Hamilton Community Men's Shed - NZ

Welcome to the Hamilton Community Men’s Shed. As one of the first New Zealand men’s sheds established in 2007, it was modelled on the Australian Men’s Shed movement established around 2005. For the last 4 ½ years the Hamilton Shed has been situated in a Hamilton City Council facility in the Ward Park Arts complex at the Hamilton Girls High School end of Seddon Road.
Effectively a “Men’s Shed” includes aspects of being a “club of blokes who enjoy meeting together informally, a venue with tools that can offer members a place to fix or try new things, a network of guys who are keen to keep using or sharing their life and technical skills with others, a place where men can meet to relax, have a cuppa and a chat about a range of topics. Some have ventured to express it as "day-care for men.” Each community men’s shed is similar in focus but unique in style as each one reflects different facilities, resources, personnel and responds to the needs of members in their communities.
Skills and knowledge within our current membership include food and mechanical safety, electrical and mechanical engineering, trade training, community education, maintenance, building, vehicles, wood turning, teaching, music, musical instrument making and gardening to name a few.
Since establishment, we have assisted a number of community groups such as the SPCA, St John’s, the Cancer Society, Hospice, Waikato Hospital, Waikato Potters and the Migrants Centre. Through shed based projects, we have helped them to achieve goals that improve their service delivery within the community. For a donation to the shed, a koha for any travel involved, members often construct, repair, design, or tutor those looking for assistance in one way or another.