Photo caption from left: Russell Boyle (Men’s Shed Sponsorship Manager), Haydon McDonald (President), Greg Ekfeld (Heritage Auto Group – Manager Kia Lilydale), Rod Collins (hand crafted the clock in the shed), Paul Jones (Secretary).
The Tudor Village Men’s Shed committee members recently celebrated five years of sponsorship from the Heritage Auto Group Lilydale.
In recognition of the generous support from Heritage Auto Group, the Men’s Shed presented a handcrafted wall clock, made from Mountain Ash.
Accepting on behalf of Heritage Auto Group – Greg Ekfeld, Manager Kia Lilydale, acknowledged the vital role groups like the Tudor Village Men’s Shed play in our community.
“By supporting a space where skills are shared, connections are built, and men support one another, we’re investing in the people and traditions that keep our local community strong. It’s a partnership that aligns with our respect for hands-on expertise, Heritage’s values, and long-term local involvement. It is about giving back to the community that supports us either through purchasing of vehicles or ongoing service and maintenance. We are thrilled to be giving back to the community that supports us as a business,” said Greg.
The Tudor Village Men’s Shed continues to grow, currently with 95 members of which 60 are inducted to be able to fully use all the equipment in the Residents Workshop.
Paul Jones, secretary of the Tudor Village Men’s Shed, says a number of new members have commented that ‘the shed group and workshop’ convinced them to move into Tudor Village over other villages.
“We believe that the Workshop now presents a ‘wow’ factor to everyone that enters it for the first time. We’ve made a lot of important layout changes over the Christmas period to improve the comfort for members & residents by upgrading our dust extraction & air filtering equipment as well as the fitting of an air conditioner (thanks to Tudor Village management).
"All of this was achieved solely because of the generous Heritage Auto Group sponsorship. We have found that running a facility such as we now have is an expensive operation and we have a Men’s Shed committee that ensures that this sponsorship meets all the requirements to run a safe and operational Residents Workshop.
"We’re very proud to be able to present Heritage Auto Group with this hand-made clock. It took about three hours for one of our members, Rod Collins, to shape it on the bandsaw and lathe and hand polish it. Another hour was spent applying the numbers which is time consuming due to having to meticulously arrange the numbers in the exact positions. The mechanism, which we are able to source on-line, is then fitted, the clock tested over 24hrs and finally the plaque attached," said Paul.
Just prior to Christmas The Men’s Shed group ran its first Residents Workshop pottery class for seven Tudor Village ladies and plans are to make this a regular activity now they have learnt to use the potters wheel. The Men’s Shed members also recently completed a ‘relaxing area’ outside the Workshop where residents can sit and enjoy a coffee or have a BBQ.
