The Benalla Woodworkers Association enjoyed a visit from Benalla P-12 College primary students this week.
On Wednesday, December 7, a group of seven Avon St students had a hands-on woodworking lesson from the group known locally as the Benalla Woodies.
Benalla P-12 Avon St campus Integration Aid Dianne McKenna said the popular partnership was now in its 11th year.
“(Benalla Woodies) Don (Varcoe) usually arranges this once per term,” Ms McKenna said.
“He organises it all, get’s everything ready for the kids and we come out and he runs it. We just supervise the kids.”
Ms Mckenna said not every child would grow up to be a scientist or mathematician, some were more practical than academic.
“We choose which kids come here, not every child gets the opportunity,” she said.
“So we look though and say okay well these kids need a little extra. A little bit of hands on work, something special.
“Especially if they’ve had a bit of a rough time in their family life.
“And some of them need that hands-on experience as they’ve never been able to access that anywhere else.”
Ms McKenna said it was important for students, and the school, to have that connectedness to the wider community.
“They also learn maths by doing the measuring and the cutting,” she said.
“They learn communications skills. So they get a lot more out of it than simply making something.
“Plus they’re going to an unfamiliar place where they learn to adjust to something different. The kids love it.”
Benalla Woodies president Steve Johansen said an important element of the program was the students could take home whatever they made.
“Today they’re making a pop-up toaster, which has a wooden ‘piece of toast’ in it and they can pop it up,” Mr Johansen said.
“Other times they’ve made pull-along toys. We’ve been doing this around four times a year since 2011.
“The woodworkers come up with the ideas of what the kids will make. Don (Varcoe) has a lot of plans that we use to make different things.
“The kids are desperate to come here, they get really excited about it.”
Mr Johansen said the Benalla Woodies were always looking for new members.
“We are the original Men’s Shed in Benalla. We’ve been going since 1984 and men’s sheds started in 2007. So we predate the first official one,” he said.
“But we’re not just for men. We have some women members. Anyone can join so long as they are over 18, for insurance purposes.
“We’ve got lots of equipment including five lathes, drop saws and tools
“We’ve got all we need for small scale woodworking, and even some larger things.
“It saves our members having to have that sort of equipment at home.
“They can come here, use high-end equipment. And they get the expertise from the guys who have used all these things before.
“There’s a couple of members who are really good. They’ve been cabinet makers for years and they can share some of the tricks of the trade.”
If you are interested in Joining the Benalla Woodworking Association you can pop along to 4 Lowry Place on a Wednesday or Sunday morning. Alternatively you can find them on Facebook @BenallaWoodies