Transcript of interview with Ian Miller, Taieri Blokes Shed

ABSTRACT

00:00    Introduction

01:10    Ian explains how the Taieri Blokes' Shed came to be established and the concept behind it

02:56    Ian talks about the founding membership

03:39    Ian outlines the aims of the Shed - primarily health and wellbeing

06:30    Ian gives anecdotal evidence of the benefits of Shed membership

07:30    Ian talks about how the Shed established their current premises at the Taieri Aerodrome

13:11    Ian explains how all skills and abilities welcome and how the members share knowledge and skills; members are allocated jobs according to their skillset, and newer members given the chance to learn on the job

15:06    Ian talks about how they work at the Shed and some of the projects they have completed for the community

17:57    Ian explains how the Shed became involved in the Lilliput Libraries project with Ruth Arnison

18:55    Ian talks about the Māori Pā and the Albatross Colony projects

19:45    Ian gives an update on the current membership and explains how people can become members of the Taieri Blokes' Shed

22:01    Health and safety of the members; training

23:13    How the Shed finances its projects and day-to-day administration

24:47    Ian explains how their morning tea is important for fellowship; annual day-trips to places of interest another benefit of membership

27:01    Importance of passing on skills to younger generation

28:41    How the Shed is adapting to changing times and modernising

30:22    Ian reveals what he is most proud of about the Shed and its achievements

34:30    Ian explains when the Shed is open to its members, and that they have a laid-back approach - members can come as often or as little as they like; also how the Shed is bringing in speakers to inform and educate members on health, wellbeing and subjects of interest to members

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00:00

Kay: So Ian, thank you so much for having me here today. I'm really pleased to be here at the Taieri Blokes' Shed. And I understand that you're a very knowledgeable member of the Club... may I call it a club? Or, what is it, an organisation?

Ian: Well, theoretically yes, the Shed is the Shed, but we are a national organisation, MENZSHED New Zealand, so you would have to call it an organisation.

Kay: And you're a founding member, I understand?

Ian: Yes, I'm one of the 11 members that joined up in 2008, and I did, over the years, well right from day one, I actually managed the Shed - Shed Coordinator, Secretary and then Chairman. So, a few years back the Shed members bestowed Life Membership of Taieri Blokes' Shed, which I felt was a great honour, and possibly... I think it might be deserved, but it is a great honour, 'cause my wife and I, with her support we did put a lot of ground work in, building that Shed up to what it is today.

01:10

Kay: When did the Shed start? When did you start it?

Ian: Officially the Shed started in 2008, July 2008. There was some meetings before that, but officially it was opened in July 2008. So we've been going 14 years and building our numbers up over that time.

Kay: And how did you get going? Was it sort of two or three friends got together, or... what was the...?

Ian: No, the Shed concept was brought to this area, Dunedin area, by Phil Bradshaw in the Navy. He was based in Australia for a few years, and he was told he had to go out and do some community work or something like that. And when he came back to New Zealand, he brought the concept back here and sold it, or tried to sell it to people. And what he did do was he went round the Dunedin City Council, RSA, Age Concern's another one, St Johns, and he managed to get their support then, to form or get a public meeting together and sell the concept... which they did. And I think there was... they had a barbecue in the hanger along here... and sort of told us all about it, and I think there was about 70 people in total there. It was a big crowd.

Kay: That is a big crowd, goodness, yeah. In Mosgiel at the aerodrome here.

Ian: At the Aeroclub here, yeah. Because Mark Hely, who was Chairman of the Aero Club, he was very supportive as well, and he made the facilities available to get us started.

02:56

Kay: So, how many of you were there when you first started... how many members?

Ian: Ah, I think there's about 11 of the original committee started. There's still two very active in the Shed. There's another two or three who are still quite interested in the Shed, but for health reasons they can't do much at the Shed, but they're very supportive and come as wellbeing. And then some of the others moved on. But we started with 11.

Kay: And is it aimed at sort of retired people, or is it anybody... who's a male, presumably?

Ian: Well, that's a good question. Okay, good point. [laughs]

03:39

Kay: Why don't you tell us what the aims of the Shed are?

Ian: Well, basically it was aimed at retired men, yes, for health and wellbeing. Because when you either retire from work, or you sell a business, or in my case moved off the farm, and come to town, what do we do? That's the concept behind it, but it's not just for older men. Over these few years, we've even had two or three schoolboys come along for a short time. Unfortunately they move on because they go to Uni, or girls come into the picture sometimes. [laughs] Age... there's not an issue with age. This Shed here, the original members said we want it for men only, and we have stuck with that. Not that we've had many women ask. We discourage women joining, as men are more open and speak more freely without women's presence. Also, generally, our supportive wives like it this way. The main reason being that men have fewer options than women for interests. And the Shed is a place where they can continue their skills and fellowship, and our wives know where we are. [laughter]. But as time has gone on, and Sheds around the Country have increased, we say 'Men's Shed' in the broad concept, because... you know, you can't bar women because they want to join you're obliged to accept them. As long as they abide by your rules, you're obliged to accept them.

Kay: Fair enough. But I guess it's nice to have a space where you can go and just be men together, is it?

Ian: Yeah, well that's the concept behind... men speak more freely on their own, than in mixed company. And we, from time to time, do get a health speaker in to come and talk to us, when then men can, say, open up a wee bit more. Or if you're working shoulder to shoulder with somebody, and you don't know them that well, but within a short time, "Ah, I've had prostate or bowel cancer," or whatever. Yes, it is a very important thing for men's health, and that's why we bring these speakers in.

Kay: So that's your primary goal, is to get men talking about their health and wellbeing?

Ian: Basically, yeah. Caring for men's health and wellbeing, and giving them the opportunity to continue and pass on their life skills to others. The work side of things is really secondary. Our national aim is wellbeing and health for men, yeah.

06:30

Kay: And have you had sort of feedback from men who've said... you know, positive feedback about it because it's helped them?

Ian: Ah, many, many. I'd be the first to say it myself. I possibly wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the Shed. It gives you an excuse to get out of bed in the morning and come along, and... sometimes you think, ah I've got a bit of an issue and you make a mountain out of it. But it can only be a molehill to somebody else that you're working side by side with. So then you realise, ah I'm not so bad after all.

Kay: It gives you some perspective, doesn't it, to talk it through.

Ian: And it's also good for the home.

Kay: Oh, yes! [laughs] Absolutely!

Ian: Gets us out of the house. Yeah, get out of the house, and our wives are quite chuffed that we come along here, yeah. [chuckles] So yeah, it's just a plus-plus situation all the way through.

07:30

Kay: So you started off quite small. You were telling me earlier, that you started off in just a part of the aircraft hangar next door, and in 14 years, 'cause you've just shown me around this amazing facility you've got here, you've really built it up into... well, it's like a workplace now, genuinely like a large workplace.

Ian: It is a large place, yes. We need more room as our membership grows, and can take bigger projects and still work safely. But remember the Shed needs to meet our running costs as we try and stay independent. I mean by that that the larger area you've got, you've also got more running costs. So a Shed has to be able to meet those running costs as well. 'Cause I've found at other Sheds around the country, sometimes they've got very big Sheds, but struggle to finance their Shed running costs. So it's getting a balance of the two. But we feel by leasing the building that we have, at the moment, a good balance. But, in saying that, when we were first shown this building, 'cause I asked the Aeroclub... I want the first option if it comes up. They wouldn't show us inside, but it was the convenience of where it was. I said I want first option if it comes up. So they did come back to me. They said yes, it's coming up soon. So they showed us, and half a dozen had looked at it. And I think there was only two of us said it's a go-er. But we said, ah no it's not... there was no ceiling. The walls were just roughly poured concrete. And as I say, there was no ceiling, all the power had to be renewed, there were broken windows along the roadside. It looked bleak, cold... it was terrible.

Kay: So it was pretty derelict, yeah. What was this building for as part of the Aerodrome, do you know?

Ian: I think it... I can't go that far back [chuckles] but I think it was used as sort of a barracks in the First World War for the... not the armed ones, the horse ones in the Army. There was sort of a stable block. 'Cause there was this fireplace in here, there was a toilet in here, of a sort.

Kay: So had anybody been using it, when you asked for the option on it, or was it just empty and falling down?

Ian: No, the... I'm not sure... it was the Parachute Club, in association with the Aeroclub. They used that part out there for the parachutes, and for the laying them out and the repacking and all that. The workshop area was used by the Parachute Club in association with the Aeroclub. The Parachute Club then became defunct. That's why the room became available. Included in the building concept we had, we have a meeting room, which was two small rooms which we made into one bigger room, and it included a kitchen in it where we can have morning and afternoon tea. And outside we have added two sheds for storage and a container for hot work, so we can handle most jobs that come in. This has given us much more flexibility and more options on projects that we can do.

Kay: And hot work would be things like welding?

Ian: No, hot work is welding and grinding metal. It's metalwork. But the reason we have an outside container... the building where our workshop's in is adjacent to the air hangar, so because of the fire danger, we have to do the hot metalwork in a separate container.

Kay: Ah, I see, so it keeps it safe.

Ian: Yeah. Included in our woodwork and metalwork, electrical work is provided do outside electrical work - only for safety reasons. And then we don't compete against outside contractors. But with so much machinery... electrically... when we need, you know, somebody there at the time to repair anything electrical. Also we have a retired painter who brings his skills, especially when he restores old furniture, or matching paint or stain on restored projects, is also a very well-reserved member. So this shows the skills and the balance, and what we can do at the Shed. Also, we have a few members learning wood-turning, as we have a member who is very skilled in this hobby, and he is teaching elderly men a new skill or a new trade by learning to wood turn.

Kay: Right. So you took this on, and you've done a heck of a lot of work on it, and you've made it a very comfortable, cosy place to be, so it's a very pleasant environment to be in. So that must have taken how long?

Ian: Ah, it only took a couple of years to do it to do it. Well, we were up and running... well, we were working in it within a few months. The ceiling was a big project, because you had to sort of get that up before you could work in it. But the windows we replaced and put protection over them. We plastered all the walls - they were just a work in progress.

Kay: So you all just pulled together.

13:11

Ian: Yeah, everybody just pulled together, and allocate jobs out to this and that one. You find out what their best skills are and you allocate the jobs to the skill and ability, yeah. But it's... we've got members who've got no skills at all. Nothing really major, but they just come along, help out where they can. I haven't got a piece of paper to my name.

Kay: Well, you don't necessarily need a piece of paper to have skills, do you.

Ian: [laughs] No! But I've learnt a hell of a lot.

Kay: So it's a teaching establishment as much as anything else, 'cause you can learn from each other, I suppose?

Ian: Yes, yeah, we do. We share ideas. If there's a project, and you have the skills, and then if they want assistance, then you can bring in some of the newer members or the ones than haven't the skills to bring them in and get them involved in the project.

Kay: So what sort of skills do you have here as a team? What do you bring to the party?

Ian: It's basically woodwork skills... joinery is the main one. Restoring older furniture, broken furniture... light metalwork. We can do all that. You know, we'll do it.

Kay: So you've got electricians and painters, and...?

Ian: Yes, yeah, whatever is required as part of the project. You know, we'll do a project and then it has to be painted up, or... especially on a restored project like an older chair. What you've got to use on it, prestaining it, or stripping it back and then restaining it to look like the original.

Kay: Yes, I know you did the telephone box for the Taieri Historical Society recently.

Ian: Yes, yes, that's another one.

Kay: And that's a beautiful restoration project you've done there, 'cause it was in a sorry state when you got it. [laughs]

15:06

Ian: Yeah, well we've done three or four projects for the Historic Society out at Outram. We've got another one coming up... well, whenever we can to do it, actually. They've got a small room, and they want to line it with all their photos. We're going to go out and line all the walls so they can put the photos up on them. So that's another project that's coming up soon.

Kay: So you'll sort of tailor projects, or make a tailor-made solution?

Ian: Basically, yeah, yeah.

Kay: And the projects you do, they tend to be community projects, or small jobs that perhaps people need doing that can't use a tradesman. You mentioned earlier that you don't take work away from tradesman.

Ian: No, we don't. We don't try and take work away. As I say, tradespeople today, it's very hard to get a tradesperson to do a small repair job. The other thing is we do not generally go out and do work. We like the work to come to the Shed.

Kay: So it's got to be portable.

Ian: It's got to be portable, because if we start sending men out... the members out to do repair jobs it's extra cost, and they're missing out on the fellowship back at the Shed. That's our primary thing. So we encourage as much as possible... we'll come out and pick a project up or look at it, then come back and do it here, and then possibly transport it out. But sending men out to do projects, no.

Kay: So when you first started, what was your first community project, can you remember?

Ian: The first one was meant to be some lighting for Naseby. It's in there [indicates book written about the origin of the Taieri Blokes' Shed]. But it sort of... we didn't have the skills and the equipment. I wasn't involved with that one. But we didn't have the equipment, so a private concern in South Dunedin did it, and invited some members to go and help them out. I think one of the very first ones was the walkways at Orokonui... some of the walkways there.

Kay: Fantastic. So you made them here and then transported them out?

Ian: Yes, made to be transported up there. Yeah, all the picnic tables and planter boxes in Mosgiel we made. And if I want to do something at home, but I don't know how to do it, or can't do it without the equipment, community work, private work, whatever.

Kay: So it's almost like a cross between a club and a place of work, and... just the fellowship, isn't it?

Ian: It's fellowship, yeah. We get back to men's health and wellbeing, yeah.

17:57

Kay: It's a wonderful thing. And you've done some amazing projects, I know. I've got one of your projects myself. I've got a Lilliput Library outside my house. So that was an amazing project that you've done very good work for, helping the community. People who can't join libraries can go and use Lilliputs for free.

Ian: We've done over two hundred of them, I was told this morning. Other places tried to build them, but she went there, and she wasn't satisfied with the work.

Kay: This is Ruth Arnison we're talking about, yes.

Ian: And she came back here and she said you guys are the only ones that make a job. It's yours. So that was sort of a nice compliment.

Kay: And they're perfect because they are waterproof, airtight (almost), you know and they're a great size for just a few small books for the community to come and refill and take books in exchange. So it's ideal. And they're pretty. They're not intrusive.

18:55

Ian: No, they're not. Another very interesting one is, around the Māori pās, years ago, they used to use manuka stakes with a point on it, mainly as a defence, apparently around the court. Well, the Conservation Department came to us and asked us to make some of these, or similar. So a 50 by 50 macrocarpa, and we round them off a bit and point the end. Ah, and we've made three or four thousand of them. They're out at the Albatross Colony, and also out at Karitane, round the Māori... fortress up there.

Kay: At the pā? Amazing, that's good. So your work is everywhere. Just look around you.

Ian: It is everywhere, yes, yes. Yeah.

19:45

Kay: And you're certainly very well known. So how many members would you say you have now? How many people here at the moment.

Ian: We've got about 55 members at the moment. Yeah, we've grown from 11 to 55. We don't advertise for members, they keep coming, just knocking on the door.

Kay: So they just turn up.

Ian: They just turn up.

Kay: So how does someone join you? Do they just come along?

Ian: Yeah, what we do, if they want to join, we ask them to come along two or three times, just to make sure they feel comfortable. Is it what they want to do, and maybe talk to a few. And if they're comfortable with that, then what we do now - we didn't used to, but we do now - they're interviewed, for two reasons, mainly just on a bit of their past, but also if they've got any health issues, we can document that on their files. And then to join the Shed it costs $10, would you believe? Yeah, it has not altered in the 14 years that we've been going.

Kay: So it's open to everybody.

Ian: It's basically open to everybody. The idea was that when you retire, and if you're only on the pension you haven't got a lot of money. And the subs do not complement our income very much. So... 'cause by the time you get a name badge and a few cups of tea, there's your $10 gone.

Kay: So it's a contribution, it's a sort of commitment, I suppose?

Ian: It's just a legal commitment that you are actually officially a member of the Shed, yes.

Kay: And then you get that sense of belonging, I suppose, because you're part of the group?

Ian: That's right, yeah. Yeah. We are an incorporated society, so we are, you know, we've got some legal grounds, but it does protect us as well... from anything.

Kay: Yeah. So you're very... when you were taking me round, I could see you're very careful about health and safety. You take it very seriously. And yes, very well and clearly documented. So really this is like running a business, as you said earlier, so people can be safe here, using all these sorts of machinery.

22:01

Ian: All new members have to be trained on them first. Usually we just training them first, and then once you're shown once, that was it. But the new Worksafe guidelines... well, not guidelines, regulations, we have to be trained once a year now. So, whether... in my case now, I've got to be trained once a year in using equipment that I've been using for 40 years. [laughter] But it's just a legal document, which doesn't do any harm, because we all get familiar, or forget the odd thing, and... yeah, they'll always bite you in the end if you make a mistake. [laughter]

Kay: Indeed they will. So, yes, it's a nice safe environment for people to come, even if they've not used power tools or machinery before...

Ian: They'll be trained.

Kay: They'll be fully trained. So what a valuable resource this is. Yes, amazing. So you must rely, I presume, on funding in some way, if your subs don't cover what you do. How do you get materials and things to complete your projects?

23:13

Ian: A lot of our, we do buy... projects, we have to buy material in, in most cases. And if we've got material over we keep it in storage for smaller projects. What we do to... finance-wise, when we buy the material in, we put about 25% on top of what it costs, and that covers our... hopefully covers our running costs. You know, you've got power, maintenance on machinery, thinks like that, so... yeah, 25-30%.

Kay: So somebody must be responsible for the less fun side of things, I suppose. Making sure you've got the health and safety compliance, applying for funding, and also doing the accounting, as well. So there are jobs there.

Ian: Yes, yes. Yeah, we have a full committee. Our Treasurer is very much up with all that. Ah, we delegate quite a bit out. Depending again on the skills... some have got organisational skills, some have accounting skills, some are good on maintenance on machinery. So we use the skills that we have to keep the Shed going.

Kay: That's grand, yeah. It's an ideal thing, isn't it? It's like a collective of people that contribute their time to make something happen for the community.

24:47

Ian: Yeah. The other thing we put a lot of emphasis on is our morning tea.

Kay: Well, doesn't everybody? [laughs]

Ian: [chuckles] Well, yeah, you're dead right. But that's the time where you sit down and just... you know, relax and rub shoulders with someone you haven't talked to for a while, and share ideas. So the morning tea... and the other thing we do at morning tea... we have any announcements that we have... you know, updates on things, or a members' health - he might in hospital, or his wife might be in hospital, we just let the others know. And that's just... it's just good public relations all round, and that way they all feel part of it. And if someone's got a question or want to know something, they can ask us.

Kay: Yes, it's open forum.

Ian: It's open... yeah, yeah. So it's just a good, relaxed atmosphere, I s'pose you'd call it. After a few years we accumulated surplus equipment and tools, so we started to have Shed sales. My wife, Valerie, would ring around the other Shed members' wives, and organise the morning teas to just arrive for us. That's when we started the bus trips to say thank you to them. So we took them out twice yearly, once for a mid-winter dinner, and then towards the end of the year a bus trip to various points of interest and another evening meal. That was our way of saying thank you to our wives. So go to Milton Palmerston, we've been to Gore, for an afternoon and look round certain points of interest, and then have a meal on the way home. That was brilliant. But once we filled the first bus, the cost of the second bus beat us.

Kay: Ah, so you'd got too many members?

Ian: Yes. But that was... we have taken bus trips just for  the guys only, but they were great days, those days, 'cause wives knew each other, and we knew their wives. It was just a good fellowship.

Kay: Yeah, it's a great concept, it really is.

27:01

Ian: Yeah, ah I'm just rapt on it, you know, 'cause I've seen what it can do, and what it's capable of doing and achieving for the community. That's the part that I enjoy the most.

Kay: It's all positives, isn't it? And even the youngsters joining will have learnt so much from people with all those years of experience.

Ian: Well, one young guy, he was only... A few years ago the high schools used to send them out for a training day, or a teacher-only day. And they'd do something in the community. And he came along and after about the second day he said, "I've learnt a heck of a lot from you old guys." Yeah.

Kay: [laughs] He means that in the nicest possible way.

Ian: Yeah, he did, he enjoyed it yeah. And we had a lot of fun with him, yeah.

Kay: It's lovely to pass on that experience and knowledge to the next generation, isn't it?

Ian: Well, that is slowly lagging now. That's what's going to happen... those skills... changing times, it's all electronics, and it's... not the same hands-on skills. A lot of that will be lost in the next number of years.

Kay: But that's not a good thing, because there will come a time when we need it.

Ian: Yes, there will be, but it's the changing environment we live in.

Kay: So it's really important that people still keep those skills up, even if they think they don't need them right now, 'cause it will come.

Ian: That's right. Dead right. Yeah. Yeah.

Kay: So do you think the organisation will change with the times, or are you happy with things as they are.

Ian: [sighs] We are changing.

Kay: In what ways.

28:41

Ian: Well, when we first started, you know, well most of us had a computer at home, didn't really know a lot about them. But we are changing now. We've got our own computer set up. We've got our own emails. Sheds can email us and we can email them. Newletters go round Sheds. And the equipment we're using... now before they were just a basic saw or a hammer, or a drill. But now they're all going electronic the way they work.

Kay: So you have to know how they work.

Ian: Yeah. So we have to... yeah, so change with the times. But the fundamental skills underneath are still the same.

Kay: Yes, those basics you have to have.

Ian: Yes, you've gotta have the basics, yeah.

Kay: So do you have sort of general training days where you all learn something new, or how does that work?

Ian: No, not as such. Usually you just sidle up to someone who knows what they're doing.

Kay: Yeah, so it's not so formal as a training day.

Ian: But that is a point, we could have. Ah, the training days on the safety of use of machinery, we lumped in together a wee bit, and it's easier to explain to eight or ten guys instead of one each time. So...

Kay: But especially if you get a new bit of kit that does something, perhaps, that you haven't come across before, it's good to have that knowlege, isn't it?

Ian: Yeah, they sit down and they'll just ask one or two, what do you think, or how do you work around this? And somebody comes up with pretty good ideas.

Kay: Do you have a fondest memory of your time here? Is there something amazing that happened that you're proud of?

30:22

Ian: Ah... well, the best... I think the main thing is, when we moved here... the wife and I retired from the Gore region. We were... well, we were new to Mosgield. I knew a few on the Taieri, ah mainly through the ploughing, but I didn't know many in town here at all, and we've met some wonderful friends. People you more than likely wouldn't have met before, otherwise. And I think it's a meeting of, its a meeting of people, and driving around seeing and hearing the compliments about, what are said about what we're turning out. That's just... yeah.

Kay: Fills your heart with pride.

Ian: Yeah, it does, yeah. I'm a community person, and if I can help the community, I will, in any way. It's just, yeah, we're leaving good footprints behind.

Kay: That's a good way of putting it. Yeah, wonderful. And what would you say to new people? How do they go about joining you, and what would you say to welcome them here?

Ian: Well, we've found they just knock on the door. We don't... we don't go out looking for members, and we don't need to. They come in the door, and we make them feel welcome. We just explain what we do, and... or show them round and explain what we're doing. And then invite them to... to come along two or three times before they join. That way... 'cause there is one or two who come along and say, "Ah no, no, no that's not for me, I can do this, or.." So what's the point of having your name on a members list that's not going to attend? So that way, and by then... they know a few of the people by then, and then when they do become a member, they just fit in and be a part of the Shed.

Kay: And you're all comfortable with each other.

Ian: Yep, all comfortable. So, it's a pretty... we're pretty, we're reasonably laid-back. We like to sort of keep it fairly low-key. But it's just the fact that... and this happens, I see at most Sheds, 'cause I've visited Sheds, or started Sheds up now, all over Otago-Southland, and it's just to see how the movement is growing, yeah.

Kay: Do you know how many Sheds there are across New Zealand?

Ian: Ah, well over 100 Sheds, and we've got about, in round figures, 1400+ members. In Otago-Southland in the last four years, I think, we're up to 16 Mens' Sheds. We were only seven, and up to 16 now, plus three or four Sheds that aren't members of Mens' Sheds New Zealand, but they're still a... still a Mens' Shed, they just wanna work away in their own area. But it's still... the same objects, same goals, just the same thing.

Kay: All those hundreds and hundreds of people who have been helped with their wellbeing as a result. That's incredible. Great job.

Ian: That's right. Yes. That's how it goes. But yeah, it's just the satisfaction we get so I think that's what it is - keeps you coming back. Yes, it's just so good for us. 'Cause very few members we have lost through lack of interest. We lost three or four maybe, you know, "That's not for me." But 80+ percent of our members stay. So what's that tell you? That they're happy with what we're doing, or that they're, you know, comfortable in this environment. And it's giving them an outing.

Kay: And it must give them purpose too.

Ian: Yes, purpose in life as well, yes.

Kay: A fantastic idea, and so simple really. It's not a complicated thing, is it? You've just got to have the impetus to get it going. But the concept...

34:30

Ian: No, and the other good thing about it is, if you don't want to come on a certain day, or something, or a week if you're on holiday, it doesn't matter. There's no obligation that you have to attend.

Kay: So you don't have to clock in and clock out?

Ian: Ah, we do sign in and sign out, that's for safety reasons, that's all.

Kay: And people don't have to turn up at a specific time of day, they can come when they like?

Ian: No. No they don't. Generally they turn up early here, so they can get a park. The park is full on a Shed day. [laughter]

Kay: Oh, I didn't ask, when is Shed day?

Ian: We started off originally with Wednesday and Saturday mornings, 9 'til 12. We've now gone to Monday, Wednesday and Saturdays. Three mornings a week. We tried... late last year and earlier, with COVID on, we tried a Thursday morning group just for fellowship alone. No work done, it was just the fellowship here. But it lost its way a wee bit with COVID. We might start that... that's for the older guys who are past work, or have had a health issue and recovering They can still come and be part of it, and join in here before they... yeah, while they're recuperating. And now we're branching off... the other thing I'm trying to do is, recently, as you say, changing with the times, we had somebody come in and speak to us on the pros and cons of electric vehicles. And it wasn't which vehicle, it was the pros and the cons of them. And that actually opened a lot of our eyes up. Don't always believe what the sales people tell you. Just to let the buyers know, you know, there's pros and cons. And another one we're going to do in November, it's from the Health Department on advanced healthcare. Now, that is, now we're going to invite our wives along to that one. As you're getting older, you know, do I go into a home? The costs of going into a home, putting your doctors records together. Your doctor might have to make decisions on your behalf. Just lets the members know, it gives them options. This is another reason for, you know, keeping up to date with things, because I mean, right at the moment, as I say, we're in good health, my wife and I. It's not a consideration to go into a village. But if one takes crook, or one passes away, and the other's on his own, what are the options? So you can talk about that while you're both together, and make up some guidelines, that when the time comes, you're partner or husband or wife knows...

Kay: You know what they want.

Ian: Yeah, what they want, yeah.

Kay: And I s'pose you can all talk about it here as well. These all might be concerns at the back of people's minds and you can...

Ian: Well, that's why we'll bring it here, and we'll bring the wives here. And then the idea is, then they can go home after they hear the speaker, and talk about it.

Kay: That's a good idea, yeah.

Ian: So this is just another arm that we're looking at.

Kay: Yeah, it's good, 'cause you're starting conversations about things.

Ian: Sometimes it's a conversation that's not usually held in the home.

Kay: That's right, 'cause you don't want to think about it. You don't want to go there, but you have to, don't you?

Ian: Yeah, well we're all faced with it. We're all faced with it.

Kay: Exactly, it's better to talk about it now, than it is when it's potentially a bit too late.

Ian: Yeah, that's right, it can be. Yep, dead right. Yeah, so we are trying to adapt to the times.

Kay: Yeah, and expand your reach.

Ian: Yeah, expand yeah.

Kay: That's great. Fantastic, I'm so impressed. Amazing. I wish I was a man now. [laughs] No, I don't.

Ian: [laughs] Yeah, I wouldn't wish it on you!

Kay: Ah, well thank you very much, Ian. It's been such a pleasure talking to you.

[recording ends]