By Evelyn Leckie
AN unexpected email sent to the wrong address has connected two men’s sheds from across the world.
Romsey Men’s Shed members in the United Kingdom were puzzled when an email landed in their inbox, asking whether they could collect donated equipment from Tramway Heritage Centre at Bylands.
It took some Google searching to recognise the email was meant for the Australian Romsey Men’s Shed.
President of the Australian Romsey Men’s Shed Steve Goodman said the email was eventually sent from the UK men’s shed back to Australia – and that’s when the two group’s members started talking.
Last week, Hugh Griffiths, along with his wife Freda, travelled to Romsey, Victoria, to meet with members of Romsey Men’s Shed and present the group with a shirt from Romsey Men’s Shed UK.
“We had a joke back at home that it would be a bit far for us to go to pick up the equipment from Wallan,” Mr Griffiths laughed.
Mr Griffiths was travelling Australia to visit his daughter who moved to Melbourne. She now lives in Warrnambool, Victoria.
“We decided to visit Echuca while we were visiting our daughter, it seemed like an interesting place and we saw the town advertised on travelling programs so we decided to go and travel via Romsey on the way back.”
In Romsey, Mr Griffiths was greeted by Mr Goodman and committee members Paul Green and Tony Allen.
The men discussed the journey of Romsey Men’s Shed, along with the goals and efforts to establish a permanent shed at Romsey Park, next to the Scout Hall.
Mr Griffiths was given a tour of the site and viewed the proposed plans for construction with the group.
The members said it would be a great idea to set up a “brother shed” arrangement between the Australian and UK shed.
