By CASEY NEILL
CLUB Noble has raised more than $3200 for the Springvale Multicultural Men’s Shed.
The Australian-first is now in place at Springvale Uniting Church and preparing to open its doors.
Proceeds from the Club Noble Gala Golf Day on 3 April will bolster the project which has been established to support men and build tolerance, understanding and positive community relationships.
Club Noble president Barry Bradshaw said the group’s committee thought it was a good idea to get behind it.
“When we saw the brief, what they were planning to do, we thought that was a very worthwhile thing to support,” he said.
“Our focus is on community and providing more benefits to the community.”
The $3210 collected from the golf round, dinner and raffle is the second largest amount collected by the annual fund-raiser.
“The largest was about $7000 last year for one of our members, a member of the social club, who had a tragic accident in December 2012 and became a quadriplegic,” Mr Bradshaw said.
Club Noble exists to support seven local sporting clubs – from football and cricket to golf and tennis – and has appointed Trish Marson as a sports and community liaison officer.
Mr Bradshaw said her role was unique.
“She is going out and looking at opportunities where we can assist aspiring sports people, assist the community in any way,” he said.
The Springvale Multicultural Men’s Shed project started about three years ago with a Chinese man who’d lost his daughter to a brain aneurysm.
The Reverend Paul Creasey said he found “very little that was culturally specific that was able to help” the bereaved father.
“The idea is giving men space and a place where they can start to talk through their issues and cutting down the barriers that stop us from communicating,” he said.
Mr Creasey said there would be a focus on skills, parenting and health but people who used the shed would determine what programs were available.
