ECHUCA-Moama Men’s Shed stopped into Bupa on Thursday to donate woodworking tools to help residents build their own model paddlesteamers.
The paddlesteamers have been a project at the men’s shed since 2011, and will now be constructed and painted at Bupa by their residents before being sold at the Echuca Moama Visitor Centre.
Echuca-Moama Men’s Shed president Peter Graham said he was more than happy to pass on whatever equipment he could to help keep the project running.
“We’re quite willing to give Bupa a hand because we see great benefit to what they’re doing,” he said.
“We find sometimes that in our shed it’s difficult to do this job, but this gives the gentlemen here something positive to do.”
Bupa resident Lou McKellar has been working on the boats for eight years, and said he was hoping to get as many volunteers to help as he can.
“We’ve still got a few tools we need to get but it’s ready to go when we can get people in,” he said.
“We hope to have boats, bigger boats, trains and cars.”
You can purchase your own model paddlesteamer for $8 at Echuca-Moama Visitor Centre.