Ian Phillips is the president of the Hume Men’s Shed Sunbury. He chats to Georgia Tacey about the importance of Men’s Sheds and life in Sunbury.
What’s your connection to Sunbury? How long have you lived in the area?
My family and I moved to Sunbury from Swan Hill 30 years ago for further education and employment opportunities and have watched it grow to become this major residential suburb of Greater Melbourne.
What do you like about where you live?
Having spent 40 years in a rural town we love the location where you can gain assess to the medical and other facilities of Melbourne within less than an hour yet in half an hour we can be in in the bush or visiting rural areas.
Where’s your favourite local place to spend time?
The Men’s Shed is my the current favourite local place, plus of course the numerous local coffee shops, however my wife and I really enjoy travelling to outlying towns and villages for a coffee and exploring the local area through our shared interest in Geocaching. We also enjoy visiting our children and grandchildren in Geelong and Berwick.
Tell us a bit about your role at the Sunbury Men’s Shed and what you enjoy most about it.
I currently have the privilege of performing the role of the president of the Hume Men’s Shed Sunbury however by convention the current vice president will assume the role at our AGM in July. Men’s Sheds play a very important role in the community supporting men’s physical and mental health particularly as they transition from employment to retirement. Men who often feel isolated and disconnected particularly after retirement while their wives often have developed long term contacts in the community and continue their roles as home managers, their menfolk often feel un-valued and in the way. This is one of the reasons why Men’s Sheds are so valuable, they provide camaraderie and a safe place to talk, a place where they can share their skills, learn new skills and contribute to an organization again. There is a saying in the Men’s Shed community that ‘women talk face-to-face, but men talk shoulder-to-shoulder’ and hearing the talk and banter I believe this to be very true.
The valuable role of Men’s Sheds are recognised at all levels of government, federal, state and local who all support us with grants to enhance the range of equipment available for the use of members, training and guest speakers from a range of organizations relevant to our demographic. An illustration of the need for Men’s Sheds is the statistic that there are more Men’s Shed in Australia than McDonalds.
The Hume Men’s Shed Sunbury caters for a diverse range of interests be it woodworking, metalworking, welding, gardening and we have recently acquire computer controlled router and laser cutter and engraver for the younger and more computer literate members or perhaps if your health dictates these options are not for you just a cup of coffee and a chat with men with common interests and backgrounds is fine.
We are located at 158 Evans Street, Sunbury, and the shed is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday 8am until noon so feel free to come along for a tea, or coffee, a look around and a chat.
