Gill Ellis, 69, says moving to Melton was the best decision of his life. The former Melton citizen of the year speaks about how the men’s shed transformed his life.
What’s your connection to Melton?
We’ve been here since about 1970. I’m a returned serviceman and, when I came home from Vietnam, I told my wife I’d like somewhere nice and quiet to live. She said: ‘I know this place called Melton’, and we drove out here. When we got here, I read the sign and it said the town had a population of about 1000 people, and I figured nobody in their right mind would come out here, so I thought this place was fantastic.
What’s your favourite thing about living in Melton?
I’ve always liked Melton. When I first came here, there weren’t many people, and it was quiet. One thing coming home from Vietnam was that we had a problem of running into protesters and stuff like that. I didn’t want anything to do with that – I wanted to have a nice, quiet life. When we came to Melton, I found that the people of Melton accepted me, didn’t care about me being a Vietnam veteran, and just accepted me for who I am. Moving here was one of the best therapies.
What would you change about the area if you could?
Not a great deal really. The council we’ve got has done a tremendous job. This would have to be one of the best places to live … I compare Melton to, let’s say Knox City, and there’s virtually no comparison. Melton is streets ahead.
Where’s your favourite place to hang out in Melton?
The men’s shed – my wife reckons I should take a bed out there. But there’s a real sense of camaraderie there. I find a lot of blokes like myself retire, and six months after being home with the wife, we’re telling them what to do when they’ve been running the house all our married life. We’re home six months and we’re trying to change everything. At the men’s shed, we can still associate with other people, have a cup of coffee and leave the wives alone – it’s fantastic. And I think they’re only too glad to send us off. Apart from that, we love the parks. We think the parks in Melton are awesome, and I hope they never sell the parks or put houses on them.
How has the Melton men’s shed helped you?
Camaraderie and mateship. You’ve got to be down there to understand what I’m saying, but nobody’s better than anybody else down there – we don’t judge anybody or anything like that. But we do support each other. If it weren’t for the health talks at the shed, I wouldn’t have been able to get the hearing aids. I think everyone there got sick to death of me saying ‘eh?’ all the time.
What needs to be done, or be changed, to ensure men are more confident in speaking up about their concerns?
Prostate cancer is one that comes to mind – blokes don’t talk about that, not even to other blokes. But I always say you’ve got to bite the bullet and do something about it … stop putting it on the backburner.
What does the men’s shed have in store for the future?
Right now not a lot, but we’d like to see new members. Personally, I would like to start a fishing club down there. We’ve got a few boys there already and have taken them fishing already … they loved it and thought it was fantastic, sitting around, fishing and telling lies to each other.
