Wānaka Community Workshop News
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MINT Christmas Project
This week the Workshop welcomed the crew from MINT. While MINT are regular users of the Workshop their December visit was special – a get together with a Christmas focus. With the support of MenShed members this month’s project was a “organic” Christmas Tree largely build from driftwood collected around the lake shore. The crew…
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Mud kitchen in action
This week members of the MenShed team were invited for morning tea at Kids First – a pre school located at Hawea Flat. Recently the team delivered a second mud kitchen for use by the kids as play equipment. The two mud kitchens (one with a stove!) followed a couple of built up gardens where…
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Spinning for Volunteers
Volunteering is a way of life across the Upper Clutha. Many people across our community contribute through giving their time to activities which make our community strong – culture & arts, sports & recreation, spiritual, the natural environment and others who just need a helping hand. Volunteer South is a local agency which works to…
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Signs for Te Kakano
Te Kākano Aotearoa Trust is a Wānaka non-profit organisation that is making a difference for our natural environment. The Trust eco-sources seeds from the Upper Clutha area, raises seedlings in their nursery, and then facilitates community-based native planting and habitat restoration. They do a great job. This week the MenShed Team made a small contribution…
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Christmas at the Workshop
Christmas is a time for family and friends together. This week the team who regularly get together at the Wanaka Community Workshop 2023 met at the workshop to celebrate Christmas. Wellbeing is important for all. While we love designing and building stuff for our community we also enjoy each others company. Christmas is a time…
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Puteketeke, Making a Difference
The MenShed team build traps at the Wanaka Community Workshop – lots of traps. Every day the traps are doing their work protecting our natural environment across the Upper Clutha. Some are located along the shoreline of Lake Wanaka protecting our iconic Puteketeke – the Australasian Crested Grebe, as they lay eggs and raise their…
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Furoshiki Fabric Gift Wrapping Workshop – Christmas 2023
Come along to Fabricate for a Furoshiki fabric gift wrapping workshop, just in time for Christmas! You can wrap anything using just a bit of fabric. Best part is you can use the fabric over and over again. No sellotape or ribbons required.. All proceeds donated to Wānaka Community Networks/LINK for the community Xmas hampers…
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Viking Table
We’re still working through our big stack of Scaffold Planks from Bramwell Scaffolding (big thanks to those guys). This week the team are creating a large table and benches for customers of the food caravan out the front of the Workshop at 15 Gordon Road. Gillian and Donelle picked this project up and have had…
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A library for Kirimoko
This week the MenShed Team erected the regions latest Lilliput Library. Built from recycled materials and painted by a local artist the library will serve the Kirimoko community off Aubrey Road in Wanaka. If the number of local adults and kids, who stopped on their way to school and work when the library was being…
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Doggie stick library
The MenShed team have introduced a new service to Wanaka – a Doggie Stick Library. The idea is a bit quirky but was thought to be a great fit for Wanaka. Built from recycled materials the library has been placed in Bremner Bay. The library provides for “classic” sticks named after “Spot”, “Hercules Morse” and…
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Hayes Engineering Works
This month the MenShed Team from the Wanaka Community Workshop took some time out and visited the historic Hayes engineering shop at Oturehua. Coffee and a tour displaying how the water and wind powered machinery of the 1920’s worked. What’s not to like! The team love to gather each week at the Wanaka Community Workshop.…
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Triangle tables
This week the MenShed team completed two outdoor tables. Both were built from recycled materials which had been previously used in the construction sector. The tables were unusual being designed as a pair to fit adjacent to a curved wall. As a result each has three legs! It sounds unusual but it works. The tables…
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Lilliput Bright Spots
Over recent weeks the MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop have partnered with artist Chrissy Wickes and the children who attend her art classes. The outcome is a range of bright cheerful lilliput libraries. The first is now operational in Gordon Road Wanaka. A second will be located in Kirimoko. The third will be…
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Essential maintenance
A lot of timber is cut at the Wanaka Community Workshop. As a result saws, all sorts of saws, are core to the Workshop’s ability to undertake projects. To sustain the Workshop’s capacity maintenance and upkeep of our equipment is essential. This week the MenShed team replaced and rebalanced blades in both our table saw…
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Lots on the go
With warm sunny days activity at the Wanaka Community Workshop is up. We have projects underway for a host of groups across the Upper Clutha – from lilliput libraries to donation stands, from tables and traps to Christmas decorations. The workshop have also hosted visits from the Wastebuster Repair Revolution, Wao Conference attendees and team…
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Picnic tables on the way
This week the MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop are completing a couple of picnic tables. Built from upcycled materials which had a previous life as scaffolding, the picnic tables will soon have a new life in the outdoors. We at the Workshop appreciate the donation of building materials by firms and members of…
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Less clutter at Hawea
This week Sue completed a job for the Hawea Flat Primary School. The job involved using recycled timber to create a series of wooden box’s to store kids toys and education materials. Each is mounted on caster wheels so that they can be easily moved about. The wooden box’s are the latest in a number…
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Protect your post
The Wanaka Community Workshop regularly benefit from donations of timber from building firms involved with the vibrant construction sector operating across the Upper Clutha. This week Barry from the MenShed team created a new product from the materials provided. The result is a range of graceful letterbox’s. They are now available for sale through our…
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Cup Library for Meditation Event at the Wānaka Recreation Centre
To combat single use coffee cups Maria asked us to make up a Cup Library where clean cups (in this case sourced from Wastebusters Wānaka) could be hung up for use at gatherings, the idea is the dirty cups are put back in crates on the floor then cleaned and put back on the board.…
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School Holiday Programme visits the Workshop again
We were lucky to have a beautiful sunny day during the school holidays for the QLDC Sport and Recreation’s Wānaka-based holiday programme visit in September. Everyone went home with a toolbox they’d made themselves and some hug smiles. Thanks to Allan, Taj, Alan and Barrie for all the mahi cutting the parts, making the nailing…
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August 2023 – Wānaka Community Workshop
We had a great August. With spring just around the corner we had a few members off sick with winter maladies but enjoyed some beautiful sunny days at the Workshop. Projects Completed Hours New Members Welcomed We signed up 11 new members this month and are getting close to the magic 100 paid up members.…
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The Workshop Hosts Dillastrate at Rhyme & Reason’s First Outdoor Gig
Friday 15th September saw Dillastrate and The Emily Alice Band perform in the Wānaka Community Workshop yard. Rhyme & Reason, the brewery next door, pulled out all the stops to organise an amazing outdoor event combining the outside area of their area with ours to create a safe and secure outdoor venue with excellent music…
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Food Stand for Wānaka Primary School
Debbie at Wānaka Primary School contacted us regarding building a Food Stand for their Environment Group. Barrie and the team recycled a bunch of pallets into the main body and we made our first attempt at a standard way of reusing bike wheels, something I’ve wanted to do for ages. Living in a big mountain…
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Mud Kitchen for KidsFirst Lake Hāwea
Lets face it, kids generally love mud. The combination makes for great play. This week the team at the Wo(Men)Shed finished a mud kitchen. It is destined for the local KidsFirst local pre school. Designed to be located outdoors in the playground the kitchen provides easy access to a shelf, basins and of course the…
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Wānaka Rec Kids Holiday Programme Winter 2023
We were lucky enough to have two teams of smaller builders come to the workshop last week with the Wānaka Rec Centre Holiday Programme. They bought their own hammers and used them with gusto. Allan had pre-prepared the components for the Small Crate Project we have been developing as a standard project lesson we can…
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The Adventure Film School Visits the Wānaka Community Workshop
In June we had the Adventure Film School, which is adjunct to the Mountain Film Festival in Wānaka, visit our Community Workshop. The students and Ross Mackay, their tutor, were amazing and everyone had a great time. Check out the video – it really sums up what we are about.
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MenShed team in July
July was a great month for the MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop. Team members hosted 24 kids undertaking a holiday program with the Wanaka Recreation Centre. Each went home with a small wooden crate. We also hosted 9 folk from MINT who each went home with a bird feeder. During July the team…
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Lots of Lilliput’s
The Upper Clutha community is a community that reads. The evidence is that the Wanaka Community Workshop is full of Lilliput Libraries. The libraries each containing a small book exchange are popping up all over the town. Four new libraries at the Workshop will be managed by the Friends of Wanaka Library. A fifth is…
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A Lake Front Toy Library
This week the team at the MenShed completed their first Beach Toy Library. It is a simple idea. An idea borrowed from an example spotted in Tauranga. The Library contains wooden toys, buckets and spades which kids can access when playing on the lake shore. With toys going back into the library they are available…
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Night school coffins
Death Cafe Wanaka is group that embraces and honours the intricacies, ambiguities and mysteries surrounding how one may seek meaning within the context of death and dying. This week the MenShed team have been working with members of the Death Cafe to finalise how they can access the Wanaka Community Workshop and construct coffins for themselves…
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All dressed up
Wanaka has had its fair share of inversions of late – a layer of cloud trapped below slightly warmer air above. The grey cloud layer above the town lets little sun through. As a result those of us on the ground feel the cold. Despite the temperature the MenShed team at the Wanaka Community Workshop…
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Mid year Christmas
The MenShed team meet at the Wanaka Community Workshop every Tuesday and Thursday from 9am to midday. At this time we get stuff done. We also gather for social occasions – where little is done. More a time for friends to gather to enjoy some great tucker and share a few stories. Our most recent…
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MINT delivers for the birds
MINT is a community agency who works towards forging great lives for those with intellectual disabilities in the Upper Clutha Region. As part of their regular program MINT regularly attends the Wanaka Community Workshop. At the Workshop the team from MINT work with wood or fabric. This week’s visit was a bit special. The visit…
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MenShed Team in June
Winter arrived this month accompanied by cool temperatures under the inversion cloud layer and the occasional frost. Attendance at our regular Tuesday and Thursday mornings totaled 102 representing 306 work hours or 7.5 full time equivalents. We had no workplace accidents – following reminder briefings regarding the importance of wearing safety equipment utilisation has improved.…
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Mountain film festival visits
This week Wanaka hosted the New Zealand Mountain Film & Book Festival. It is a great event that showcases the natural environment and the people who challenge themselves within it. Part of the Festival includes workshops for budding camera people to improve their craft. The Wanaka Community Workshop were used by participants as an opportunity…
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A food bank for Kahu Youth
The Team at the Workshop this week completed the latest in a growing network of food banks serving communities across Upper Clutha. The Network has been established by Community Networks our one stop shop for community services operating by the Community Hub. Food banks can be found at the Community Hub as well as the…
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Storage box’s help tidy a pre school
Lets face it, from time to time kid’s can be messy. The MenShed team can help with this. This week we shipped four large wooden box’s. Each is mobile with a set of wheels. The box’s can store stuff. Stuff left about on the floor can be popped in and the box stored away –…
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Spinning the Wheel of Fortune
A quick project we built over the last week is a Wheel of Fortune raffle wheel for Volunteer South. The excellent Pukka Signs printed up the graphic and applied it to a 1m disk of ACM. ACM is quite good for this sort of thing, stable and easy to cut. We used some scrap of…
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MenShed Team May Report
During May 2023 the MenShed Team met at the Wanaka Community Workshop each Tuesday and Thursday from 9am to midday. Our average attendance was 14 and over the month the volunteers contributed almost 360 hours – equivalent to 9 full time person weeks. We had no work related accidents or near misses. Over May the…
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Fabricate Jan / Feb / Mar / Apr 2023 Report
This is the first report for Fabricate so a bit of a summary first: JANUARY / FEBRUARY We were commissioned to make bird costumes for Wai Wānaka for the A&P show. We made the Grebe and Tui completely out of the donated material we had at Fabricate. March We collaborated with Wānaka Wastebusters for their…
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Fabricate May 2023 Report
MAY 2023 Hours this Month: (estimate) NB: We realise that we need to improve the recording of hours that the area is used. We will try improve recording of hours to include the total number of hours that the area is used. Donations Received Remember whatever you need for your project – check us out…
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A Big Thanks to Bramwell Scaffolding
After we used up all the larger size timber in our stack for the Bike Wanaka – Lismore Park Picnic Table we decided more Picnic Tables were in our future. But what to make them from? A quick email blast out to Wānaka scaffolding companies and we had an immediate response from Bramwell Scaffolding who…
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Thanks to Wheels at Wānaka
Every two years our community hosts Wheels at Wānaka, the largest event of its type in the Southern Hemisphere. Its a great event that attracts people from across New Zealand. This year the Wanaka Community Workshop was a charity that benefitted from the success of the event. Thanks to the organisers, participants and attendees the…
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Weta Workshop
Weta are giant flightless crickets unique to New Zealand. They are generally active at night with most of the small species being carnivores and scavengers while the larger species are herbivores. Because they can cope with variations in temperature, wētā are found in all sorts of places – alpine areas, forests, grasslands, caves, shrub lands and…
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Lilliput network to grow
Our network of Lilliput Libraries serving communities across the Upper Clutha is about to expand. Each library operates on a trust and exchange system. People can browse, borrow, take or leave a book. What’s not to love? These little boxes of literature popping up on our streets are each looked after by a volunteer guardian. There…
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Schooling at home and the commuity
Homeschooling is full time education out of the traditional school classroom. It is an education option that a number of families across the Upper Clutha have chosen for their children. As the name homeschooling implies education is undertaken mostly at home but also within the community. This week families who homeschool visited the Wanaka Community…
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New thinking about coffins
Death Cafe Wanaka is an opportunity to meet as a community for the purpose of talking about life’s toughest topic. The Cafe meets regularly to embrace and honor the intricacies, ambiguities and mysteries surrounding how we seek meaning within the context of death and dying. The MenShed Team are working with members of the Death Cafe…
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Keeping worms warm
Winter is comming. For the Tiger Worms resident within the compost bins located at the Wanaka Community Gardens life can be tough during Winter. This week following a request from Grow Wanaka, the volunteers who manage the Wanaka Community Garden, the MenShed team have been building “lids” for each compost bin. The lids combined with…
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What makes Wanaka strong
Wanaka is a special place. This month research students from the University of Otago were in town seeking to understand what makes our community tick. The students sought advice and comment from many. The MenShed team hosted them twice – once for the interview, the second for a hand in completing a few projects. Nothing…
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Hot metal
Almost two years back the Wanaka Community Workshop first opened with a wood working shop. A year later Fabricate, our textile and sewing work shop opened. From then to now both the wood shop and the textile shop have added new equipment and capability. This month we started work on the beginnings of a metal…
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