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| 29 March 2005 |
| Men's Shed |
| Meet a group of men who've found an unusual way to stay healthy and happy. |
TRACY BOWDEN: Nambucca Heads on the New South Wales mid north coast, about halfway between Sydney and Brisbane. It looks like the setting for a perfect lifestyle, but behind the idyllic images lies a harsher social reality. Like many small towns, Nambucca is battling high unemployment, family breakdown and social isolation. TRACY BOWDEN: But an unlikely project on the outskirts of town is turning around the lives of those who take part. It's all about harnessing the power of a man and his shed and mateship. Do you think the shed has saved lives? BILL O'HEHIR, PSYCHOLOGIST: Oh, without doubt. I can look you straight in the eye and say without doubt. TRACY BOWDEN: All men are welcome here - retired, retrenched, unemployed or just lonely - young and not so young. TRACY BOWDEN: While the shed initially began as a substitute garage for retired men, it's evolved into much more. Is this your family in a way? MICK CRADDOCK: This is my family. TRACY BOWDEN: When Joel Bennett and his mum Jo moved to Nambucca Heads from the New South Wales South Coast, the teenager struggled to settle in. In the end, he refused to go to school. TRACY BOWDEN: Then Jo Dennington heard about the men's shed. Mick Craddock and his mate Big Al Corbett took Joel Bennett under their wing. JOEL BENNETT: I went down there to see what it was like and I had a great time the first time I went down there. Big Al and all that was very welcoming and made me feel like I was part of the family. TRACY BOWDEN: In the process of building a boat with these men, something happened to Joel Bennett. The lonely young man who hated school regained lost confidence, resumed his studies and has just completed his Year 12 exams. All the blokes here have their own stories about how they wound up at the shed and how it's helped them. STUART HOLMES: The problem we've got here in Australia at the moment especially in men's health issues, is it's akin to parking the ambulance at the bottom of a cliff. The problem that you have is that there are only services there to pick the pieces up once the fella goes over the edge. The problem that you have is when they do that, they are taking their partners, their wives, their families, their kids and friends - a lot of people - with them. TRACY BOWDEN: It might be a commonsense plan that works well, but the shed is under threat. STUART HOLMES: Our Federal Government funding runs out in January and unfortunately without that we will have to close the doors of the shed. It is as simple as that. JOEL BENNETT: They didn't just teach me about building a boat or cabinet, they taught me about how to go on with my life. They taught me not to give up, to keep on going and go for what I want. |
story notes |
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unlikely If something is unlikely, it's not expected, it's not something you thought would happen.The prefix un- means not. So unlikely means 'not likely'. more information: un- prefix outskirts areas at the edge of a town turning around Here, turning around means changing. lives Follow the link to listen to another way of pronouncing the word spelled l-i-v-e-s (lives). more information: lives take part To take part means to participate or join in. men The word men is the irregular plural of man. more information: irregular plurals retired Retired means no longer working. To retire means to stop working. retrenched If you've been retrenched, you've been sacked from your job, so the business can save money. unemployed Some of the men are unemployed. They don't have jobs. Thye are not employed. more information: un- prefix settle in become used to doing something or being somewhere Example: It takes a while to settle in to a new job. heard Here, heard is the past tense of the irregular verb hear. more information: hear men's Notice that we use the possessive apostrophe before the s with plurals that don't end with s. more information: possessive apostrophe under their wing To take someone under your wing means to start to protect and care for them. Example: She took the promising student under her wing and made sure he stayed at school. went Went is the past tense of the irregular verb go. more information: go regained To regain means to get back. Here, re- means again. So to regain is to gain again. resumed To resume means to start again. wound up finished up; ended by doing Example: I wound up living in Hong Kong after travelling for years. For more meanings of the key phrasal verb wind up, follow the link. more information: wind up wives Notice that the plural of wife changes the f to a v. Example: wife wives more information: ife plurals close Follow the link and listen to another way of pronouncing the word spelled c-l-o-s-e (close). more information: close didn't just teach Didn't just teach is in the past tense. The verb teach is used in its basic form and not in the past tense form taught. This is because we use the basic form of a verb with didn't to make the past tense. more information: past tense taught Here, taught is the past tense of the irregular verb teach. more information: teach
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