The Shed will occupy a site on the council-owned land at 101 Waller St, which is currently home to the Lions and Rotary clubs.
Local dignitaries and Men’s Shed members attended the official signing, which took place last Wednesday, where president Lou Sigmund and Mayor Scott Upston put pen to paper to make the move official.
‘‘It is time for us to spread our wings and move to new premises and this block is the beginning of our future,’’ Mr Sigmund said.
‘‘The council allocated this block of land to us nearly 12 months ago and we’ve been going through the process of formalising it and today is the actual culmination of that process.
‘‘We are very, very excited about having our own shed. As most people know we are currently sharing with the chooks and we’ve certainly outgrown that location.’’
The chooks were not the only concern that shed members had about their previous location They were also at full capacity and unable to significantly increase membership.
‘‘We, as a Men’s Shed, couldn’t accommodate more members because of the size of the shed we had,’’ Mr Sigmund said.
‘‘So this move is to ensure that we have a growth and a future in Benalla.
‘‘It will take some time to complete the move. We need to put a slab down and put a building up, but this is the first step.’’
Benalla Rural City Councillor Don Firth, who was Mayor when the new premises were first confirmed, said he was pleased for the shed.
‘‘This is really a wonderful time to be able to be here. Lou came to me whilst I was mayor and said ‘look, we’ve got a problem’.’’ Cr Firth said.
‘‘They invited me down and said to me that they really needed some land. And I thought of this place.
‘‘We knew it was a perfect fit with regards to the Rotary and Lions club being here too as this is another similar, community-based organisation.’’
If you would like to join the Benalla Men’s Shed, phone Lou Sigmund on 0427 337 963.