NEWS LETTER No. 13
April, 2013
ITS GOOD NEWS MONTH
Things are looking very good for 2013. We now have our land development application approved and a lease signed off with Bundaberg Regional Council on the land. Our financial situation improves all the time. The financial report to the end of February gave us a balance of $25,951 dollars in our account. To this we can add $10,000 which has been generously donated to us by the Woodgate RSL Sub Branch. This money will be made available to us once construction has started. With the proceeds of the Easter Fair stall we now have approximately $38,000 in the kitty.
To give you an indication of the cost of the shed, the following quote is a good one and meets most of our needs and BRC requirements:
Length 20m, width 12m span, eave height 3m, roof pitch 11 degree gable
Shed Kit Materials delivered to site $27,753
Council Fees (Standard Application) $ 650
Slab 100mm thick 240sqm $13,200
Erect $ 8,325
TOTAL PRICE INCLUDING GST $49,928
Of course there are other costs, such as site preparation, plumbing, electrical and lining, etc, which we can do mostly in-house, but we are getting closer by the month. If we get just one of the large grants we have applied for (see below), we are getting very close to being able to say, “let’s build a shed!”
EASTER FAIR
A very BIG THANK YOU is extended to ALL THE VOLUNTEERS who worked so hard to make the Easter Fair a great success. When erecting the marquee on Sunday afternoon we had our doubts as to whether the weather would be kind to us. But, as you all know, the sun shone on Woodgate all day Monday and record crowds attended the Fair. Helen Brett and her team of volunteers who make up the Woodgate Events Committee deserve the congratulations and thanks of this entire village for what they were able to pull together.
From the Men’s Shed point of view, there were small teams working to produce products for sale, collecting the various items, such as the BBQs, tables, gas bottles and the marquee from the storage areas and then erecting them on site. The big effort was made on Monday when close on 500 steak sandwiches and 500 sausage sizzles were sold. The contribution from the BBQ/Braziers and flower posts raised another $393. Then all the gear had to be returned to the various stores, cleaned and packed away ready for the next effort. Our BBQs were fully serviced, the new eskies purchased through one of our grants performed extremely well and we were sheltered from the sun by our donated marquee.
We pass on our sincere thanks to Chris and Colin at the Woodgate Friendly Supermarket for their strong support in providing us with all our food requirements, especially the excellent steaks and sausages, at a very good price. Why buy your steaks anywhere else when you can get really good meat, according to our customers at the Fair, right here in Woodgate? They deserve your support.
As the result of all this team work and efforts by our members and supporters we were able to achieve a profit of $2,121:07.
NEXT SHED DAY
The next Shed Day is this Thursday (4th) at 9am, 1 Wattle Street. A major focus will be on how we can improve on the Easter Fair stall. As we had no experience in running a fund raiser on this scale before, we need to constructively and carefully dissect what we did and make notes for next year.
UPDATES
The Shed Logo has been updated to reflect the new dedicated PO Box (555), and on the letter head version it incorporates the new office bearers and their new email addresses that we have installed via the www.woodgatebeach.org community site.
GRANTS
As indicated above we have several large applications in train. Two of them, each for $40,953 with Jupiter’s, are for capital works. Let’s hope we get one of them. Several other new applications are in: to Dept of Families, Housing and Community Services , BRC Community Grants and Queensland Rail. We were also approached by the Isis Sugar Mill to put in a request for assistance and this has been done.
DONATIONS
During the recent round up of materials we received donations of equipment from several residents. A thank you letter has been sent to each. Our storage space is now near capacity, and we will have to be quite selective in what we are able to accept as a donation. Not that we are ungrateful, we just can’t store anything else !!
ALUMINIUM CANS
The aluminium can recycling project has taken off. With the help of Cr Tony Ricciardi and hard work by our Vice President Tom Dwyer, we now have a village-wide recycling project in place. Our wheelie bins are very distinctive - the usual green bin with a yellow lid, but with large Bundaberg Regional Council Decals on three sides. Sticking out of the yellow lid is a short length of yellow pipe. Surrounding the pipe are signs saying “aluminium cans only.” The wheelie bins are locked shut with the only entry via the narrow yellow pipe. Hopefully this will minimise the rubbish that gets into the bins if they are open. So far we have had minimal problems with only the odd plastic bottle and some paper being placed in them.
We have several locations for you to take your aluminium cans. As the entry pipe to the bin is purposely very narrow, it is best not to crush or fold the can. There are also two bulk receiving points available, as per the list below.
Locations: Friendly Grocer Supermarket
General Store – Happy Moments Coffee Garden
Serenity Cove (The Deck)
18 Esplanade - follow the sign to around behind the boat (Bulk Bag)
107 Mackerel Street - on the verandah (Bulk Bag)
Caravan Park X 2 (Behind toilet block and at Camp Kitchen)
We thank Tony Ricciardi and Bundaberg Regional Council for their ongoing support of this small project, and we also thank the local business people and individuals for their co-operation and help in implementing this community programme.
We will never make a fortune from this particular project. It takes approximately 140 cans to make up 1kg for which we receive 90 cents. But the project is ongoing and the income will pay for the electricity or some such expense down the track. It might also keep some cans out of our environment! In the very short time we have been running this programme we have raised nearly $200.
CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA DAY
The Woodgate Residents’ Association is conducting the annual clean up day this Sunday, to ensure our pristine environment is restored after the Easter Holiday period.
All Shed members are encouraged to take part in this community project. Please report to the Emergency Services Complex in Acacia Street at 7am this Sunday morning (7th April). Bring a water bottle, wear a hat and some sun-screen. Gloves are provided, and following the clean-up, a sausage sizzle is provided at the Community Hall BBQ facility.
ARE YOU A RETIRED BRITISH PENSIONER?
Are you a British Pensioner living in Australia? If so the following will be of interest to you.
British Pensions in Australia (BPiA) is a not for profit, volunteer association of over 10,660 British State pensioners, established in 2003 to challenge the United Kingdom government’s unfair and discriminatory “frozen” pension policy.
A “frozen” pension means that your UK State pension will not be inflation adjusted from the date you retire in or move to Australia.
If you are a male who worked in the UK for at least 11 years, or female who worked for 10 years, and now reside permanently in Australia you are currently losing money under the present UK legislation. For some the Australian government subsidises this income loss, but you will be markedly better off when this UK policy is changed.
BPiA membership enables you to help fund their campaign for justice. To get more information visit their web site www.bpia.org.au or call 1300 308 353 or write to BPiA, PO Box 474, Edgecliff, NSW, 2027.
(This information was provided by a member of the Men’s Shed and is contained in BPiA’s pamphlet BPiA02 11/12. Any inquiries should be directed to BPiA.)