A SPIFFY new men’s shed at Hilton Park will be ready to use by mid-August, says the organisation’s founder Bill Johnstone.

Work has started on the new shed, which will accommodate 50 people at a time, with wood and metal-working on the ground floor, and music rooms and a gym on a mezzanine level.

Fremanshed received a $355,000 LotteryWest grant in January and about $105,000 from Fremantle council to relocate to the back of the Hilton Bowls Club, a suburb away from its current home in White Gum Valley.

• Fremanshed founder Bill Johnstone and Beaconsfield councillor Dave Hume check out the two-storey shed rising up next to the Hilton Bowls Club

“We’re sad to leave the White Gum Valley men’s shed, but it’s just not suitable anymore,” says Mr Johnstone.

“Now we have a new facility that the City of Fremantle worked really hard for.”

“We’ve got a great, promising future and we hope to bring many more people to the shed,” he says.

Socialise

Fremanshed was founded by Mr Johnstone 11 years ago and was the first of it’s kind in WA.

Since then several other men’s sheds have opened around the state, all inspired by a similar ethos; that it’s important for blokes to have a place on top of work and home to socialise, share knowledge, and engage in hands-on skills.

• Rob Chapman, Cr Dave Hume, Sam Bryce, Cr Jon Strachan, Bill Johnstone, Alan Gowland, Cr Ingrid Waltham, and mayor Brad Pettitt discover to their chagrin that it’s not quite up to the point of having a roof yet. Photos by Trilokesh Chanmugam

The shed is supposed to help men’s mental, physical and emotional health by offering fellowship and a space for meaningful labour.

Women are also welcome, and Mr Johnstone says part of the reason they needed a bigger shed was because so many women had started to join them in White Gum Valley.

They plan to host an official opening ceremony for the new shed on Shepherd Street in early September.

by TRILOKESH CHANMUGAM