WATERLOOVILLE MEN’S SHED OPENS

The first I heard of the Men’s Shed movement was by an email from one of my sons that simply read ’What do you know about Men’s Shed?’

I googled ‘Men’s Shed’ and up popped details of two – one in Camden, and another in Gosport: l was hooked.

The main aim of a Men’s Shed is to help retired men come to terms with retirement or loss by having a safe place to go, have a cuppa, make new friends and carry on their personal projects or for the community.

I got in touch with Martin Corrick in Gosport, and went to see his shed setup.

The first big challenge I had, was then to find a building suitable for conversion.

I came across the disused pavilion in Cowplain owned by Havant Borough Council. Following our request, the Council granted a five-year lease at a peppercorn rent to enable us to create the Waterlooville Men’s Shed there. We then had to get planning permission for the change of use.

I kicked off the idea and soon attracted ten members – now known as Shedders. We then borrowed a conference room from ASDA Waterlooville to form the committee, elect a chairman, vice chairman, treasurer and secretary.

Next we had to open a bank account, organize a constitution and plan the way forward with refurbishment of the old pavilion to create the Shed. A new life for the old Cowplain Pavilion to create the Waterlooville Men’s Shed By Chris Davage.

With the help of a volunteer group from Scottish and Southern Electric (SSE) organized by Darryl Watt, we shifted eight tons of rubble from the building.

TJ Waste donated an eight cubic yard skip to put the rubble in and we shifted it in two and a half hours - mainly thanks to the group from SSE. We started refurbishing the rooms and reinstating previously demolished walls, painting them with magnolia emulsion - all told seventy litres of magnolia and twenty litres of white paint.

The roofers came and sorted the holes in the roof - made by the front canopy blowing off on Christmas Eve last year. Ken Ford ran new water connections and fitted a new toilet and wash basin.

We purchased all the electrics required, and got an electrician to wire the Shed and give us a certificate of conformity.

We built special sized workbenches for each area and then rebuilt three rotten window frames.

The rest was just checking and making sure all was well.

I must say that the Shedders really excelled in the task of refurbishment of the old Cowplain Pavilion to create the Waterlooville Men’s Shed. We overcame all the problems faced, and the outturn is quite excellent.

When you consider that we are quite old, it proves that we can still have a very useful place in the local community and the overall skills of the Shedders are very very good. If you look at the big picture, twenty Shedders over the age of sixty-five years have a combined knowledge of a thousand years’ work experience in all sorts of fields, and each Shedder can contribute in some way or another - and indeed develop new skills for themselves.

We opened on the sixth of October for Shedders to carry out their projects. We will have an open day for visitors in the very near future.

Acknowledgements
On behalf of the Shedders at Waterlooville Men’s Shed I would like to thank all of the companies and private individuals that have helped to get this project off the ground: Mr & Mrs Saunders of Bedhampton, TJ Waste, Scottish and Southern Electric, Wickes of Waterlooville, Edwards funeral directors.

ClIr David Keast, Nikki Conyard, Mandy Harris and Laura Bevis from Havant Borough Council, Age Concern Cowplain, the Southern Co-operative, Celia Salter for her wonderful article about Waterlooville Men’s Shed, Darryl Watt of Scottish & Southern Electricity, Pfizer of Havant for our tea room furniture, Asda Waterlooville and Karen Clarke and various members of the public who have donated tools, microwave, fridge and all of the goodwill from throughout the Borough of Havant.

We send out very heartfelt thanks to you all.

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