The photo, above I took in mid 2019, of a shaft of light streaming into the 400 year old brick and mud dome of the Meybod iceworks in Iran. Water was frozen outside in shallow ponds in winter and brought inside for use in the extreme summer in the adjacent caravanserai (lodgings on the Silk Road) protected by the 2m thick walls.
The photo, below, was taken on our late 2023 annual Erratic bicycle ride on the SE bank of Lake Pukaki with Aoraki / Mt Cook in the background, which included the 350km Alps2 Ocean Trail and the 250km Clutha River Gold Trail.
Honorary Professor Barry Golding AM
State Library Victoria Creative Fellow: Regional, 2023
Honorary Professor: Institution of Arts, Education & Community, Federation University, Ballarat, Australia
Honorary Patron: Australian Men’s Shed Association 2009 to 2024; recipient of the AMSA ‘Ted Donnelly’ Award, 2013 for outstanding service to the Men’s Shed Movement.
Inaugural Chair, International Men’s Shed Organisation (IMSO)
Past President (2013-15) and Board member, Adult Learning Australia
Editorial Board Member, Australian Journal of Adult Learning (from 2018-24)
Past President & Life Member, current (2022) Committee Member Great Dividing Trail Association
Member, Community Reference Committee, Reconciliation Action Plan, Hepburn Shire. 2017-2024.
‘Men learning through life’ (book, 2014. NIACE), with Dr Annette Foley & Dr Rob Mark, UK: out of print but some new & used copies available on line.
The Men’s Shed Movement: The Company of Men, Common Ground Publishing, 433 page book, Published in US, August 2015. Order online via: https://cgscholar.com/bookstore/works/the-mens-shed-movement
‘Shoulder to Shoulder: Broadening the Men’s Shed Movement‘, 444 page book, published October 2021 in the US by Common Ground Research Networks order via https://cgscholar.com/bookstore/works/shoulder-to-shoulder
During the on and off COVID shutdowns between 2020 and 2022 I continued researching, writing and blogging, particularly about the interactions between the environment, squatters and First Nations people, mainly in southern Dja Dja Wurrung country (central Victoria), focussed on the first five years of invasion and contact, 1836-41.
During 2023 I worked on a research and book writing project, Six Peaks Speak: Unsettling Legacies in southern Dja Dja Wurrung Country as a State Library Victoria Creative Fellow, completed in April 2024 and planned for publication by Common Ground Research Networks (in the US) in late 2024 with valuable contributions Clive Willman.
Barry Golding 
Greetings Barry,
the NRMA did an article on Mens Sheds on their online site which also appeared on facebook.
Pity that most of the comments are by women though.
I just rang Barry Lacey in Newstead to ask if any Newstead Shedders do facebook & could they put a comment or 2 up on the facebook post.
Pity that the NRMA used a Getty Image to illustrate – damned annoying AND he is clearly only 50ish. Would have been a great opportunity for a REAL photo of a shedder or two
Clunk – he thinks that NOT ONE of the 35 do facebook. BUGGER.
Can you put any shedders onto this facebook post for purpose of some comments . . . . from a bloke?
the NRMA link is
https://www.mynrma.com.au/living-well-navigator/independent-living/the-mens-shed-revolution.htm
Good article but often facebook users ONLY read the summary & then comment. The facebook link is called LIVING WELL NAVIGATOR.
Apologies if you know this already but my request for a shedder comment or 2 is still relevant I think.
Enjoying your book –
best regards,
Allie Dawe,
Newstead
Hi Barry
I really enjoyed reading your Golding connections page. I found it as I was looking for some background on my uncle Ged (Geddie Thomas). You mention Thomas Geddie, are these the same or were there two? My Grandfather was Edmund Palmer and my mum was Marjorie twin sister to Dorothy (but you might not remember her as she spent her life after the war in the UK.
Thanks John
I knew Uncle Ged, Ed and Marj from the farm out of Donald. Dorothy in the 1960s was a guide commissioner in Donald who I knew well as my mother also worked with the guides each Friday afternoon. I’m assuming these are the same relatives. Barry