Women’s Shed on the Lake at Boolaroo has been in operation since October last year but had its official opening on June 23.

The idea came from Lake Macquarie resident Trish Jarvie after she attended a female only shed in Kurri Kurri.

“I thought a women’s shed would be great for our area,” Ms Jarvie said.

“My husband had been attending a men’s shed and I thought, ‘Why don’t we have a women’s shed?’, because we’ve got a lot of skills we can share and we need companionship like the men and we need to talk about our troubles like the men.

“Other areas were getting a good response to a women’s shed so I put the idea forward.”

Ms Jarvie could not have imagined the overwhelmingly positive response to Women’s Shed on the Lake, which means fortnightly at Our Community Place in Boolaroo.

Twenty women attended the first get-together and since then 70 in total have joined up.

Elizabeth Hyslop is a community development worker at Our Community Place, which runs the shed, and said it was more than filling a void in Lake Macquarie.

“It provides a safe and friendly and accessible place to women of all ages,” Ms Hyslop said. “We want women to connect and share skills and share friendships. It is a chance to come along and mingle and meet other women.”

The women’s shed meet every second Friday. There are also two fully trained childcare workers on offer for mothers wanting to attend with their children. 

Ms Hyslop said a range of activities have been held at the shed and they have also gone off site to learn new skills in the area.

“Some of the women said they wanted to learn how to use a power tool, or to paint, so we have held a few workshops with Bunnings,” she said.

They have held fundraisers and worked on community projects, including making mozaic tiles which will be used for a sensory garden at Boolaroo Public School.

“We have also had a team of sewing ladies making library bags for Windale Public School preschool and Warners Bay Early Learning and Care Centre,” Ms Hyslop said.

Emily Morrison started going along to the shed with her mother after returning to Lake Macquarie last year. She is now a timebanking coordinator for Our Community Place.

“I loved the idea when I heard about the women’s shed,” Ms Morrison said.

“There is nothing here for people to do socially aside from pubs or clubs … so it was good to be able to come to a place with a safe and supportive environment and social inclusion.

 “I was able to bring my baby along and get some me time and it was good to be able to reconnect with my mother and other members of the community.”

Find out more at www.ourcommunityplace.org.au.