Ridley Road Community Men's Shed

31/10/2026

Movie in the Park - huge success for everbody!! Thank you Councillors,Tracy Davis and Danita Parry for giving us this event.
Potentially up to a thousand people attended at Keong Park in Stafford on the 30th of October 2027.
At 5pm in great weather, the park was buzzing with the sounds of kids having fun and families claiming their spot to put down their blanket to watch the movie Hotel Transylvania.
Our Shed was asked to put on the sausage sizzle at this event and the photo shows just how popular it was with a line of people waiting whilst we coped with the huge demand..
Tracy Davis and councillor Danita Parry jointly sponsored the event. Thank you Tracy and Danita.

11/10/2026

11/10/2026

Bald Hills State School celebration of 160 years.
Wow what an event!!! All day on the 10th of October 2026 and literally thousands in attendance. Well done to all those that organised the event.
The event was huge and spread over the huge grounds of the school.
Endorsed and helped by Councillor Sandy Landers, the event will be remembered for a very long time.
For our Shed it was a watershed moment because it was the first time we really catered for kids by giving them the opportunity to build something.
We will surely carry this through to other events as it can only be described as a great success.
For $5.00 kids could build either a birdbox or a toolbox.
Surprise, suprise, the girls were as keen as the boys to use a hammer and bash those nails into the product they were building.
Under the guidance of our men and parents these youngsters were thrilled to make the bird box or tool box and take it away with pride.
It was a long day for our men who attended but worthwhile in witnessing the fun and satisfaction from the kids.
We also sold a few items, that always helps our members to continue making some beautifully crafted wooden products.

28/09/2026

Being prepared for a funeral.
Our Monday Mates group decided some time ago that a speaker on the subject of funerals would be good and valuable idea, so we asked the Rev Lorraine to help us put this together.
You might think this would be a morbid discussion to have. Perhaps but with an average age of mid 70s to mid 80s we have to be aware that it's either own funeral or someone we love's funeral that is going to be inevitable.
With the help of our lovely Rev Lorraine, we invited two ladies from George Harnett to come and give us a run down on all that we should be aware of when preparing for a funeral.
The three ladies, including the Rev Lorraine took us through the steps that we should all know, from the moment of reporting a death to the cremation or burial and also giving us a rough estimate of the very variable costs involved.
Many questions followed that resulted in some interesting discussions taking place.
Thank you to Yvonne and Jacinta from George Harnett and to the Rev Lorraine for putting this important event together.

20/09/2026

Sunday 20th September 2026 - Music in the Park.
Brisbane Council has a little known park in Carseldine called Travorten Park.
Tracy Davis, Councillor for McDowell Ward used this park to host a "Music in the Park" event on a hot 30 degree Sunday.
Tracy asked our Shed to put on the BBQ for the event and this we did with the help of 8 of our members.
It would be difficult to estimate how many visitors attended but the many that did, had a great morning, especially the kids.
Music was very much from the rock & roll era and was well received.
Our Shed also put on display some of the brilliant products that we make and either donate or sell into a thriving community.
A big thank you to Tracy Davis and her team for organising the event.
The photo shows Tracy expressing her appreciation for all the people that made the day a really good one.

10/09/2026

A craftsman like few others.
Ken Carter, one of the original members of our Shed, is not only very creative but a superaltive carftsman. We are proud to have him on our team.
We had a request from another member for us to make this twin horse stable. Ken took up the challenge and designed this very versatile stable, including hay but not the horse itself.
It was unveiled today (10/9/2026) as a completed project and it will be picked up later by a very happy customer early next week.
Ken, lives in a retirement home now and prior to that he had a complete worlkshop at his home in Carseldine.
So now from his retirement home he spends his free time making figurines by 'wittling' wood (Scroll down to see an article about Ken's carving). He has many awards for this work at woodworking shows.

21/07/2026

The 21st July 2026 was a day of VIPs for our Shed.

We recently received a Brisbane Council grant to cover the cost of some tools that our Shed required.
Our local counciller, Tracy Davis and Senior Ward Officer Natasha Gaddes came to inspect the tools and to witness them in action.
That was the excuse used but the reality was that Tracy and Natasha came to visit us as they would do to any other community organisation to witness first hand the work we do to support our North Brisbane community. It's part of their job.
On hand as well was the Rev Lorraine Lynch, the President of the Ridley Road Community Men's Shed.
To honour the ocassion, the Shed put on a BBQ, something that we do on these special days.
It was good for all parties to catch up once again to recap on the events of the year to date, especially those that impact us.
The photo attached features (from left to right and front row), Brian Stickland (Secretary of the Shed); John Raine (The Shed Chairman), Evan Higgs (Shed member) at the BBQ and Mick Donnelly in the yellow shirt (hiding).
The back row feautures our guests, the Rev Lorraine Lynch; then Natasha Gaddes and Tracy Davis.
We will hope to host these lovely ladies again soon.

13/04/2026

The 4th Light Horse Brigade was front and centre of our Monday Mates meeting.
The 13th April 2026 meeting was dominated by a subject that is rarely spoken about these days, even in RSLs - this famous Australian charge at Beersheba in Turkey by 800 Australian soldiers a 107 years ago. A charge that ended once and for all the use of horses in battle.
One of our members, Basil Gay, an internationally celebrated artist who at the age of 90 asked our Shed to get behind his artistic representation of this famous charge.
He donated 8 copies of his paintings depicting the charge in one form or another and we would supply one or more of these prints
as rolled up copies in a cardboard tube.
Basil wants no financial reward for his paintings
See photos below.

23/03/2026

The Shed helps out Bunnings Carseldine on the 23rd March 2026
Bunnings have an annual stocktake event - an event that boggles the mind in terms of the complexity of counting the many loose items (nuts and bolts, planks of wood, etc).
We were told that they have to do this to make sure that what is in stock and what has been sold matches exactly their computer accounts.
Wow, an enormous task where every staff member is asked to pitch in to complete this job.
Bunnings understands how laborious this can be so they provide help with food and nourishment for the staff whilst the job is carried out.
That's where we come in. We were asked to manage the BBQ and all the salads, etc. from 5pm through to about 7pm. The staff didn't want the conventional snags on bread, this time they wanted burgers, so beef and some chicken and even a few vegan burgers were cooked by us and the whole event was managed by us.
It was good fun for us and we think that staff appreciated the efforts we made to make sure these people were fed.
Bunnings provided all the ingredients which ran out out 6.30pm but most, if not all had a meal that evening

07/12/2025

What a week that was with stalls
Another Bunnings Family Night saw us once again selling toys by the dozen to kids and their parents.
Well done Bunnings for your community efforts.
Then came Compton Gardens - a wonderful home for retirees in Aspley. Several of our members reside there. So on their Gala Day we featured once again with our beautifully made toys and other wooden products, including some very fancy jewellery boxes and chess boards.
Then came the annual Rotary/Hornets Christmas Carol event. This event seems to get bigger each year and this year the weather couldn't have been more perfect for the toddlers and other youngsters having a ball on the huge grass area. Congratulations to Rotary and Hornets for this wonderful event a truly lovely place to be with so many families enjoying the Carols and just the ambience of the evening.
John & Brian manned this one alone and we managed to sell some rather big products - so that was good because that meant we didn't have to bring them back to the Shed.
Thanks go to everyone that helped out at these stalls and of course to all the lucky customers who now have some great gifts to give to the family.