Made by the Shed (Community Projects)
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Read through a decade of AGM reports and one thing stands out: the sheer range of what members have built. Alongside the big-ticket construction projects — Howson Oval, the shed itself, Block B — there’s a constant undercurrent of smaller commissioned work: for Council, for charities, for schools, for theatre companies, and for private clients who just needed something well made.
The Bee Box Program
No single project has run longer or bigger than the native bee boxes built for Ku-ring-gai Council, led for years by Kevin Jeffress and his team. What started as a modest sideline had reached around 2,500 units by 2017, roughly 3,000 by 2018, and around 850 more were built in the 2019–20 year alone despite COVID-19 restrictions cutting into workshop time. It has become one of the Shed’s most reliable sources of both community goodwill and project income.
For the Stage
Since 2014, members have built stage sets for local Gilbert & Sullivan productions — HMS Pinafore was the first, followed by Pirates of Penzance and Patience in the years after, with Chris Drake and Mal Bailey among those credited each time. (See the “Growth, Recognition and HMS Pinafore” post in this series for photos of the Pinafore set itself.)
For Wildlife and Community Groups
Long before the bee box program took off, the very first projects out of Howson Oval were Boccia slides for the Cerebral Palsy Alliance and nesting boxes for WIRES wildlife rescue — and both relationships have continued for over a decade. Later years added bird and rosella nesting boxes for the bushfire-ravaged Rosedale community, library boxes for community book-sharing, dog training aids for local dog clubs, and honour boards for organisations including Ku-ring-gai Lions Club and Killara Croquet Club.
Skills on Offer: Picture Framing
Not every project was a one-off commission. The Shed’s Picture Framing area, with Di Sealy among those running it, has both taken on framing commissions and taught the skill to members through dedicated classes.
For Private Clients
Alongside the community and charity work, members have taken on custom commissions for private clients too — built to the same standard as everything else that comes out of the workshop.
Keeping the Wheels Turning
None of this happens without support behind the scenes. Bendigo Bank’s donation of a Toyota “one tonner” ute — serviced for years by Phil McCarroll Toyota — kept materials and finished projects moving in and out of the Shed, a small but essential piece of infrastructure behind everything else on this page.
