Voices of the South Side (VoSS) collaborated with the Port Phillip Men’s Shed to run a five week introduction to woodwork course with men and women from the VoSS program.

Mixed group in five week course 2018

Twelve people including the two VoSS facilitators signed up as Men’s Shed members with past woodwork experience varying greatly amongst the group. Nine people from VoSS attended regularly with several participants opting to attend the Men’s Shed on general operating days rather than as a part of a course.

The aim of the course was to link VoSS participants to the Men’s Shed to reignite past interest in woodwork, teach people new skills and provide a new pathway into community participation that could be pursued independently. Completed projects included picture frames, a stand for a statue, a coffee table, wooden box for a saxophone mouthpiece and four people making chopping boards.

Feedback received at the completion of the course was very favourable.
Participants were highly satisfied with their experience of the course and their expectations were more than met. A couple had overestimated their skills and thought that they might be bored but the course allowed people who were more advanced to pursue their own projects with enough supervisors on board to facilitate this.
Group members felt very supported by the supervisors and felt that they were patient and flexible.

Due to the success of this pilot program we are considering further programs in 2019 and if we decide to proceed we will be looking for members to assist. The most likely session times will be Mondays 1pm to 3pm

Further information will be provided in February.

Regards
Bob Small
President
Port Phillip Men’s Shed