‘Somewhere to go, Something to do, Someone to talk to’
Media Release, Bruce Men’s Shed
This past weekend our group took part in the Chi-Cheemaun festival in Tobermory. This is the second year we built a boat for the cardboard boat race. The rules are simple; use only cardboard, duct tape and water based paint.
Various members gathered cardboard and they met at Harry’s shop (aka The Skunkworks) near Ferndale to review their bounty. Leading this group was multi-year racer Geoff, who had three boats in this year’s races. The original “Papier Mushy” raced for its eighth and as it turned out, final time. It ran two heats on Saturday, and unfortunately water ingress meant it crumpled when we tried to pick it up after the second heat. It folded like tissue paper and has become a fond memory. The second boat Geoff paddled on his own, this one was called “Just Ducky”, a rather tiny boat that successfully finished a heat but did not win.
Photo: Multi-year racer Geoff at the helm of new vessel “Just Ducky” (at the back) competes against the original “Papier Mushy” (leading the pack), which was built by Geoff and raced for its eighth time.
The third boat he helped with, our group ended up naming “Flamin’ Idiots”. It was coined by Ross, who, along with Greg and Peter paddled the boat. Legend has it that Ross said that he’d have to be a flaming idiot to get in the boat. So the name stuck. Altogether they spent about 100 hours to bring this to completion. Dedication!
In order to give the boat some colour, artist Terry added flames, lettering and a blower for the boat’s “motor”. Unfortunately the blower was so powerful it blew itself off in the first few paddle strokes leaving it to the paddlers. It was an exciting race and we finished a fraction of a length behind the winners. We reviewed videos of the races at coffee this past Monday. Great fun again.
Bruce Men’s Shed will have a booth at the Pike Bay Canada Day celebration that is being organized by the Pike Bay Community Association. Please stop by to say hello, and to look at some of the bat houses, bird houses and cornhole boards we make and sell. We are bringing pre-made birdhouse kits we made that can be assembled and brought home. We ask for a small donation to cover the purchase of materials. As part of our booth, our guys will be available to help kids assemble them.
Every Monday morning we meet for coffee 9-11, and our monthly meetings are the third Saturday morning of the month. You don’t need to be a member to drop in for coffee. Both are held at Canadian Legion Branch 202 on Highway 6 just north of Ferndale. Doors open at 8:30 all are welcome.
If you would like further information on how to get involved with the Men’s Shed movement, please don’t hesitate to contact the Bruce Men’s Shed at brucemensshed@gmail.com or call Gerry at (519) 793–3005. At this time we do not have any membership fees.
