The Old Fire Station subtitled the ‘Peoples Hall’ (Photo: Sardaka, 2021, Wikimedia)

By Cheryl Leckstrom, Community Liaison Convenor

Glebe–Forest Lodge  is such a united community; and we are fortunate to have so many places where we can experience some form of ‘togetherness’ – wonderful parks, churches, schools, coffee shops, restaurants – just to name a few. 

The Old Fire Station is such a place. I’m sure most Glebe Society Bulletin readers would know the history of this beautiful, heritage-listed building. Nowadays a variety of community activities are conducted there; and one of the groups holding activities at the Old Fire Station is the Glebe Community Projects Group, which I coordinate.

Glebe Society Management Committee members attending the Old Fire Station in March (Photo: Cheryl Leckstrom)

We have been running this group for two years on a Wednesday from 10 am until 3 pm. We are a craft group, and we cover any requested arts or crafts. We do scrapbooking, painting, knitting, and crochet. We recently had pottery greenware supplied, which we painted and had fired! The Society’s president, Duncan, came along and supported us by getting involved in a bit of fun and making his own mug, of which he was well pleased! We also enjoy the company of Glebe Society secretary Jude Paul, who has brought us some project ideas that our community members are enjoying and some other ideas that we look forward to doing in the future.

Call for volunteers

We depend on volunteers for Glebe Community Projects Group to continue as a group. Ideas come and go, but we are always looking for new ones. I would like to ask Glebe Society members: would you consider contributing your time? It wouldn’t have to be too much. For example, we are looking for people who can teach us how to sew on a sewing machine. We have the machines, fabric, thread, scissors and the guys interested in learning! We’d love someone to take us through the loops on how to use our machines. Recently, we held a lovely Mother’s Day event, but it was very wet and cold. The Glebe Society supported us by supplying a new gas cylinder for the BBQ and a couple of volunteers to cook the snags! We are very grateful for the support. We would love for you to come along so we can enjoy each other’s company. We have hot drinks and food such as soup, fresh bread, and hot scones with jam and cream.

The Old Fire Station also has a computer lab with desktop computers available to the public. This is open each weekday from 1 pm until 4 pm. The lab is run entirely by volunteers, and we’re currently in need of more volunteers. You don’t have to be an IT whiz; you can just be available so that we can keep the lab open. We need to make more community members aware of this service, so if you know anyone who might need this, please let them know where we are! 

We look forward to more community support from the Glebe Society for future events. Volunteers would be more than welcome; maybe you have some ideas you would like to put forward. I am more than happy to talk about any community issue you feel needs addressing where the Glebe Society could be beneficial.

If you want to learn more about volunteering with the Glebe Community Projects Group or the computer lab at the Old Fire Station, you can contact me, Cheryl, on 0458 872 925.