Our Tuesdays and Thursdays are a hive of activity with the Men and Woman of the Wo(Man)Shed group making all sorts of wonderful things for the Wānaka Community
The MenShed team build traps at the Wanaka Community Workshop – lots of traps.
Every day the traps are doing their work protecting our natural environment across the Upper Clutha. Some are located along the shoreline of Lake Wanaka protecting our iconic Puteketeke – the Australasian Crested Grebe, as they lay eggs and raise their young.
This week we had proof that the traps are doing the job expected of them.
A stoat had been spotted near the marina. A stoat just a few meters from the floating nesting box’s. But not for long. Within days the trap line had done its work.
Thanks to members of Wanaka’s Grebe Team who manage the nesting area, Puteketeke our nations recently elected bird of the century, can go about their business.
Members of the Wanaka Community Workshop are proud to be supporting their great outcome.
This week the MenShed Team erected the regions latest Lilliput Library.
Built from recycled materials and painted by a local artist the library will serve the Kirimoko community off Aubrey Road in Wanaka.
If the number of local adults and kids, who stopped on their way to school and work when the library was being erected is any indication the new service is going to be well used.
The MenShed team have introduced a new service to Wanaka – a Doggie Stick Library.
The idea is a bit quirky but was thought to be a great fit for Wanaka.
Built from recycled materials the library has been placed in Bremner Bay. The library provides for “classic” sticks named after “Spot”, “Hercules Morse” and “Lassie” but most importantly for our local dogs – chew sticks for throwing and collecting.
The library has been in place for 3 days and has proved amazingly popular – humans have made 88 comments and 1400 likes on the Upper Clutha Community Facebook Page. Not sure about the dogs?
This month the MenShed Team from the Wanaka Community Workshop took some time out and visited the historic Hayes engineering shop at Oturehua.
Coffee and a tour displaying how the water and wind powered machinery of the 1920’s worked. What’s not to like!
The team love to gather each week at the Wanaka Community Workshop. That said its good for the soul to get out and about and enjoy each others company and experience what our Region has to offer.
This week the MenShed team completed two outdoor tables. Both were built from recycled materials which had been previously used in the construction sector.
The tables were unusual being designed as a pair to fit adjacent to a curved wall. As a result each has three legs!
It sounds unusual but it works.
The tables have been delivered to Community Networks Link who from their base at The Hub provide a range of community services to the population of the Upper Clutha.
The MenShed team love to support agencies who are on the front line serving our community.
Over recent weeks the MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop have partnered with artist Chrissy Wickes and the children who attend her art classes. The outcome is a range of bright cheerful lilliput libraries.
The first is now operational in Gordon Road Wanaka.
A second will be located in Kirimoko. The third will be placed by the Friends of Wanaka Library.
The three new libraries will join an existing network that serve communities across the Upper Clutha. Its a great outcome.
A lot of timber is cut at the Wanaka Community Workshop. As a result saws, all sorts of saws, are core to the Workshop’s ability to undertake projects.
To sustain the Workshop’s capacity maintenance and upkeep of our equipment is essential. This week the MenShed team replaced and rebalanced blades in both our table saw and compound saw.
With warm sunny days activity at the Wanaka Community Workshop is up.
We have projects underway for a host of groups across the Upper Clutha – from lilliput libraries to donation stands, from tables and traps to Christmas decorations.
The workshop have also hosted visits from the Wastebuster Repair Revolution, Wao Conference attendees and team from MINT.
With all the activity its great to put the tools down and have a cuppa and a catchup. Thanks to Jim Bob we also get a biscuit. Its all part of building strong communities.
This week the MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop are completing a couple of picnic tables.
Built from upcycled materials which had a previous life as scaffolding, the picnic tables will soon have a new life in the outdoors.
We at the Workshop appreciate the donation of building materials by firms and members of the Upper Clutha construction sector. The donations enable a wide range of projects to be built for the benefit of people throughout our local community.
This week Sue completed a job for the Hawea Flat Primary School.
The job involved using recycled timber to create a series of wooden box’s to store kids toys and education materials. Each is mounted on caster wheels so that they can be easily moved about.
The wooden box’s are the latest in a number of products created by the MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop delivered to Hawea schools and pre schools.
Our team enjoy working with the teachers to ensure the product is what they want then seeing the kids putting the items to use. Good for the community, for us and the environment!
The Wanaka Community Workshop regularly benefit from donations of timber from building firms involved with the vibrant construction sector operating across the Upper Clutha.
This week Barry from the MenShed team created a new product from the materials provided.
The result is a range of graceful letterbox’s.
They are now available for sale through our website or drop into the Workshop on a Tuesday or Thursday morning and met the team.
To combat single use coffee cups Maria asked us to make up a Cup Library where clean cups (in this case sourced from Wastebusters Wānaka) could be hung up for use at gatherings, the idea is the dirty cups are put back in crates on the floor then cleaned and put back on the board.
This uses some pallet type wood and we used old aluminum tube from mountaineering tents to make the pegs. The legs can be removed with 4 hand wound bolts so the whole thing can fit in a hatchback with the seats down.
Update: Maria had this to report “Thank you so much for your efforts building and delivering the mug library To our event at the WRC! It’s been a huge success. Wastebusters delivered the mugs and DISHrupt are washing them each day.”
Debbie at Wānaka Primary School contacted us regarding building a Food Stand for their Environment Group. Barrie and the team recycled a bunch of pallets into the main body and we made our first attempt at a standard way of reusing bike wheels, something I’ve wanted to do for ages.
Living in a big mountain biking town we have a lot of 26 inch bike wheels coming through Wastebusters, the local recycling center, the challenge is to mount them without welding up tricky frames.
The idea here was to create a plywood arch and attach a scrap piece of metal plate inside each side to act as the dropout. It works pretty good! There is a bit of flexibility in the system we could remove by bracing between the inside of the two wheel arches.
We used some 1.5 – 2mm thick mild steel shelf supports as the dropoutsTest Wheel ArchAllan figuring out how to mount the wheel arches
We really look forward to seeing this Food Stand in action, with the sweet Shimano Bearings it’ll go really fast 🙂 Many thanks to Mattias for doing the handles and prop, everybody in the volunteer group who worked on it and Karolina, Merle for painting.
Designed to be located outdoors in the playground the kitchen provides easy access to a shelf, basins and of course the essence of mud – water and earth.
Great stuff.
Mud Kitchen made at the Wānaka Community Workshop for KidsFirst Kindergarten
In June we had the Adventure Film School, which is adjunct to the Mountain Film Festival in Wānaka, visit our Community Workshop. The students and Ross Mackay, their tutor, were amazing and everyone had a great time.
Check out the video – it really sums up what we are about.
July was a great month for the MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop.
Team members hosted 24 kids undertaking a holiday program with the Wanaka Recreation Centre. Each went home with a small wooden crate. We also hosted 9 folk from MINT who each went home with a bird feeder.
During July the team completed; the restoration and upgrading of ten Riddling Racks for Quartz Reef Winery, a food bank for Community Networks / Kahu Youth, 15 Weta Homes for Te Kakano Nursery, a Mud Kitchen for Lake Hawea Pre School, a Lakeshore community toy library, the wooden structure of a prototype “poof” and a set a drawers the Seed Library at Wanaka Library.
We are currently working on four “standard design” Lilliput Libraries for Friends of Wanaka Library, a “special design” Lilliput Library, a engineering / metal work table and welding screens for the Workshop, a storage container door for the Wanaka Grebe Program, a “stick library” for the dogs of Wanaka, a produce stand for the Wanaka Pre School.
We are working with the Wanaka Death Cafe with the aim of hosting a series of night schools in September which will involve the construction of coffins.
Within the Workshop we placed an additional fire extinguisher in the tool room and purchased a “pallet buster tool”. The pallet buster will greatly enable the use of recycled timber from pallets.
We sold a couple of stoat traps and received donations of cash and building materials.
We had no work related accidents during the month.
Due to a number of our regular members being on holiday and the impact of various winter ills attendance during our normal Tuesday and Thursday sessions was 80 representing 240 hours or 6 full time equivalents. This attendance excludes team members hosting groups such as MINT and holiday programs as well as attendance at other times.
It is estimated that during July the MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop re-used 600 Kg of material which would otherwise have been dumped.
The Upper Clutha community is a community that reads.
The evidence is that the Wanaka Community Workshop is full of Lilliput Libraries. The libraries each containing a small book exchange are popping up all over the town.
Four new libraries at the Workshop will be managed by the Friends of Wanaka Library.
A fifth is back in the Workshop for repairs following damage caused by being blown down by recent strong winds.
The last library is a one off – designed specifically to reflect the arcitectural features of the building it will be placed beside.
Death Cafe Wanaka is group that embraces and honours the intricacies, ambiguities and mysteries surrounding how one may seek meaning within the context of death and dying.
This week the MenShed team have been working with members of the Death Cafe to finalise how they can access the Wanaka Community Workshop and construct coffins for themselves or their loved ones.
Over recent weeks the team at the MenShed have built a couple of prototypes.
Both prototypes have been built of recycled materials but each to a different design. One was displayed at the presentation by the Death Cafe at this weeks Matariki 2023 held on the shores of Lake Wanaka.
We are working toward hosting night school classes in September which will be led by members of the MenShed team where members of the Death Cafe can construct their coffins.
Wanaka has had its fair share of inversions of late – a layer of cloud trapped below slightly warmer air above. The grey cloud layer above the town lets little sun through. As a result those of us on the ground feel the cold.
Despite the temperature the MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop continue to design and built a range of community projects. That said the team are wrapped up – base layers, puffer jackets, gloves, hats along with hot drinks.
MINT is a community agency who works towards forging great lives for those with intellectual disabilities in the Upper Clutha Region.
As part of their regular program MINT regularly attends the Wanaka Community Workshop. At the Workshop the team from MINT work with wood or fabric. This week’s visit was a bit special. The visit was part of MINT’s July school holiday program and the project involved the creation of a wooden bird feeder.
Over previous days the MenShed team had designed a sturdy bird feeder and fabricated the parts. All the parts were recycled materials donated to the Wanaka Community Workshop.
The participants from MINT each received a kit they needed to assemble.
Over the next couple of hours with a bit of help and support everyone completed their project. Great job!
Everyone gets to take home their work. Lets hope the birds enjoy their new feeding stations as much as we enjoy working with MINT.
Winter arrived this month accompanied by cool temperatures under the inversion cloud layer and the occasional frost.
Attendance at our regular Tuesday and Thursday mornings totaled 102 representing 306 work hours or 7.5 full time equivalents.
We had no workplace accidents – following reminder briefings regarding the importance of wearing safety equipment utilisation has improved.
During June we completed:
15 weta motels for Te Kakano Community Nursery
2 lilliput library’s to the Wanaka Pre School and Kirimoko Community Association
A food bank for Wanaka Community Networks which will be located on the premises of Kahu Youth
Riddling Racks for Quartz Reef Winery
A “spinning” Raffle Wheel for Volunteer South
Repairs to the Makita dropsaw and plunge saw
We used some 90Kg of materials which would otherwise have been dumped.
Sebastian and Gwilym discuss how we might get the alignment on the table saw figured out
We are currently working on:
4 lilliput libraries for the Friends of Wānaka Library
1 lilliput library for the Wānaka Next Chapter bookshop
10 bird feeders for the MINT July holiday program
24 wooden crates for the Wanaka Recreation Centre July holiday program
A mud kitchen for the Hawea Pre School
A wooden picnic table
Riddling Rack repairs for Quartz Reef Winery.
Events
Team members supported hosting at the Wānaka Community Workshop the Adventure Film School held in association with the Mountain Film and Book Festival. This support included acting and being the subject of interviews.
This month the team held a mid year Christmas event – thanks to Gillian for hosting.
Funding
An application was lodged with Southern Health for a small grant to aid in undertaking events to promote the wellbeing of members. We should know the outcome in July.
Media
We have maintained two articles per week published within the Wānaka Community Workshop website and facebook pages.
This week Wanaka hosted the New Zealand Mountain Film & Book Festival. It is a great event that showcases the natural environment and the people who challenge themselves within it.
Part of the Festival includes workshops for budding camera people to improve their craft.
The Wanaka Community Workshop were used by participants as an opportunity to train and develop new camera techniques. Team members of the Wanaka Community Workshop were interviewed, woodworking skills filmed from all sorts of angles, lighting and sound systems established.
The day was a great opportunity for members of the Wanaka Community Workshop to experience something new – perhaps stars in the making! In addition the Workshop will receive a brief edited video we can use to show what the Workshop is about.
The Team at the Workshop this week completed the latest in a growing network of food banks serving communities across Upper Clutha.
The Network has been established by Community Networks our one stop shop for community services operating by the Community Hub. Food banks can be found at the Community Hub as well as the Wanaka Recreation Centre, Luggate and Hawea.
Our newest element of the food bank network will be managed by Kahu Youth at their facility.
Food banks are a simple idea. Those with extra food can simply leave it in the bank where those who need food can pick it up. Its a great idea that helps those families across our community who are struggling with rising living costs.
The Wanaka Community Workshop is proud to be part of our strong and supportive community here across the Upper Clutha.
Lets face it, from time to time kid’s can be messy.
The MenShed team can help with this.
This week we shipped four large wooden box’s. Each is mobile with a set of wheels. The box’s can store stuff. Stuff left about on the floor can be popped in and the box stored away – easy and clean. Job done.
We love it when we can help with life’s little problems!
A quick project we built over the last week is a Wheel of Fortune raffle wheel for Volunteer South.
The excellent Pukka Signs printed up the graphic and applied it to a 1m disk of ACM. ACM is quite good for this sort of thing, stable and easy to cut.
We used some scrap of that interesting thermally treated timber for the mast, recycled alpine tent pole for the pins and repurposed timber for the base. The clacker, made by Charlie, is an offcut of hardwood deck and the clacker retainer shock cord from the tent poles.
Using the drill press we made some really cool washer/supports from the 6mm acrylic retail dividers that Allan came across which we affixed to the ACM on both sides to prevent wear over time.
After we used up all the larger size timber in our stack for the Bike Wanaka – Lismore Park Picnic Table we decided more Picnic Tables were in our future. But what to make them from?
A quick email blast out to Wānaka scaffolding companies and we had an immediate response from Bramwell Scaffolding who went through there scaffold plank stack and took out the ones not up to code. Freaking awesome!
We now have a stack of planks that we will be turning into tables, and also using to make a Training Doorway for the local Fire Department (see image below). Recycling waste into useful things for the community. It’s what we do.
Every two years our community hosts Wheels at Wānaka, the largest event of its type in the Southern Hemisphere. Its a great event that attracts people from across New Zealand.
This year the Wanaka Community Workshop was a charity that benefitted from the success of the event.
Thanks to the organisers, participants and attendees the Wanaka Community Workshop received $5000 from the 2023 Wheels at Wanaka.
We shall put the donation toward the cost of upgrading the dust extraction system within the Workshop.
The system will improve the health and safety for our volunteers and members. It will also enable us to run machines longer allowing more community projects to be undertaken.
We are proud to be part of the strong and supportive community which Wanaka and the Upper Clutha is.
Furthermore Wheels at Wanaka 2023 was a great event which a number of our members supported as volunteers. Looking forward to the next one!
Weta are giant flightless crickets unique to New Zealand.
They are generally active at night with most of the small species being carnivores and scavengers while the larger species are herbivores.
Because they can cope with variations in temperature, wētā are found in all sorts of places – alpine areas, forests, grasslands, caves, shrub lands and urban gardens.
Weta are common across the Upper Clutha – some of our local species are restricted to Central Otago.
Unfortunately weta are preyed on by introduced mammals such as rats and mice. Some species including those here in Central Otago are now endangered.
Over recent weeks the team at the MenShed have been working to help our weta. They have been building nesting box’s – a safe haven for weta to call home.
The box’s will be placed within areas where Te Kakano Nursery, our local community environmental agency, are planting trees and bushes to strengthen or re-establish natural areas.
Our network of Lilliput Libraries serving communities across the Upper Clutha is about to expand.
Each library operates on a trust and exchange system. People can browse, borrow, take or leave a book.
What’s not to love?
These little boxes of literature popping up on our streets are each looked after by a volunteer guardian. There operation bolsters community and the opportunity to read and recycle books.
The MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop have six libraries under construction. Over the next few weeks look for them in a street near you!
Death Cafe Wanaka is an opportunity to meet as a community for the purpose of talking about life’s toughest topic.
The Cafe meets regularly to embrace and honor the intricacies, ambiguities and mysteries surrounding how we seek meaning within the context of death and dying.
The MenShed Team are working with members of the Death Cafe to respond to practical issues associated with death.
The response we are working on is a coffin – a coffin that families can, with support, construct at the Wanaka Community Workshop.
The coffin will be simple and inexpensive – a pine box, recycled timber, untreated wood. It will also be clever. The design will permit the coffin to be easily stored “flat packed” or used as a shelfing unit or wine rack.
Our team are currently working with the Death Cafe on how the process may work. It is an exciting project and while the topic is difficult, like tax, it is unavoidable.
For the Tiger Worms resident within the compost bins located at the Wanaka Community Gardens life can be tough during Winter.
This week following a request from Grow Wanaka, the volunteers who manage the Wanaka Community Garden, the MenShed team have been building “lids” for each compost bin.
The lids combined with some sacking or old carpets will help keep the worms warm over Winter.
The aim is that the Worms will emerge in Spring in the numbers and with the energy to continue their great work creating nutrition for the plants within the Community Gardens.
The produce from those plants has made a real difference for many families across the Upper Clutha.
The volunteers – and the worms – are great contributors to our community.
Almost two years back the Wanaka Community Workshop first opened with a wood working shop. A year later Fabricate, our textile and sewing work shop opened.
From then to now both the wood shop and the textile shop have added new equipment and capability.
This month we started work on the beginnings of a metal working capability.
The first step has been the construction of a new steel work table complete with a range of vices and grips. The table will be suitable for cutting and welding of hot metal.
We still have a way to go – our metal working tools need to be checked and tested, safety gear and processes put in place. But we have started.
The new metal working capability will widen the range of projects the MenShed team and other users of the Workhop will be able to undertake.
The best evidence as to the strength of our community across the Upper Clutha is the number and range of community organisations associations and clubs.
The newest is the Wanaka Petanque Club.
The Club has established itself with a new outdoor terrain or court located in Three Parks near the entrance to the Recreation Centre.
The MenShed team recently completed four scoring boards for the Club. Its great to be involved right at the beginning of a new recreation facility serving our community.
The MenShed team have challenged members of the Wanaka Pentanque Club to a game complete with the old sip of one of our regions great red wine.
The MenShed Team at the Wanaka Community Workshop make traps – traps targeting pests such as stoats and rats.
It came as a surprise therefore when we were asked to create housing for a stoat.
It became clear when we found out the animal was expired, dead – stuffed in fact.
The aim is to create a display showing the animal which threatens our endangered species across the Upper Clutha. The display is a tool which will be used by Wanaka Backyard Trapping to educate adults and children about the animal their traps are targeting.
Community groups such as Wanaka Backyard Trapping which are engaged in pest management are making a real difference – a positive difference for our natural environment.
The Wanaka Community Workshop are proud to be associated with the change.
A place where items unwanted by some are purchased for re-use by others. Every now and then one can find a treasure – exactly what you are looking for.
An example recently was a dog kennel – picked up at Wastebusters for a new pet.
All that was needed was some repairs and a dog run.
Last week the team from the MenShed worked on the project.
Using recycled materials and a bit of sweat equity the kennel & run is now complete – a great home for a lucky dog.
