Wanaka Community Workshop

21/05/2026

12/05/2026

A big thank you to our community!

We’re incredibly lucky to be part of a community where people support each other.

Last month we received generous donations of tools, equipment and building materials for the workshop including a dust extraction unit that will be put to great use in the space.

Support like this helps our volunteers continue working on projects, workshops and community initiatives that benefit others across Wānaka.

Thank you to everyone who contributes their time, skills, tools and resources to help keep the workshop going 💛

11/05/2026

Project time with 🌿

Across the Upper Clutha, Predator Free Wānaka leads important community efforts to create safer habitats for endangered species.

This week our workshop volunteers delivered a new training aid to support their trapping workshops, a custom-built trap with a perspex side and lid so trainees can safely see how traps are baited and set.

🐦

We love being part of projects that make a real difference!!

10/05/2026

Got a practical skill to share? 🔨

We’re looking for skilled tradespeople, makers, tutors or experienced locals who would be keen to teach workshops or help run new classes at Wānaka Community Workshop.

We’re open to all kinds of practical skills, including:
🛠 Repairs & maintenance
🚰 Plumbing basics
🧵 Leatherwork, crafts & sewing
🏡 Home retrofits & DIY
…and more.

If you’ve got knowledge to share and enjoy helping others learn, we’d love to hear from you!!

Help us shape our next workshops and community programmes 👇 we are open to what it could look like, times, one-off etc.

Send us a message or get in touch through our website.

06/05/2026

Sew your own formal 👗

A new workshop designed for students to create their own ball outfit with guidance, support and access to the sewing room.

Learn skills, build confidence, and walk into your formal wearing something you made yourself ✨

Details coming soon — send us a message or email us if you are interested! 👀

05/05/2026

Supporting our local Grebes 🐦

Wānaka is known for its Grebes (pūteketeke) which are an endangered water bird that return each year to breed along our lakeshore.

Their success relies on safe floating nesting platforms, which take a beating over time out on the water.

Each winter, our workshop volunteers help refurbish and improve these platforms, getting them ready for the new season.

It’s all part of a hugely successful community project started by John Darby and The Lake Wanaka Grebes with more than 600 eggs hatched on these platforms over the past 10 years, helping Grebe populations grow across Lake Wānaka and beyond.

Grebe photos by John Darby from Grebe Project website find out more here https://wanakagrebes.org.nz/

01/05/2026

Supporting our local community 🍎

Templeton Orchard at the end of Wicklow Terrace in Albert Town is a fantastic initiative set up by Queenstown Lakes District Council and Albert Town Community Association, where volunteers grow and care for fruit trees, providing produce to those in need.

Our volunteer team at Wānaka Community Workshop has been busy helping out, recently building and delivering a picnic table, produce stand, and bird boxes for the space.

We’ve also previously supplied a large toolbox to support the volunteers.

Great to see community skills making a real impact 👏

28/04/2026

Volunteer Wednesdays ❤ Mornings in the sewing room 🧵

A time for our volunteers to get creative, work on community projects, sort donations and keep the workshop running.

It’s a great mix of work, chat and of course a hot drink or two ☕

Volunteer Sewing Sessions
Every Wednesday 9.30am – 12.00pm
All welcome - we’d love you to join us, send us a message!

23/04/2026

Thank you

We are very fortunate to be part of a strong community where people support each other. The volunteers at the Wanaka Community Workshop are part of this community. We hope the gift of our time and effort supports others. However we also benefit from others who support us. This week this support was in the form of a donation of building materials and tools....

We are very fortunate to be part of a strong community where people support each other. The volunteers at the Wanaka Community Workshop are part of this community. We hope the gift of our time and …

22/04/2026

Working together for our natural environment 🌿

Our MenShed volunteers have built hundreds of traps to support Southern Lakes Sanctuary’s work restoring biodiversity across the region.

We’re now developing a “see-through” trap to help train people safely and effectively.

👉 Read more here

Southern Lakes Sanctuary is an agency that units conservation groups, community and business in a mission to restore biodiversity across the Queenstown Lakes District. Over recent years the MenShed…