WHEN Kilmore optometrist Ian Wood came to town in 1993, he was unsure how long his business would last.

“When I started here I didn’t know if I’d be here for two weeks or 10 years,” he said.

But with the backing of the community, Mr Wood’s business has outlasted even his own expectations.

Nearly 30 years later, he is looking forward to a well-earned retirement.

Mr Wood said he had seen a lot of changes during his three decades in Kilmore, both in the optometry industry and the town itself.

“The size of the town has changed,” he said.

“[Where my shop is] used to be the business end with the banks and the legal people, but there’s been a big shift down the other end, which is probably good because I’ve got plenty of parking now.

“There have been some pretty big changes in the industry. Equipment-wise there have been a lot of advances, and Medicare just changed a lot as well.

“It is a little more medically-oriented than it used to be, which is a good thing – it’s good for me and for the patient as well.

“I think people’s expectations have increased. Plus we’ve had a lot of extra training in different areas too, so I’d say that’s been a big bonus.”

Mr Wood decided to become an optometrist after two years of studying medicine and said he loved the opportunities it had provided him.

“I suppose I enjoyed working in different places from Echuca down to Melbourne and after that deciding to go the country. I liked it more than the city, so it made me come here,” he said.

“People in the country are just different.”

It was that connection with country people that Mr Wood said had made his career special.

“It’s got to be the people who walk in the door who make the job worthwhile,” he said.

“Selling stuff, you have to do it because you need the money to stay there, but that side of it doesn’t appeal to me that much. But the people and the professional side of optometry, the science behind it, is really good.”

Mr Wood said he would enjoy a range of pursuits in retirement.

“If COVID hadn’t have been here we probably would have pulled the pin about a year ago, but we couldn’t do much else,” he said.

“We’ve got a bit of travel coming up shortly, but I haven’t got any major projects. Just a bit of golf and getting into the wine cellar a bit more often I suppose.

“I’m on the board at the racing club, so I’ll be able to put more time into that. I’ve got a couple young horses coming through so we can follow them.”

The business will continue to operate from shop 8, 11-13 Sydney Street, Kilmore.

KILMORE and District Men’s Shed were the grateful recipients of three grants from the Foundation for Rural Regional Renewal.
Members look forward to putting the funding to use.

Members of the men’s shed were happy to show off their new three-dimensional printer, among other purchases to bring their group into the ‘modern era’.

“We applied for three grants from FRRR, one to plaster a building, solar power, and a three-dimensional printer. We want to sort of bring the club into the modern era,” shed member Ron Hamilton said.

“Rather than everyone gardening and doing woodwork, we want to bring it up so people can do different projects, like Rod here has taken on this [printing] project.

“What FRRR have also done for us a couple of years ago, is we didn’t have toilets. That was an old building there, and we got money off FRRR and we extended it to this point, and they paid for it.”

For their application, Kilmore and District Men’s Shed explained what they did for the community and why they needed support.

“We told them what we do here, it’s all about men’s health. We’re trying to bring us into the modern world, as you can understand a lot of these men don’t comprehend computers and that sort of stuff,” Mr Hamilton said.

“We’re trying to get more modern equipment. This shed used to be old stables, we got permission to use it and we pulled down all the stables, we’ve done the whole lot.

“We have a machine shop where the boys work on metal and things like that, we have a saw room we’re setting up now. We’ve got projects to do for the community, it’s a lot to work on.

“Everyone does their own projects, we get projects like Emilio’s got – he’s fixing up an antique chair.”

Mr Hamilton said the group consisted of several different men, all with different interests.  

“We’ve got men of all types here, some people like to come here and just sit and talk. Nobody is compelled to do anything,” he said.

With just on 100 members, the men’s shed has access to welding tools, a saw room, a woodworking shed, a vegetable and fruit garden, and are in the process of creating a lunch room and installing solar panels.

“This will be a welding shed, we received a $5000 grant from Volunteer Australia for tools. At the moment we’re just using it as a tea room where we have sandwiches, party pies or hotdogs,” Mr Hamilton said.

Member Geoff Crome is the sole carer of the vegetable garden, with a large amount of healthy fruits and vegetable plants growing, including peas, beetroot, carrot, radishes, eggplants, lettuces, tomatoes, nectarines and so much more.

To find out more about the men’s shed or if you’re interested in joining, visit their Facebook page.