A MENS SHED in Coolbellup is on the cards.

Late last year Willagee Labor MP Peter Tinley held a meeting with residents and the WA Men’s Shed Association, after being inundated by local men desperate for somewhere to whip out their tools.

He says they now have 130 registrations, an eight- member committee, and early next year will start raising the $900 required to become an incorporated body.

• Peter Tinley with Fremantle Men’s Shed president Bill Johnstone in Hilton. Photo supplied

“We’re hoping to move into an interim site by March and then secure funding for a permanent home in the second half of next year,” he says.

“The response from the community has been great, and that’s important as these type of associations will only prosper if they are built from the bottom up.

“I recently visited the Freo Men’s Shed in Hilton where members told me that the shed is having a positive impact on their lives and the local community.”

Mr Tinley said he had a couple of locations in mind for the shed, but was keeping them under his beret until he had spoken to the relevant authorities.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK