack of progress. Whilst we lost some members, a strong core stuck together and recently we have welcomed five newcomers. The workshop is an important part of our shed, but the tea room is an essential part.

3. There is a lot of goodwill in the community for Men’s Sheds.

Whilst no one was successful in speeding up the rebuilding process, help came from the community in other ways. Our relationship with our local Bunnings has strengthened over the rebuilding period and our local councillor the VMSA and the company contracted to rebuild the shed have all been very supportive.

4. Try to make the shed as safe as possible.

We believe the fire started in a wooden box that we stored cleaning rags with paint and turps soaked into them. We will buy a metal container with a fitted lid to prevent that from happening again. With the new shed up to date with the current building codes, it is interesting to see the changes that have been made in ten years since the original shed was built. Proper fire doors, simplified electrical switchboard, new security system, wall and ceiling insulation and lighting that is cheaper to maintain and much more effective than the previous lights. Whilst l wouldn’t recommend a fire to get all these updates, next time a grant comes up for property improvements have a look at your older systems that may be ready for an upgrade.

Thanks to everyone from the shed community that have supported us over this challenging time.