New women's shed builds national interest

Queenstown's Women’s Shed Aotearoa’s new home is on track to be fitted out next month.

Just three weeks after its steel frame went up at Frankton’s Country Lane, the shed’s already half-built, and is already inspiring a nation-wide movement.

Founded by Alex van Dam in 2023, the popularity of the nonprofit group’s carpentry workshops for women led to it outgrowing its previous home at MenzShed Arrowtown’s Preston Rd premises.

Van Dam says seeing the new shed go from concept to reality has been a ‘‘magic’’ feeling.

She still finds it hard to believe how far the group’s come since she wrote a post on a local social media page three years ago asking if there were women interested in doing carpentry workshops.

The overwhelmingly positive response prompted her to quit her building job, plan a curriculum and have the first workshop running in August 2023.

Since then, about 650 women have done her learner and intermediate-level workshops, and she’s now supported by a board of trustees and commercial sponsors.

‘‘It’s quite surreal to think where we started from . . . it’s grown into something bigger than I ever thought was possible.’’

The workshops are on hold while Van Dam and a small team of tradies build the 80 square metre, relocatable shed on a leased site by Country Lane’s carpark.

Its $300,000 cost is being funded by grants from the Central Lakes Trust, Community Trust South and the Aotearoa Gaming Trust, as well as support from the Inner Wheel Club of Queenstown and in-kind donations of materials and discounts from local companies.

A Givealittle page has raised about $18,000 to date to help fund the build and its fitout.

Van Dam says the new, larger shed provides the opportunity to run more advanced workshops, and to start a membership scheme in which women can work on their own projects.

A pre-trade course for high school girls who’re considering building apprenticeships is also on the drawing board.

Women’s Shed Aotearoa now has plans to ‘‘go national’’, she says.

Its success has prompted women from around the country to ask her to start up sheds in their areas.

She hopes to have another shed operating within two years — possibly in Christchurch — before taking the concept to other centres.

‘‘When everything’s fully up and running here, we’ve got a blueprint that we can replicate in other regions.’’

 guy.williams@scene.co.nz