Sudbury seniors group looks at turning former fire station into woodworking shop

In the Greater Sudbury community of Falconbridge, a seniors group is considering transforming the former fire hall into a cultural hub to address increased interest in its services, including woodworking.

Barbara Fraser, Nickel Centre Seniors Club vice president, said since the club revitalized its woodworking classes over a year ago, membership has doubled.

“We soon discovered that our shop was too small to accommodate all the people that were interested,” she said.

“People from all over our community responded very favourably to the fact that we had classes.”

Classes are currently held in a workshop next door to the Seniors Club and can accommodate only six students due to limited space. Officials told CTV News that there is currently a waitlist and the woodworking classes have been regularly booked up throughout the ten sessions.

A pair of students working in the Nickel Centre Seniors Club's small woodworking workshop in December 2024. (Amanda Hicks/CTV News Northern Ontario)

“Prior to our woodworking, our membership was kind of diminishing,” Fraser said.

Fraser told CTV News that Nickel Centre is the only club in Greater Sudbury offering woodworking classes for beginners. Participants have ranged from their 50s to mid-80s.

Nancy Falat, Nickel Centre activities coordinator, helped get the woodworking classes going again.

“It's mainly women, although it's open to men as well,” she said.

“Most of them are beginners, and they want to learn how to use the machines.”

Falat said the woodworking class initially became popular through word of mouth then social media helped spread awareness.

She said students have built a wide range of items, including charcuterie boards, birdhouses and cabinets.

JoAnne McNamara became a woodworking student in September. She said she’s built a toy box for her grandchildren and was in the middle of building a Christmas present.

“I'm addicted to this,” she said.

“I’m a creative person. I'm always working on some kind of project, and I've never really worked with wood before. So now that I know how to use all the saws safely and, you know, I'm not as nervous as I used to be with, using these big saws.”

Nickel Centre Seniors Club woodworking student JoAnne McNamara using a saw in the club's workshop. (Amanda Hicks/CTV News Northern Ontario)

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A few months ago, Nickel Centre reached out to ward councillor Natalie Labbée, expressing interest in expanding their space. Labbée said she was on board with the idea right away.

An undated headshot photo of Greater Sudbury Ward 7 councillor Natalie Labbée. (City of Greater Sudbury)

“With our outlying communities, because of amalgamation, it is important to try and keep as many services and programs running in our communities as possible, and this is a great one,” she said.

At the beginning of this month during budget re-adoption deliberations, city council decided to close three fire halls.

Labbée tabled a motion requesting the City of Greater Sudbury donate the fire hall to the Seniors Club.

“I've been working with the fire chief to gather the costs associated with operating the hall as it is on an annual basis and as well as any kind of outstanding capital requirements that might be needed,” she said.

“There might be an opportunity to tap into some unused capital dollars in the HCI grant for the ward, in that transition, and I'll be looking at that as a possibility as well.”

Fraser said, if all goes well, they’re hoping to turn the fire hall into a cultural hub, to double the number of woodworking students, and offer pottery and art classes.

“We can do woodworking in the bays. So, and we're, we're writing grants right now to get some new updated equipment, which we're very excited about,” she said.

“On the other side, there's a huge office space, and we're hoping to create like an art center makerspace, with potentially a pottery studio, stained glass, 3D printer, that kind of thing.”

Fraser said they would commemorate the former fire station in some way, with a wall to memorialize the names of all who worked there.

An undated photo of the former site of Greater Sudbury Fire Station 21 in Falconbridge. (City of Greater Sudbury)

Labbée said next steps are for the city’s real estate department to label the property as surplus.

“I anticipate that this decision will, come with a report, to the planning committee sometime in March,” she said.

“I'm looking forward to working closer with the members of the planning committee, just, from my standpoint as a ward councillor, just to support that initiative and what that can look like.”