Dear Shedders,
Another year has rolled around and once again I find myself reflecting on the year, as we seem to do a bit more of as we age… This year marked the 30th anniversary of Men’s Sheds, and it also marks my last year as Chairman of the Australian Men’s Shed Association.
Since 1993 the Men’s Shed movement has grown to play a significant role in improving the health and wellbeing of men across Australia. From what started with only a handful of Men’s Sheds is now over 1,300 AMSA members. “Sheds” are now entrenched in the social fabric and lexicon of Australian culture. The Shed community continues to make significant contributions to addressing social isolation in older males internationally (among many other things).
The highlight of this year was without doubt Men’s Shed Week, celebrating 30 years since the opening of ‘The Shed at Goolwa Heritage Club’ in South Australia. Celebrations commenced at the start of the week at Parliament House with the Bi-Partisan Parliamentary Friendship Group of Men’s Sheds hosting an event that had hundreds in attendance. What followed was a week-long road trip of events and shed visits, concluding in a pinnacle event where it all began in Goolwa. We were met with generous hospitality in every town and it was a truly fantastic opportunity to sit with shedders, particularly in the rural areas, for a simple chat that was both hilarious and honest. There were also more than 40 Men’s Shed Week events hosted around the country – a true testament to just how much the Men’s Shed movement means to all of us.
In May the Federal Department of Health & Aged Care called a meeting of key Australian men’s health organisations to work towards a collaborative case for greater investment in the health of Australian men and boys. The ‘Australian Men and Boys’ Health Alliance’ has emerged from this, with the first activity of the Alliance being the preparation of a joint 2024 Pre-Budget Submission to Treasury to support the effective delivery of the National Men’s Health Strategy 2020-2030. Our Executive Officer, David Helmers, has been heavily involved in leading the process and will continue to play a pivotal and well-respected role in the wider men’s health movement.
In October we asked for your support securing future funding for AMSA and Men’s Sheds through a campaign of political awareness by means of supporting our own 2024 Pre-Budget Submission to Treasury. It was affirming to receive such supportive feedback and acknowledgement with only one member opposing the concept. We will continue our advocacy for Men’s Sheds to receive adequate financial support from all levels of government in the future.
AMSA continues to provide an exceptional level of support to members as evident in the results of the 2023 Membership Survey. Our service and delivery continue to grow and evolve to meet the needs of members. On all performance measures in the Member Survey members rate AMSA performance very highly:
- 84% of members report AMSA supports the continued development of the Men’s Shed movement well or very well.
- 82% of members report AMSA provides relevant and useful resources well or very well.
- 83% of members report AMSA advises and informs sheds how to run as safe, well-run local organisations well or very well.
There are now over 1,000 Men’s Sheds on the AMSA Group Insurance Scheme. Our purpose-built insurance scheme is available to Men’s Sheds at an accessible price point. Reminder: insurance renewals will be due 28 February 2024. We’ll write to you with new policy details as soon as they are available.
Our website performance continues to demonstrate good value for members and the public:
- On average the website’s ‘Find a Shed’ feature is visited 371 times every day (135,323 p/year).
- On average the ‘How to Start a Men’s Shed Manual’ is visited 17 times day (6,440 p/year).
- On average a sample of AMSA’s top used ‘resource’ pages are visited 145,970 times per year (400 p/day).
Season five of The Shed Wireless podcast was hosted once again by John Paul Young. I really encourage you to stray from your comfort zone and give the podcast a listen. John is a great bloke who understands Sheds and makes his interviewees feel at ease ensuring brilliant conversations. The world of podcasts is wide and varied – you can find someone releasing regular episodes on just about anything and everything! Enlist someone to give you a hand if needed (or offer to give someone a hand).
Our corporate and philanthropic partnerships continue to increase our capacity to deliver shed development programs and grassroots initiatives. We recently re-signed our major partnership with Fair Dinkum Builds and look forward to continuing our work with Uncle Toby’s, Black Dog Ride and Energy Producers Australia. We also continue to grow our collaborations across the men’s health sector with expert partners including Healthy Male and Black Dog Institute.
What’s ahead?
The 2023 AMSA Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on 14 December. Part of the AGM process was the announcement of director election results, by our auditors (PKF) who were appointed as the returning office for votes:
- Ian Tooke was successful in NSW/ACT;
- David Seen was successful in TAS; and
- The position for SA/NT was unopposed with Barry Laubsch continuing his term on the Board.
We look forward to welcoming Ian and David whom will take office at the first Board meeting of 2024.
We know the upcoming tax changes and charity registration has been a pain in the proverbial for many Men’s Sheds. We continue to consult with the ATO and ACNC on this and hope to have some good news on a streamlined process early in 2024.
Our 2024 events and programs calendar is shaping up with some great partnership initiatives in the works. Keep an eye on the website calendar at mensshed.org/events for updates. We also include a Shed Diary in the monthly Nuts & Bolts Member Bulletin. Reminder: make sure your contact details are up to date, we rely heavily on digital communication because the costs of snail mail are continually rising. There’s an Update Details form in this pack.
We’re also excited to announce our 10th National Men’s Shed Gathering will be held on Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 September 2024 (during Men’s Shed Week). We will be meeting in the middle – at Bridgeport Hotel (Murray Bridge, South Australia) – to share, talk and discover ‘The Future of Shedding’.
Our 2021 National Men’s Shed Gathering in Albury was a huge success, and I know the AMSA team will do another excellent job of pulling together an interesting and enjoyable few days for Shedders to come together from all over the country. This will also include the announcement of the 2024 National Men’s Shed Awards.
Early next year we will also undergo a process of member consultation regarding proposed constitution changes. Proposed by State Directors, these changes have come about following MOUs with State Associations which include a commitment to explore a change to AMSA’s current governance structure. A Board Sub-Committee has been formed to review the proposal and we will undertake legal and member consultation to ensure the needs of members are met and balanced with a best practice model of governance for the current and future needs of AMSA and Men’s Sheds.
Once again, a big thanks to the AMSA team for another year supporting members to an excellent standard. The growing team is a mix of old and new faces these days, but all do a great job helping you get on with being a great Men’s Shed. I wish to acknowledge and thank all of the staff I have worked with during my tenure as Chairman. I know everyone is looking forward to a well-earned rest before kicking off for another big year supporting Men’s Sheds around the country in 2024.
Stay safe and well. Check in on your mates who might be spending Christmas alone.
Paul Sladdin
