Role reversal as Claremont Men’s Shed bakes scones for Country Women’s Association to sell at Royal Show

Men will work in the kitchen while women manage the finances as part of a charity alliance at this year’s Perth Royal Show.

When members of the Claremont Men’s Shed heard the Country Women’s Association was ordering its scones from an external supplier, they decided to put years of volunteer scone-making and new kitchen facilities to use.

The men will produce a whopping 1000 scones a day over the course of the Royal Show, freshly baked on-site and delivered by hand to the CWA stall at Centenary Pavilion.

With an affinity for baking and artisanal bread, men’s shed baker Mario Properzi is no stranger to a chaotic kitchen. He has operated in restaurants across Australia, including Sydney hotspot Booth Street Bakery.

Mr Properzi became involved with the Claremont Men’s Shed about 15 months ago, and can now add supplying stacks of scones to Royal Show attendees to his resume.

“I look forward to it. I enjoy baking, particularly bread; that’s my forte. But I enjoy all this type of stuff, and we’ve raised quite a bit of money for the shed,” he said.

“They have the signs which basically say the scones are sold by CWA and were actually made by the men’s shed ... it makes it a real community thing.”

The scone alliance debuted last year, and Mr Properzi said it went “very smoothly”, even after he had to get a bit creative with his recipe.

“I used to do a standard scone with butter, but here they do lemonade scones, which is a lot quicker and easier,” he said.

“But we don’t use lemonade because it’s expensive — we use sugar and gas the water ourselves, so it’s even better.”

Mr Properzi and a small team will be in the kitchen daily from 6am throughout the eight-day show, baking a mixture of fruit and plain scones for the women to sell with jam, cream and other baked goods.

CWA WA president Felicity Edwards said after the organisation lost access to their kitchen and couldn’t bake the scones on-site, they jumped at the opportunity to work with the men’s shed and had “full confidence” handing over the scone cutter.

“It takes a lot of pressure off us as a volunteer organisation. We’re really pleased to be able to support them as another community organisation. We can concentrate on the filling and the dressing of the scones and promoting the CWA and the men’s shed through the relationship,” she said.

“We’re both doing the same thing ... we both have the same sort of foundation in the friendship and connection aspect, so it’s a really good synergy, the two of us working together.”

Men’s shed committee member Michael Henderson said the dynamic might seem humorous, given the CWA is known for its iconic scone recipes, but that’s what made it special.

“Everyone thinks it’s funny because in a sense, you’d say scones are associated with the CWA, and the CWA has published a book on various scone recipes ... but I think it’s from that mutual respect that we’ve grown into a really enjoyable and functional relationship over the Royal Show,” he said.

The men’s shed also has experience with scones, baking them every Monday and Thursday for members’ morning tea.

Mr Henderson said after tasting the CWA’s imported scones, he was confident the blokes could lift it up a level.

“The first year, they did their own thing with the scones, and we subsequently suggested to them that we thought we could make as good, if not better, scones. And they tried our scones, and they agreed, so they were happy to make the switch,” he said.

“We’re happy just to be the background guys who make the scones.”

CWA WA chief executive Trish Langdon said the relationship raised funds for both charities, supporting men, women and children across the State.

She also plans to cheer on the Dockers this Saturday in honour of Justin Longmuir’s grandmother, who was a CWA member at Koorda for 73 years.