Another activity being organised at the present time is a refresher course for all members in the use of the defibrillator.

Given the average age of most of our members this will be a worthwhile activity for all to attend. The date for this will be publicised when available. Local ex Ambo Bill Atchison will be in charge of the course.

Another happening for the Shed will see a coach group from treasurer Phil Diprose’s Farm Tours visiting the Shed in the near future.

There have been a couple of these ventures over the last couple of years and they have proved popular with the visitors, who usually stay for lunch at the Shed and of course with the Shed members who love to show the visitors around our unique facility. The tour group will be attending the Shed on May 24.

In other news, the Shed recently had a visit from Suicide Prevention project staff members Rebecca Shepherd and Chad White.

This took up most of the April meeting as they both gave sobering reminder to members of the work that they are doing for the Suicide Prevention Program in the Western Plains Regional Area. Rebecca is based in Condobolin and Chad is based in Grenfell.

They both gave a good rundown of what services are available to men in the Weddin Shire and surrounding districts when it comes time to deal with depression and suicide prevention, which is very relevant at the present moment, given the prolonged drought conditions that are now beginning to affect our rural areas.

Most of the Men's Shed members could relate to this work as they have, or had, worked in rural industries before  retiring and still have vivid memories of the last drought back in the early 2000's.

These weather events leave deep scars on our rural producers as the drought continues to wipe out years of hard work. It also leaves some of them vulnerable to feelings of extreme failure  that eventually evolve into seeing suicide as the only way out of the problem. 

That's where the outcome of the work of Chad and Rebecca comes into play as the community try to deal with this situation on the front line - despite funding cuts over the years that now make their job harder than ever.

To try and deal with this escalating problem local meetings are being organised by a working group comprising Ambulance Officers, Local Health Authorities, Agronomists, local Chemists, Farmers Groups and their members, Men's Sheds plus many others. Survey forms and leaflets are also being distributed in the local area informing rural people and townsfolk as to what services are available to deal with this looming crisis. Some of these pamphlets can be sourced at the Men's Shed.

As mentioned above, Chad is based in Grenfell and he can be contacted on 0437 229 092 or emailed on chadwhitesppwprd@gmail.com - anyone who is interested in seminar training re this matter or just wants to have a talk can also contact Chad on the above number. 

In the meantime it has been decided by Shed members at this informative meeting that we can help by having a delegate for any Local Development Plan being organised to help deal with this problem that will feed information to the Regional Committee.

There will be more information regarding the  above situation as it become available. It is certainly a matter whereby the Men's Shed can play a positive role as the situation unfolds. 

This seminar brought the meeting to a close, however both Rebecca and Chad stayed behind for some time talking to members about their work and answering their insightful questions.