General News
16 July, 2020
Kuranda men’s shed awards “Shedder of the year”
Last month the Kuranda men’s shed held their annual AGM where they awarded their volunteer of the year or their “Shedder of the year”
While the Kuranda men’s shed may be one of the newer men’s sheds in Far North Queensland it doesn’t mean they aren’t brimming with members hoping to help out their community.
Last month the Kuranda men’s shed held their annual AGM where they awarded their volunteer of the year or their “shedder of the year”
This year the award went to Luciano “Chano” Ceciliot.
President of the Kuranda men’s shed Richard Clews said the shedder of the year is an award that they give out every year to their top volunteer.
“This year we awarded Chano for his efforts with the building of the shed which included a lot of carpentry projects and welding,” he said
“He just steps in where ever he is needed, whenever someone needs a hand Chano is there to help. If you need some welding done, he brings his own welding gear in to help.”
Chano said we he surprised to win the award “I wasn’t expecting it, I didn’t even know there was an award,’ he said
Chano said that joining the Kuranda men’s shed has changed his life “I was working in the mines for a while and due to health reasons in 2018 I had to stop.”
“After that I started going downhill, I was wandering around a bit lost. I used to have workmates I could talk too and when that got cut off and I was on my own.
“This is a great way to stay connected, I got involved and coming here a few days a week is great.
“When I help out I don’t expect anything in return or to be recognised, I just do the jobs and share my knowledge.”
Daryl Douglass is the secretary of the Kuranda men’s shed and said they have plenty of jobs on to keep them busy.
“At the moment we are finishing our shed, we are building birdcages for an animal rescue group in Speewah, crazy yellow ant traps, seed trays for environcare and we have been rebuilding some park benches for CWA.” Daryl said
Daryl said without community contributions they would not be able to keep their doors open
“Mt Emerald wind farm and RATCH Australia recently donated $10,000 which we used to improve our shed and buy some much-needed tools and safety equipment. “
The Kuranda men’s shed has been going for two and a half years and they currently have 45 members. Daryl says that local men in the local community have benefited from the men’s shed. “If it wasn’t for us they would be sitting at home twiddling their thumbs. We have a gent here who had been retired for years and he was an engineer and now he can come here and teach us all a thing or two.”
“It’s about mental health and isolation, people can come here rather than sitting at home staring at the ceiling and meet people and gaining camaraderie. It’s all about bringing people together and letting them work on projects of their own choice.”
The Kuranda Men’s shed meets every Saturday and Wednesday for more information go to https://mensshed.org/
