KINGLAKE Ranges Men’s Shed has a new home to hang up its tools.

From July, Pheasant Creek’s Old Chocolate Factory will house the group’s huge collection of hammers, saws and drills - all donated after the Black Saturday bushfires.

Shed co-ordinator Cris Ruhr said $315,000 in funding from the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund had allowed the Kinglake Ranges Trust to buy the building and lease it to the men’s shed committee at a peppercorn rent.

Mr Ruhr said a further $50,000 from the Department of Planning and Community Development would allow the committee to fit out the building to create what he hoped would become a community hub.

“It’s a large building and has space for timber and metal workshops, and car workshops,” he said.

“We’ve approached other community groups to share the building when the men’s shed isn’t in use.”

Mr Ruhr said the new shed would allow local men to work on projects and socialise, but was also important for men in their post-bushfires recovery. “Men just don’t bring up their problems. But if one starts yakking, the other will agree and before you know it, men who don’t really know each other will start opening up about their feelings,” he said.

Mr Ruhr said the committee had begun moving in, but the building would remain a distribution point for bushfire aid until the club took over the lease in July.

Community Development Minister Lily D’Ambrosio announced the funding arrangements during a community cabinet meeting in Kinglake on April 23.

Source: Diamond Valley Leader