Hi Sheddies - this is a very brief update to let you know the volunteers and facilitators will be taking a break during the school holidays. Last week we had a great session with Natalie, who guided us through Shibori dyeing techniques at a member meetup.  The community centre looked lovely with all the finished items on the line. We will be planning another session soon, hopefully on a Saturday.

Before we have some time off  we have more fun planned this week:

Tuesday : Drawing for beginners - just bring a pencil and pad to get grounded in the basics 

Thursday : Treat yourself to a chilled day with yoga at 9.30 followed by weaving at 11 (come to either or come to both)

Hi ladies - how are you? How is it feeling to be slowly engaging with the world again?We've been busy this week - meditation, pottery, macrame, book club, yoga, pilates, gardening and walking! 

If you are worried that you might miss out, don't worry - we will run some of these activities again, but if you are really keen to join in the fun, please download the 'Band' App - you can access our calendar, chat with other members and you get to hear about one off activities that are just for members - like the macrame meetup this week, and the introduction to handbuilt pottery.

This week we have our regular yoga, pilates and meditation classes - the yoga is back at the shed and online, pilates and meditation are online.  Our Tuesday walkers are back again meeting at 8am at Tickle Park, Coolum. Also on Tuesday its another class back at the shed - drawing for beginners, and we are covering chapter 7 of the book - looking at positive aspects of negative space. Sorry we haven't managed to get the last lesson up online yet-too busy! We put it all in the members area so you can join anytime.  We also have an informal shibori 'bee' on Thursday 11-3- we will be working on some things to sell as a fundraiser. Tickets will be available on Monday.
Meanwhile, some of the vocal group are nervous about Thursday evening - it's only our second time meeting up in person! If you are coming you can listen to the songs we have been working on over zoom - we have a playlist on soundcloud - the link is in the members area.

PLEASE NOTE: All activities are must be booked in advance - even free ones! It helps us comply with COVID 19 requirements, and it really speeds up the check in process. 

BOOK BEFORE 1st JULY! We have been given priority access to tickets for 'An evening with the dragon' with Tania Edwards, on 26th September at 6-8.30pm. Tania has an enormous woodfired pottery kiln in the hills of Cooroy. Firings take a team of people working round the clock for up to a week, the kiln itself is big enough to sleep in (although too hot!).  Meanwhile inside the kiln, the magic is happening as the different temperatures, wood ash and oxygen levels are manipulated by the kiln team. These kilns are so big, they only fire a few times a year, so it's pretty special to get an invite.

We have been invited to enjoy a light supper of her mom's homemade soup and garlic pizza bread cooked on the kiln. Tania will talk us through the process and you will be able to see her work being fired (bring sunglasses to look in a kiln!). It's a really atmospheric evening, and you get to take your soup bowl home as a souvenir.  We would love to make this an exclusive Women's shed night out, so Tania is giving us priority access until 1st July - let's see if we can all get up there and enjoy the warmth of the kiln - tickets are $50 for members. BYO wine. We will arrange car sharing nearer the time. Book here
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This guidance may change - the latest information can be found here. This information is valid from 1st June to 17th August.  It is important that all people book online in advance to allow us to meet the contact tracing and social distancing requirements.

Please do not attend if you are showing any symptoms - you will be asked to leave.

Gatherings at Research Street Community Centre:

• The community centre is 76m2, so the limit of people inside at any one time is 19 (one patron per 4 square metres)
• Social distancing of 1.5m between people must be observed. For yoga and pilates classes, this is a maximum class size of 10 including instructors.
• 19 people includes all people at the activity including coordinators/facilitators/volunteers. 
• Please use alcohol gel when you arrive
• Barefeet are not allowed - please bring yoga socks or similar.
• Participants please bring their own equipment where possible (for example, bolster, mat); (especially items that are hard to clean).
• Frequent cleaning and disinfecting should be maintained for borrowed equipment 
• Minimise use of communal facilities - 1 person in the kitchen/ storage cupboard at a time.

Back at the shed this week
Thursday:
9.30 am Gentle yoga with Simone ( also available online)
6.30pm Women that run with the Wolves Bookclub

Saturday:
Vinyasa yoga (online, 8am)
Macrame meetup - members only, fully booked
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Just as we were about to write this update, the Queensland Government has announced a further relaxation in restrictions. This is good news for many of you that want to come back to Research Street and get back into our in person activities. Whilst we don't have the resources to open tomorrow (!) we have been planning a slow return to in person activities. There will be some changes to allow us to manage risks to our members and volunteers including:

• Activities must be pre-booked online from now on. This helps us ensure that we do not breach limits on numbers, allows us to capture contact tracing  information and avoid the need to handle cash. 
• We are looking at ways to move classes and activities outdoors where possible.
• We will only be operating with smaller groups, another reason to book ahead.
• Where possible, we will continue to offer classes via zoom. Some classes may stay on Zoom only, depending on the facilitator. This means that you can still 'attend online' if you have any sniffles/ symptoms.
• There will be strict guidelines about attending the shed and wiping down surfaces and equipment.

If you want one to one help with the booking system or zoom, please email bookingscws@gmail.com and we will arrange a time to help you.

As restrictions have gradually lifted we have been offering the chance to meet up in a informal way with a smaller number of members- people have suggested walks, and  we have organised a sewing bee via our community forum.  The community forum is a way to connect with other members and make plans about activities. It's a bit like Facebook but we prefer it because it has better privacy and is restricted to members only.  If you aren't interested in joining the conversation there, we will still post things on Facebook and our website. 

You should also get an email soon with your membership number, and some more information about the different systems. Read more here if you haven't received it yet: https://www.thewomensshed.org/new-members-guide.html

As for this weeks activities we have :

• Pilates with Narelle (Monday 9am)
• Meditation with Simone (Monday 6.30pm)
• Gentle yoga with Simone (Thursday 9am)
• Vocal group with Ali and Erica (Thursday 7pm)
• Vinyasa yoga with Holly (Saturday 8am)

All the activities are bookable here and will remain online only. We will let you know when we are back at the shed :-)

Our main focus for the next few months will be preparing for our open day in August.
Coming up we have a macrame basics meetup on 13th June and are planning a sewing bee, fabric dyeing meetup and ceramic hand building meetup.   We are also hoping to have more talks from Martine (financial planning) and Sara (nutritionist).
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Happy Friday Sheddies! As restrictions are slowly lifted we are looking at how we can continue our activities and adopt COVID Safe practices. For now this includes:

• Continuing to offer some activities online including Monday night meditation with Simone. We are looking at ways to stream classes from the shed as well, so you will have the choice of attending in person or staying home
• Running more activities outside
• Limiting group activities to between 8 and 10 members 
• Making sure we can provide enough space when doing activities.
• Requiring online bookings and cashless payment
• Some member only activities to limit our exposure to other people

 
Coming up this week:
Holly is running a free Vinyasa Flow yoga at 8 am Saturday morning - Holly takes you through a moving meditation - this session is a mixed session so you can bring your husband/ sons for a try of this dynamic style of yoga.

Pilates is taking a break this Monday - we are offering a Monday morning walk limited to 10 members. RSVP in the Band App.

Our ever popular Monday night meditation is  available at 6.30pm . Join us as Simone guides you through a different type of meditation each week.

Beginners drawing on Tuesday this week will cover chapters 5 & 6 which look at disengaging from our symbol system. If we have time we may cover negative space. Feel free to read ahead if you have the book, or we will cover the main points in the meetup. Catch up summaries are available on the members only pages on the website, although each lesson stands alone  - just bring a pencil and paper!

Gentle yoga with Simone is online Thursday morning at 9.30am, join us for a coffee afterwards :-) (you have to make your own!)

The Vocal Group  (online) are meeting on Thursday at the later time of 7pm from now on - we are pros at online singing now!

Bookings are still open for Hannah Hempenstall's 'Finding your North Star' on Saturday 23rd May - it's a chance to really reflect on what motivates you, and especially welcome at a time when we are asking a lot of questions.  Hannah has also run our Introduction to Journalling class. We've included a little more about Hannah below:

"Originally from London, I’ve lived in Australia for 22 years and have called the Sunshine Coast my home since last October.  Ever since the age of 3, I have been aware that there is far more going on than meets the eye. Connecting to what I call Life Source Energy through contemplation and meditation have been key to my continued awakening. That journey led me to becoming qualified in reflexology, Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), massage, polarity therapy, life coaching and yoga. 

I'm also a Reiki Master and am qualified in a variety of meditation traditions. Spirituality is at the core of everything I do and I’m currently undertaking a degree in World Religion. As well as delving into the mystical world I've enjoyed a 25-year career in magazine publishing, working on titles such as Marie Claire, Women's Health, Men's Health, Mindfood, Who and many more.   

What life continually shows me is that a willingness to be open and the ability to ask pertinent questions such as, "What does Life want me to know today?" increases our awareness. And in my opinion, self-awareness is the key to living a more purposeful and meaningful life.     If this resonates with you I run regular self-development and spiritual workshops so stay in touch with the Women’s Shed and hopefully we’ll meet soon! Namaste!

Hannah x

Hannah recently posted a meditation on her Facebook page - why not give it a try? https://www.facebook.com/hannahhempcoaching/videos/4309113229114115

Have a great weekend everyone
​xx

Happy Mother's Day sheddies - did you see our post about the origins of Mother's Day? It started as a way to recognise and appreciate the role of women in society, in memory of a movement that supported women to connect and stay healthy. Sound familiar?  We hope that you are having a lovely day, and taking some time out for yourself. 

This is just a quick post to let you know that PILATES is cancelled this Monday 11th May, but there are plenty of other ONLINE  activities happening at the shed including:

• New Saturday yoga vinyasa class with Holly
• Bookings open for finding your North Star with Hannah Hempenstall 
• In the members area - catch up on drawing for beginners, fabric dyeing at home, vocal group meetups.

Check our calendar - studio classes are weekly, other activities are fortnightly or monthly.

In the pipeline:

• Starting soon - steps challenge - walking is allowed in lock down - join us we challenge ourselves to get our daily 10,000 steps.

• Working bees to make items for the Open Day on August 8th
• Throw like a girl - basics of clay - making pottery planters
• Crochet
• Macrame
• Weaving

All classes are bookable online, jump on up to 15 minutes before class if you think you need help with zoom access - have a great day :-) 

x

Did you know that Anna Jarvis created Mother’s Day as a memorial to her mother Ann Reeves Jarvis?
The first mother’s day as we know it was in 1908 in Grafton, West Virginia.  Anna organised it in recognition of the work her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, had done to support and bring together women.   Ann Reeves Jarvis had 11 children and only 4 of them made it to adulthood. In the late 1850s she created Mothers’ Day Work Clubs as a way to address issues with child health, to share information and support each other.
For many years the Mother’s Clubs supported the community and each other, refusing to take sides in the American Civil War and offering assistance to wounded soldiers from either side.  Ann remembered her mother praying that the work of mothers would one day be formally recognised by all. This was around the same time as the very earliest beginnings of the women’s suffrage movement, and it’s easy to see common themes in the need to recognise and support the contribution of women to society.  

Ann Reeves Jarvis died in 1905, with the first ‘Mother’s Day’ memorial  held in May 1908. Ann and her friends established letter writing campaigns to establish a national holiday. Virginia adopted  Mother’s Day as a state holiday on 10th May 1910.  It took 6 years for the national holiday to be established, with Anna having to justify why there was a need for such celebration – the US congress initially rejected the idea in 1908, joking that they would have to create a ‘mother-in-laws’ day too.  However, many people adopted the idea and the celebration spread until in 1914 it was recognised as a national day by President Woodrow Wilson and the US Congress.
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Anna rejected the commercialisation of Mother’s Day and went to great lengths to try and keep the celebration in line with her own mother’s values. She encouraged people to write letters to their mother’s telling them why they appreciated them and to make hand made gifts, or give white carnations (her mother’s favourite flower).

Anna herself never had children and was buried next to her mother when she died in 1948, and this is important – Mother’s day was about celebrating and recognising the contribution that our mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers have made to our community and lives. Now we also have International Women’s Day – and sometimes Mother’s Day seems like just an opportunity to appreciate your mother – and there is nothing wrong with that! But Mother’s day began as a celebration of the achievements and values of one woman at a time when most women were expected to become mothers - it was a recognition of everything that women did for their family and community.

​Hello Sheddies, please note these important changes to this week's timetable.

We have changed the timing of the Women That Run with The Wolves Book Club - this week it will be running 5-6pm, before the Vocal group at 6.30pm. Going forward the Book Club will run on the 2nd Thursday of the month.  Both the book club and vocal group are welcoming to new members - you won't take long to catch up. The vocal group practice tracks are available in the members only section of our website

We are very happy to announce that Holly from Temple of the Sun Yoga is joining us online from Sydney this Saturday, 10th May at 8am. She will be offering a Vinyasa flow class for the next  4 weeks. Holly was one of our original yoga teachers, we were very sad when she moved away- our loss was Sydney's gain. Now the magic of the internet means that Holly is able to join us for a series of Saturday classes all the way from Sydney.  Please note that this class will also be open to men, so bring your son, boyfriend or dad! The beauty of online classes is that we keep the camera on Holly so you don't need to worry about privacy. If you are concerned we can also make sure your camera is switched off - although it helps of the teacher can see you .This class is perfect if you have done some yoga, although all levels are catered for with different options offered for each pose.  Classes are $10 per household, if you have member in your household. Otherwise it's $15 per household.  Book here.

Pilates will not be running on 11th May as our instructor Narelle takes a well earned break. If you want to try another activity we have Monday night meditation with Simone, Thursday morning gentle yoga with Simone and the new Vinyasa flow with Holly on Saturday.  

In other news, this week we had an online meetup of our fabric dyeing group that rapidly turned from discussions on fabric dye to eco dye, to sewing and to jewellrey making, so we decided that we would just call ourselves a craft group for now :-) . We came up with some fabric dyeing activities that our members could try at home and do in preparation for the Shibori meetup we have planned when we get back to the shed. If you would like to try some techniques out at home, check our craft page with more info. Make sure you share your results with us :-) 

Some members took part in the Art Therapy Workshop with Helen Bradsaw of Growth Through Art. The session started with an introduction to some ideas for a 'tree of life' project. We worked in collage, sculpture and charcoal, around a reflection on parts of our story. Then we came up with prose based on the drawing and the feedback. It was interesting to be led through a creative process that allowed us to tap into our own symbolism and personal reflections, and was a great introduction to art therapy. Here is a snippet of the art with the prose (reproduced with permission ) :

We also had a meetup of members that are keen to help us progress in some important areas including Activities, Funding and Facilities. We will update you with our progress soon.

If you are participating in the drawing for beginners group, you can catch up on what you have missed and get on top of the 'homework' in advance of our meetup next Tuesday 19th May.

 On Friday, our President, Nell was interviewed on Noosa FM - the DJ was impressed that we are still operating and continuing to attract new members - we are really proud that our members have adapted so well to the current environment, and welcome our new members!

If you are due to renew your membership, you should receive an email from us this week. If you don't hear anything, please get in touch.  

That's all for this week - see you soon!

STOP PRESS we have some exciting news about Thursday's Art Therapy with Helen Bradshaw - we have been able to drop the price to $30 for members. We had hoped that we would be back at the shed for this workshop, but as we now know that's not possible. Helen has provided a list of materials that you should be able to find at home or fairly easily, and reduced the price so that more people can try this activity. If you have already booked, we will refund you the difference :-). Book online here

It's been another busy week for us at the virtual shed, including a great talk from Sara from The Skin Solution which covered some of the popular diets and how we can boost our immunity. She has sent us some more information on one of her favourites, the Mediterranean diet, download it here:

There was a bit of confusion this week when the facilitator for Drawing for Beginners (yours truly) was 20 minutes late, people were in the Zoom waiting room and nothing was happening- it all came back together in the end and we started some upside down drawing exercises. If you missed it, the class outline is available in our members only part of the website. 

We are also keeping recordings of our vocal group in the members section, so if you want to practice or catch up, just go to our members area on the menu above.

​This week on Tuesday, the fabric dyeing group are having a catch up to see if there are any projects we can do at home. Join us from 1pm on Tuesday.

We had a few people drop in for a virtual cuppa this week, going forward we will run this at 10.15 on Mondays and Thursdays, either drop in or stay on from Pilates or Thursday yoga :-). 

Our regular Pilates, yoga and meditation offerings are on at their normal times this week. It's also week 3 of the 4 week combined yoga and yoga nidra (meditation) class on Wednesday at 6.30pm. It was so lovely to see one of our early members back in class - she relocated to Sydney and has been missing Simone's classes - so there is an upside to online yoga :-). Of course all of our classes are suitable and welcoming to beginners, you can let teachers know about any medical issues on the booking form and our teachers. Usually there are modifications to each class for those people that need to take it easier or want more of a challenge - plus our teachers can see you and give feedback, just like in our classes at the shed.

Everything can be booked right here on our website :-)

Shed Operations

A while ago, we gave notice of our intention to streamline our Facebook presence, and this process will start to happen over the next few weeks. Some groups will be closed completely. All groups will be limited to members only. 

Member renewals will start going out this week, the management committee have agreed that despite this being a difficult time financially for some of our members, we do have a responsibility to roll out renewals. If you cannot afford to maintain your membership at this time, and you aren't  interested in joining us online, we will send a follow up reminder in 3 months. You will be able to rejoin when it suits you.

Plants Fundraiser
We still hope to run our open day on the 8th August and are asking people to start propagating plants for a plant stall. We have had quite a bit of plant show and tell in our virtual cuppa sessions. One of our members sent in this photo of the plants she is propagating for us. It seems that everyone has something at home they can raise, either in soil or in water - the only problem is whether you can let your green babies go  after raising them !  Here are some possibilities :​

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Talking of sweet - how is your diet going these days? 

 I've actually found somewhere to hide the chocolate from the kids - in the vegetable drawer! Although, that does mean more chocolate for me, and we aren't really getting out and about as much.  This is hopefully offset by the 400 kg of cucumbers that seem to have sprouted from my hubby's new gardening obsession.... That being said, it's great timing that Sara from The Skin Solution is going to go ahead with her talk on the different types of diets.  Whether you are thinking about Keto, Paleo, Plant based, Vegan or Fasting, Sara will be going through these eating plans from a nutritionists perspective, and talking about boosting your immunity with the right foods as well. There will be time for discussion and questions at the end.  Join Sara this Thursday from 1pm, at our virtual shed (i.e. Zoom).

Another new activity this week is the 'Drop in Cuppa' on Monday morning at 10.30. This is a chance for you to grab a coffee and just drop in for a chat - especially good if you feel like you haven't had a chance to catch up with anyone :-) . 

There isn't much time to tell you more except the following is happening this week - click on any item to book :-). Or create an account to make booking easier and to keep your payment details stored, from our bookings page. Prices are for members, non-members pay a $5 surcharge or can join when they book.

Monday 7am - Pilates with Narelle (nb earlier start time this week) -$10 
Monday 10am - Drop in cuppa (make your own coffee and join us to say hello) - Free for members
Monday 6.30pm - Meditation with Simone $10
Tuesday 10am - Drawing for beginners -  Free for members
Wednesday 6.30pm - Yoga & meditation with Simone $10
Thursday 9am - Gentle Yoga with Simone $10
Thursday 10.30am - President drop in /Zoom training
Thursday 6.30pm  - Vocal Group with Ali & Erica, Free for members

Plenty happening for all - hope to see you soon!