Men’s Shed still looking for home

By Jackson Russell

Romsey Men’s Shed is gathering support from the community on its quest to find a permanent home.

The shed was awarded a $500 grant earlier this month from Australia Post’s Community Grants Program to go towards a defibrillator and training for shed members once the group finds a home.

Romsey Post Office owners Bill and Bahire Raif approached the Men’s Shed and asked secretary Patrick Holt how the money could help the shed.

“We’re going to have to get a defibrillator and learn how to use it and we’d like to be able to train other people and it would be a great thing for us,” Mr Holt said.

“If it wasn’t for Bill, we’d have never known about it and we’d have never gotten it so it was really nice of them to think of us.

“It’s the first time the Romsey Post Office has ever nominated anyone, they’d never done it before so now I think they’ve had success, I think it’s something they might look at again in the future.”

Romsey Men’s Shed is continues to search for a permanent home and has recently agreed to share the Scout Hall for meetings.

Discussions with Macedon Ranges Shire Council about using a parcel of land at Romsey Park are ongoing, and there have been discussions with the CFA about the use of the old Romsey Fire Station site.

“We’re pursuing all options at this stage and nothing else has really come out of the woodwork,” Mr Holt said.

“Council has been more receptive recently and we’re working through some issues that have existed in the past and I think we’ve made some progress that we honestly didn’t anticipate making so it’s good.

“We’re hopeful to try to get it going before the end of the next financial year. If we could get it going in that financial year, it would be great.”