The club made this 'race' or 'aquaduct' for a new pre-school in Emerald. We
first had
to harvest and mill a couple of White Cypress trees to make it possible,
followed by a lot of head-scratching as nobody had made anything like this
before. The whole thing was made in our shed including gates at the
end of each channel so the kids could play dam-busters. The guys then
installed the system on site with a minimum of fuss and once we teased the
hand pump into life it was all systems go and the kids apparently love it to
pieces?
Comet State School might be small but the kids are as keen as can be!
While they were here the kids got to see some of the machinery in action
preparing the boards for making their laser-personalised key racks and then
they got to put the bits and pieces together to finish them off.
The Emerald Parkrun organizers were looking for a big key-rack for the
competitors keys while they were running so some of the blokes put this
together for them.
When the Ambulance station was upgrading their old dining suite, they
asked if the club could restore the old one for a community project and the club took
on the job eagerly. The table and chairs were then raffled by the Ambos'
with the proceeds going to charity.
A fun evening was had by all when the club helped the Girl guides
achieve their woodworking badges. The girls had a choice of making a pencil
box or jewellery tree from pre-cut components with a bit of guidance from
the club members.
The Club was asked if they could replace a slab sign that had been
installed at the Botanical gardens to commemorate the 50th anniversary of
the end of WWII that had rotted away.
Working from and old photo of the sign, we decided our local Inland Rosewood
would last 100 years in the ground but doesn't grow big enough for a sign
like this so we settled on making it from local White Cypress so at least
the white-ants won't get it.
Allens Cabinets of Emerald have been a highly appreciated sponsor of the
club since its inception so we made an intarsia styled plaque to show our
gratitude. The frame is from Gidgee, the background is Scrub Leopardwood and the
tree itself is from several of the most colourful of our local timber species.
The local cricket club stumbled across an old perpetual trophy from the region in a secondhand shop
in Brisbane and asked us to make a display case for it plus a new shield so they can continue the tradition - job done!!
The club was asked to make some display boxes for the weeds, namely
cacti, that the Ag department show at the agricultural field days! Beefwood
and aluminium frames with perspex coverings.
The club gets all sorts of requests but we just couldn't refuse when Sunflower Queen entrant,
Liana Pennisi, asked if we could make a
mouse race track to help with her fundraising. While we didn't have a clue
what one looked like, a bit of Googling and brainstorming came up with the
fold-up, transportable version pictured here that will hopefully be seen around
Emerald fundraisers for years to come!
Handing the track over to Liana.
And they're off in the 2014 Emerald Rodent Cup....
The club was asked by the Special Education Unit at the local High school if we could help out in trying to make their
small yard a bit more interesting for the kids. A planter box was the first installation followed by the bridge. The centre
section of the bridge was built at Michaels shed (as the clubroom is not quite ready yet) out of Bloodwood and a little bit
of BlueGum. The hardware and ready-mix were kindly provided by Emerald Mitre10.
The centre section being concreted in place.
"Oi!, not too much in there now!!"
Digging footings for the first ramp.
"You just keep leaning on that shovel and let me do all the hard work lad!"
Cleaning up some Bloodwood for the decking.
"Ouch - how did I get ALL me fingers stuck in here!!!"
One ramp nearly done and the second underway.
"Look busy boys - he's got the camera out again!"
Done for the day.
Getting some oil on it.
All done.
The planter box we installed a few weeks earlier.
The crew (left to right)....
Vern, Kev, Graham, John, Michael, Ern
Barry and Don also helped but weren't there for the photo.
The club have held a few fundraising events around town and worked on a few
projects to raise money for the club. Visitors to the Emerald Memorial Club
used to be greeted at a reception desk built by the club
as one of these projects. Unfortunately the club has since folded.
