Wednesday 20 September 2017

Sept, 2017

St Leonards Men’s Shed Newsletter 

                September
What a Winter we had, glad its over.   As has become the custom it's been a busy time in the Shed with all the projects going on.  Its good to see Fred slowly recovering and back at the Shed and also John Glosz has returned.  The Grand Final will be here before you know it and although it was a tough year for our tipsters, my son-in-law ended up winning our competition by one point from a rampaging Chris.

 St Leonards Primary School

Vegetable Trellises


The school asked if we could make some trellises for their garden beds, and of course the boys were quick to jump in.  Well when I say jump, I mean start but not too quickly.  You can see by the amount of action, the job was finished with a minimum of fuss.








The finished product looks great and the children at the school have already started planting.





School at the Shed

As you know, we always have students attend the Shed to complete a project for them to take with them.  Last year the problem was timing.  It was the last term and Christmas things got in the way and by the time the students arrived there was limited time to get things completed. 


This year we had eight students attend, a term  earlier, to make themselves Fidget Spinners.  These were so popular they made themselves two each.  Thanks to Phil Murphy who cut out the patterns for everyone.  The children had to sand the edges, paint a design of their own choice, dill the hole and insert the bearings, (that Bob had arranged through our overseas supplier).


Then it was on to Bird Box construction.  I'll apologise now for the number of photos but Jenny Cowburn (Principle) sent me so many and I had to try and choose some for the newsletter.  These four show how much effort and concentration the children were putting into the project.














We were asked to make the bird boxes by the Bellarine Landcare Group and when we said we do projects with the school they agreed it would be a great match.  They then allowed the students to take their bird boxes to be positioned at the school.




If we thought they were enjoying themselves, up to this point, little did we know how popular using the nail gun would be.   Like fish to water, they loved it.  As you can see, there was always a queue, waiting as patiently as they could.






The finished product, proudly displayed by Dennis and Harley. 







The children having finished their projects, enjoyed some culinary delights, a drink and listened to a talk on birds and their nesting habits by Sophie Small from the Bellarine Landcare Group.  Of course it wouldn't be complete without receiving certificates and a group photo of the Mens Shed team, students and Jenny.



Annual General Meeting
September is our AGM time and this year we had a very good attendance.  Of the current committee, the only person standing down, (for personal reasons) was our Vice-President, Russell Bath.  We passed a big vote of thanks to Russell for all his hard work over the past couple of years as a Committee member and Vice President. 

Russell's shoes are being filled by John Stevens as VP and Phil Murphy was elected to the Committee as Assistant Treasurer.  Trevor Hirth took time out of his very busy calendar to again chair the AGM for us.  While on the subject of Trevor, I was very negligent in not acknowledging Trevor's Lions Promotion in earlier newsletters.  So the article below is reproduced from the Port report, with thanks to Rod and Tina Elms.

Local Lion inducted as District Governor

Portarlington/Drysdale Lions Club member, Trevor Hirth, has been inducted as District Governor of Lions V2 region for 2017-18.

The V2 region has 73 Lions Clubs and covers the western suburbs of Melbourne and much of the Western District of Victoria.

A resident of St Leonards, Trevor has nearly 40 years’ experience in Lions, first with Lismore Lions Club and then with Portarlington/Drysdale to which he transferred in 2012.

He has held numerous positions at Club, District and Multiple District levels and has served more than 10 years on District Cabinet, eight of these as District Chairman. Among many other posts, he was National Chairman of the Australian Lions Children’s Mobility Foundation for many years.

Outside Lions, Trevor and his wife Jan are involved in many community organisations, including Blaze Aid and Aussie Helpers.

Trevor is only the second Portarlington/Drysdale Lions Club member to achieve the status of District Governor in the Club’s 46-year history. The late Adrian Mannix OAM was the other clubman to head the V2 District.

To inquire about joining Lions, contact Stephen Love, secretary, on 5259 1252.

1950's version of an email
Some one had far too much time on their hands, but it is very good.

 Long ago and far away, in a land that time forgot,
Before the days of Dylan, or the dawn of Camelot.
There lived a race of innocents, and they were you and me,

For Menzies was in the Parliament in that land where we were born,

Where navels were for oranges, and Peyton Place was porn.
We longed for love and romance, and waited for our Prince,
Eddie Fisher married Liz, and no one's seen him since.
We danced to 'Little Darlin,' and sang to 'Stagger Lee'
And cried for Buddy Holly in the and that made me, Me.

Only girls wore earrings then, and 3 was one too many,
And only boys wore flat-top cuts, except for Jean McKinney.
And only in our wildest dreams did we expect to see
A boy named George with lipstick, in the land that made me
, Me.

Some fell for Frankie Avalon, Annette was oh, so nice,
And when they made a movie, they never made it twice.
We didn't have a Star Trek Five, or Psycho Two and Three,
Or Rocky-Rambo Twenty in the land that made me, Me.



Miss Kitty had a heart of gold, and Chester had a limp,
And Tarzan was a loner whose co-star was a chimp.
We had a Mr. Wizard, but not a Mr. T,
And Oprah couldn't talk yet, in the land that made me, Me.


We had our share of heroes, we never thought they'd go,
At least not Bobby Darin, or Marilyn Monroe.
For youth was still eternal, and life was yet to be,
And Elvis was forever in the land that made me, Me.

We'd never seen the rock band that was Grateful to be Dead,
And Aeroplanes weren't named Jefferson, and Zeppelins were not Led.

And Beatles lived in gardens then, and Monkees lived in trees,
Madonna was Mary in the land that made me, Me.

We'd never heard of microwaves, or telephones in cars,
And babies might be bottle-fed, but they were not grown in jars.
And pumping iron got wrinkles out, and 'gay' meant fancy-free,
And dorms were never co-Ed in the land that made me, Me.


We hadn't seen enough of jets to talk about the lag,
And microchips were what was left at the bottom of the bag.
And hardware was a box of nails, and bytes came from a flea,
And rocket ships were fiction in the land that made me, Me.

T-Birds came with portholes, and side shows came with freaks,
And bathing suits came big enough to cover both your cheeks.
And Coke came just in bottles, and skirts below the knee,
And Castro came to power near the land that made me, Me.


We had no Crest with Fluoride, we had no Hill Street Blues,
We had no patterned pantyhose or Lipton herbal teas
Or prime-time ads for those dysfunctions in the land that made me, Me.

There were no golden arches, no Perrier to chill,
And fish were not called Wanda, and cats were not called Bill.
And middle-aged was 35 and old was forty-three,
And ancients were our parents in the land that made me, Me.

But all things have a season, or so we've heard them say,
And now instead of Maybelline we swear by Retin-A.
They send us invitations to join AARP,
We've come a long way, baby, from the land that made me, Me.

So now we face a brave new world in slightly larger jeans,

And wonder why they're using smaller print in magazines.
And we tell our children's children of the way it used to be,
Long ago and far away in the land that made me, Me.

Those who didn't grow up in the fifties, have missed the greatest time in history, Hope you enjoyed this read as much as I did. 

Note: No trees were killed in the writing of this message,
but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

Bellarine Community Health

We are very thankful of being awarded a grant from Bellarine Community Health, under their Health & Wellbeing Fund, titled Hearing Harmony for Men.  We applied for a small amount of funding to install some acoustic tiles in the meeting/kitchen room.  While it’s an early call, the tiles appear to have reduced the echo and level of noise allowing us to better hear the gospel according to Chris.

   The tiles were delivered and installed on the Saturday before Father's Day.
 
 
This is the hard working team that did all the heavy lifting on that Saturday.  Actually, the heavy lifting was done after we installed the tiles.








Safe Plate Screws





Following on from our very successful "Safe Plate Day" in April, the Justice Department sent us some more safe number plate screws to be used.  We had only one customer on the first Monday in September, a bitterly cold day, so we were very glad we did not have a rush of people and cars.



Portarlington Golf Club

We were contacted by Shaun, a representative of the Golf Club to ask if we could help them with the making of some signs for the Club.  It sounded like something we could have a go at, so we gathered some details and advised we would try a prototype to see if they thought it was what they were looking for.  Using timber we had at the shed, the prototype was completed and Shaun returned to inspect.  He said it was looking good but the dimensions he had provided were too big and could we reduce the size.  He was attending a meeting that afternoon at the Golf Club and asked could he take a photo of the prototype to show their Committee.  We said, no need for a photo, take the board.  Shaun rang later that night and said they loved it, they'll have 20.  Bob and I met with Shaun to view the product for Hole No 1, wanting to make sure the colours were correct and if the pole height was OK.  All systems go and by the way it will be 22 not 20.  More on this progress next newsletter.

Just saw an oldie but a goodie.  "Some people remind me of old TV sets,  You've got to hit them a few times before they get the picture."



Life Membership

During the AGM, the President, Ray Bowtell, moved that we induct a new Life Member, Chris Shea.  The motion was carried unanimously demonstrating what a popular character Chris is.  Being a passionate Aldi shopper he has donated lots to the Shed, is always the first to volunteer, never shys away from any project and keeps us all on the straight and narrow with his colourful insights.  Congratulations Chris.

  Chris is currently in hospital, but from all reports the nurses are coping just fine, we wish Chris a speedy recovery.  


While discussing Chris, when everyone else started making cigar-box guitars, Chris thought he would go one better and bought a kit and made an electric one.  One of Dennis's friends checked it out and gave it a nod of approval. 
 
 
He also thought Bruce had done a fine job on his guitar.  More on the Cigar Box guitars in the next newsletter.




Member Profile
 

As you know, each newsletter, we introduce one of our members and complete a profile.  Last newsletter you met our resident Doctor, Taras Mikulin.  This month its our much traveled Lions District Governor, Trevor Hirth.







 Name
Trevor Hirth

Partner

Jan

Children/Grandchildren

2/6

Great Grandchildren

0

How long have you lived in St Leonards?

6 Years

Before St Leonards?

BerryBank

What did you do before retiring? 

Farmer

Football Club you support?

Essendon