By Taylah Eastwell
With thousands of trees down across the Dandenongs, a number of loved local wildlife species have had to find makeshift homes.
At Upwey Primary School, displaced possums moved into school buildings, prompting school leaders to contact Upwey Men’s Shed to see if an alternate home could be crafted.
With Upwey Men’s Shed member John Pope the resident expert possum box maker, members were able to create three new wooden homes for the furry critters.
While other members mustered up donations to fund materials, Mr Pope got to work in his own shed to create the boxes to help out his local community.
President of Upwey Men’s Shed, Gerran Wright visited the school recently to hand over the possum boxes Mr Pope had made.
“We hope these boxes will be appreciated by the possums as much as the school. The children were very interested in the possum boxes and talked excitedly about their knowledge of the local wildlife,” Mr Wright said.
“We have helped out the Upwey Primary School with a number of projects now and look forward to continuing our work in the community.
“This is an example of the things we can do more of when we get our own shed up and going,” Mr Wright said.
Having formed over three years ago, the Upwey Men’s Shed is still awaiting assistance from Yarra Ranges Council to find them an appropriate site to build a men’s shed in Upwey.
The men remain hopeful that they will soon have a shed to gather in for social interaction and to work on other projects for the benefit of the wider community.
“We have been temporarily meeting at the Upwey Township Hall on a regular basis for nearly three years but it doesn’t have space for a workshop,” Mr Wright said.
Upwey Men’s Shed, together with Upwey Township Group, recently opened the hall to provide relief to local residents in need of assistance following the storm.
