BOB Barnett and his wife Stephanie arrived in WA on March 11 just days before Australia closed its borders as the federal government tried to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
The Barnetts who are from the UK had visited Yanchep last year to find out if it was where they wanted to retire.
Mr Barnett said he went to the old Yanchep Community Men’s Shed (YCMS) site in the Yanchep light industrial area on their second day in the area but it had been closed.
He first became aware of men’s sheds because of his uncle’s involvement with one in Sydney.
While in Yanchep last year the couple bought a block of land and engaged a builder so in March they were able to pick up the keys to their new house two days after they arrived.
In the first week Mr Barnett met YCMS treasurer Bob Leeson who explained how to become a member but then next he got a phone call explaining the shed was closing due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Since restrictions have eased the retired engineer has become a regular and busy shed member attending on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.
Yanchep Community Men’s Shed chairman Malcolm Gow works on a children’s kitchen. Picture YCMSMr Barnett who last week installed a flag pole at the YCMS’s new premises at 2 Bracknell St has thrown himself into the spirit of men’s sheds.
“It’s one of those organisations where you just get stuck in and the guys are all helpful,’’ he said.
“It’s great because we all sit around at (morning ) tea time and lunch and have a chat and a good laugh so it’s a really good organisation.’’
He said one of the men had even helped him get some paint for new batons he and his son had installed on a limestone wall.
Paint has been one of the things the couple have found expensive in Perth but he said it was a matter of swings and roundabouts with solar panels reducing their gas and electricity bills and petrol about half the price it was in the UK while fruit and vegetables were more expensive.
This week Mr Barnett was working on a picnic table when Yanchep News Online visited YCMS.
During the time he has been attending the men’s shed he has made two mud kitchens, three blackboard children’s benches and five picnic tables.
When YCMS chairman Malcolm Gow first asked him to make a mud kitchen he had never heard of one.
But now he knows it is a children’s kitchen with a sink, tap, microwave and a telephone where they can make a complete mess.
