It all starts here ….

Parramatta City Council (PCC) and Parramatta District Men’s Shed Inc. (PDMSInc) join forces to reduce LANDFILL:

Roadside collections

Hard wood fencing – from local fencing contractors

PCC up-cycle project

PCC asked our shed if we would like to be involved in an environmental project to help Parramatta and prevent some landfill …. the initial plan was for Our shed, on council roadside collection days, to pick up usable re-recyclable wood and metal.

After several sessions of roadside collection it became evident that there was not a lot of material to collect …. some of the locals were beating us to it ….. so we made arrangements with some of the local fencing contractors to deliver to our shed old hardwood palings destined for the tip. So a benefit to the fencing contractor and to our project.

During the PDMSInc collection periods PCC discovered that Primary schools within the LGA were looking for garden type seating and potting benches for their garden areas.

So PDMSInc member Robert McKenzie went through a detailed design and approval phase with PCC to come up with the final products …. bench seats, potting table and mudpie kitchen. Robert made a proto-type and refined it once or twice to end up with FINAL PRODUCTS (get the plans for  potting-bench-final-design,   pdms-up-cycling-design-documents-garden-box-and-others ) HERE

Creating Bench seat frame

Stabilising Potting Bench

Mud-Pie Kitchen

Twelve months down the track from the start of the idea the products were delivered to 13 schools in the local area ….

Final product ready for delivery

Here are some of the happy recipients  ……. (to see all the schools visit our NEWS page)

Pendle Hill Primary School

Rydalmere Public School

Oatlands Public School

  Standards ready for delivery

HMAS Parramatta standards ….

Each standard to depict the life of each of the ships, was requested by Dave Shakespeare.

The idea was that 4 local Schools would join a parade for the remembrance ceremony of the sinking of HMAS Parramatta 11.

HMAS Parramatta Standard template

So our shed hit the action button, with one of our members (Torrie) coming up with a design and making a template.

Standard copying by router

One of our other members (Rob) then proceeded to copy the template by cutting out  two faces and an insert between the faces. This allowed for a laminated sheet to be slipped inside the standard, thus allowing the standard to used for any occasion by changing the insert.

Inserts

Using laminated printed sheet for insert

Finished product

Complete with Bamboo handles and a template to help position and cut the inserts for future re-use of the standard.

Shields ready for delivery

Hand over to Dave Shakespeare and one of our members (John Cole who also served duty on one of the HMAS Parramatta’s) what a coincidence and what fun to see the smiles of appreciation  …..