THE past three weeks, Willis Weis has spent much of his free time pottering about the newly-built Men's Shed in the grounds of the residential aged-care wing of Kyogle Hospital.

The spritely 96-year-old heads out to the fully-equipped shed first thing in the morning and 'does a bit of cleaning up around the place' before finding a nice spot in the sun to have a cup of coffee.

If there are other men at the shed, the former dairy farmer will have a yarn with them; if not, he'll find something to do for himself.

It was the brainchild of four former and current staff members - Jacqui Stewart, Paul Manning, Fay Palmer and Alison Jarrett - who were looking for ways to combat depression and feelings of isolation and uselessness suffered by formerly active older men living in aged-care facilities and in their own homes.