Nambour Men’s Shed secures lease extension after SOS call

A letter from the Minister advised that the group could remain in the shed for up to five years and that the roof would be repaired.

by Janine Hill

THE future of the Nambour Men’s Shed is assured for the next five years after Transport Minister Mark Bailey answered a SOS by the group for premises.

The men put out a call to Save Our Shed after the Department of Transport and Main Roads, which owns the group’s Colless Lane shed, advised they had to leave by 30 September.

Unable to find alternative premises, the group looked like being a Men’s Shed without a shed and unable to continue operations.

President Colin Webb with members working in the background.

But a visit by Mr Bailey and Member for Nicklin Rob Skelton on 27 June left members with reason to be positive and earlier this month, a formal reprieve arrived in the mail.

A letter from the Minister officially advised that the group could remain in the shed for up to five years and that the roof, which had allegedly needed replacing, would be repaired.

President Colin Webb said the reason TMR wanted Shed members to vacate had never been clear and it continued to press ahead with eviction even when it became clear in March that the rail line to Nambour would not be duplicated before 2027.

He said Mr Bailey had been prepared to put bureaucratic bumping within his department to the side when he visited the shed and met members. 

“He said, ‘It’s plain to see that there’s not going to be any train wheels flying past for at least five years. I’m prepared to give an order that you can stay for at least five years’,” Colin said.

Colin said the news had left members overjoyed.

“If you ever wanted to see ugly old men hugging and crying, that was the day.”

Colin said the group would continue the search for permanent premises over the next five years. 

He said Now Buildings had offered the group a shed when it looked like they were going to be turfed out of Colless Lane but the group had no land to put it on.

Now Buildings had assured them the offer  would still stand if they could find some land, he said.

“We still want to eventually find our forever home and find some land and put the building on it,” he said. 

“Our next stage is to develop a five year plan to get the group into a new shed.”