Men's Shed annual report

Barraba Men’s Shed Annual Report for 2023/2024.

From Bryan Barrass                                The year of 2023/2024 witnessed the deaths of two members, namely Tony Spencer & Mark Scarlett.

On the demise of Tony, David was inaugurated as both Secretary, and a signatory for the bank accounts and visa card.

The Barraba Central School Primary Department sent students to work at the Shed on projects for the school.  The first project was to make bird boxes, which were later placed and attached by the Shed members at the school.  The Shed also sponsored the Primary Department to the tune of $500.00.

The Preschool requested the Shed to make fertilizer barrels and a noughts and crosses board.

During the year the Shed was visited by a team of Mental Health workers who ran a four-week course on Mental Health at Richardson House.

The Shed updated the required information with Fair Trading and Tim became the Public Officer.

Christmas saw the Shed members and guests visit the RSL to have a Christmas get together and lunch, which was enjoyed by all and well catered for by the RSL.

Next on the list of things to do was to buy Hi-Vis shirts, which had to be worn by members taking active part in the Workshop area.

The Regional Australia Bank from its CPP programme gave us a generous donation.

Phil Denyer, a local mechanic, was sponsored by the Shed in The Shit Box Rally.

An extraordinary meeting was called to advise a member on his attitude and behaviour.

It was decided that the recycling money was to be put into a special account in order to pay for the Christmas meal and any gifts.

Members of the Shed who work with the school students have to hold a Working with Children certificate.  This is to comply with the law and is not debatable.  Also, the children working in the workshop have to wear Hi-Vis.

The second half of the year has seen a problem, as raised by the ATO, in our definition of being a Charity or a Not-for-Profit Organisation.  The Treasurer and the Shed bookkeeper, who is our advisor on all money matters, have spent a lot of energy trying to sort out this problem.  It now appears that we will have to pay income tax.  The executive of the Shed had meetings with Andrea Jeffery, our bookkeeper, to be advised on the ATO problem.

The ANZAC wreath made by Tim Harfield’s mother was laid by Tim and David.  Many thanks for doing that job.

Lastly, we unfortunately have had to raise the annual membership fee from $35.00 to $45.00 because of rising costs.

This concludes the Annual Report of the Barraba Men’s Shed.