Creative 'sheddies' building on ideas

The blokes from the Henley Men's Shed come in all shapes and sizes - and so do their projects.

Retired farmer, IT specialist and shed supervisor Ian Campbell, of Masterton, likes projects on a grand scale.

His latest is a 7.5m-long rustic cantilever bridge which will be situated over a stream on the family farm as a photo prop for an upcoming wedding.

It took a lot of "sheddies" to lift the bridge on to a large trailer for transportation to Awarua.

The timber was windfall totara supplied by the Trimble Trust.

At the other end of the scale is Zimbabwean Ken Melville Thomson, a former post office engineer and deputy principal, based in Carterton.

Mr Melville, who came to New Zealand in 2000, spends his evenings turning scraps of wood into spoons and reckons he's carved about 300.