2020
Here is David Broadhead’s report from the 2020 event. The men’s shed movement was a semi finalist in the Community of the Year category. David is the MENZSHED NZ regional representative for Northland, Auckland and a sheddie at Auckland East.
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Things kicked off with a presentation from Jim Bolger. He had a bit of a laugh about the “tools” braces I had borrowed from Keith; a fellow Auckland East member. |
| I arranged with the NZOTY organisers to provide the table number holders for the event (thought it would be a good chance to get our name in people’s faces on the night). These took the form of a race car – which Auckland East normally use at community events – with a repurposed screwdriver as the holder.
Screwdrivers were supplied by North Shore, Auckland Central and Auckland East and construction came thanks to a lot of help from Auckland East. The cars were made from recycled timber – from pallets – and milk bottle tops as wheels.
The first prototype using raw wood and unpainted screwdriver was rejected as not fitting the corporate colours of the event. So for the final version the car was painted black and the screwdriver gold, with a prominent MENZSHED sticker. |
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These table number holders looked pretty good on the 76 tables and everyone seemed to have noticed them.
When there was a break between announcements I went to each of the tables – jacket off, braces in full view, left my business card and had a bit of a chat (I think I got to about 60 of the 76 tables). It was pleasing to note that many of the guests had already heard of MenzShed, all complimented us on the work we do and many said that they thought we should have won the category. When the finalists for our category were announced we got a special mention from the MC Toni Street explaining that we had made the holders. At the end of the evening we gathered them all up and I’m pleased to report most were still there; I’d say we lost 5 at the most but that will have to wait for the official count. I feel it was a worthwhile exercise and am looking forward to seeing what opportunities it throws up. |
2019