THERE was a fantastic turnout last week at the Broadford Men’s Shed book launch, which held a sneaky surprise within it as well.
The group launched a book to remember and reflect on the history of the Broadford Bush Nursing Hospital, Broadford’s Community Centre and the Broadford Men’s Shed.
John Brissett, a founding member of the shed, put over 500 hours into the book, writing, rearranging and editing pages for people to view in the future, while recovering from a seizure which was caused by a brain tumour.
The book looks back to 2005 when the group first started and were running out of the small garage next to the community centre. Since then, they’ve expanded out to a bigger shed, which was built back in 2018 and opened in 2019.
Member for Northern Victoria, Jaclyn Symes, was there on the opening ceremony day and still had a major role to play in their next upgrade.
The exciting news for the group was that they are now expanding their shed further, thanks to a government grant of $74,751.
Mitchell Shire Council also played a role in delivering the grant, with Mayor Councillor John Dougall and other council officials in attendance on the day to celebrate the book launch.
Supplying an additional $25,000, it gives them close to $100,000 to build a secondary shed next to the current one, to allow more room for equipment, storage and men.
In some good news as well, the Review reported a couple of weeks ago that multiple train signs had been stolen from the Broadford Train Station. Although we have no further details on who took the signs, Bunnings Warehouse in Seymour donated a $200 voucher for the shed to help replace the signs for the community.
The group has now grown to 30 members and remains a staple of the town and one of its community groups.
President of the group Paul Bramich was extremely grateful to the Bendigo Bank, which helped fund the book and make its production possible.
He also thanked Southern Cross Gold, who have been choosing the shed for particular wooden creations instead of going elsewhere commercially.
The funds they have received from the mining company have fast-tracked their project, making it three times quicker than what they originally tallied.
