Range Woodies create
300 special gifts
Self-confessed ‘big kids’ hand
over wooden toys to the Salvos

THE Blackall Range Woodcrafters Guild proudly handed over a record 304 toys to the Salvation Army this week to be distributed to underprivileged children across the Sunshine Coast.

At the handover ceremony, Bob Smith of the Salvation Army said, “We can only do so much.

It’s wonderful to receive the support of your group so we can help others.”    He added:   “I ask families if kids are still interested in playing with wooden toys with all the computer games and battery operated toys available.    The answer is always ‘Yes!’” Blackall Range Woodies ‘publicity bloke,’ Lionel Tilley said, “The guild started in 1996 with eight members.    We now have130 active members from across the range and the ‘flatlands’.”   The Woodies’ facilities, based in a shed on the Montville Sportsground are open five days a week.   “We’d probably be the best equipped club in South East Queensland,” Lionel said. The club has been making toys for the Salvos for more than eight years.   The toys are all wooden,” Lionel said, “And solidly built to withstand rigorous handling given by small kids.”   Self-confessed ‘big kids,’ these men love making … and playing with toys. “Except our toys,” said Lionel “Are machinery used to make sawdust and terrorise timber!”

The toys are created mainly at the Woodies’ shed but many members make items at their home workshops and bring them along on handover day.

Timber for many of the toys is provided free of charge by Bernie White who sources it as off cuts from a furniture factory on the coast.    The beautiful bedding for the dolls’ cots is lovingly handcrafted by the Mapleton Craft Group.

Dave Banister, Ces Wakely and Keith Muirhead are the ‘chief toymakers’ and ideas for the designs come from many sources, but mainly from the heads of the members who recall playing with simple toys as kids.     This big-hearted group of blokes has been involved in many other community projects.

They’ve made teaching clocks for pre-schools, kids chairs and tables for the MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) group, a trophy cabinet for the Maleny Pony Club, lectern and coffee table for Maleny Library and lockers for the Nambour Hospital Chapel.

In the parting words of Bob Smith, “Your toys will give pleasure to so many young families who really need help this time of year.”

Shed Phone  number during club hours
0409 050 418

Location Montville Sportsgrounds approximately 3 kms south of Montville on the Montville/Maleny Road