On Thursday 14th October, we held our first physical Petersfield Men’s Shed members’ meeting. 17 members attended and 3 non-members also came along and promptly joined. We were delighted by the attendance and proves that there is a need for a Men’s Shed in Petersfield.
Discussions included:
• Updating on our premises situation
• What the ideal premises would look like
• What members want from the Shed
• What members can bring to the Shed
• Format, style, regularity, and location of meetings before we get premises
• Type of projects we can work on now (without premises)
• Offer to discuss/ join the management committee
We agreed to hold a regular monthly meeting, the next being Thursday 18th November, again at the Half Moon pub in Sheet, at 2.30pm. The purpose of the meeting is to further update on the premises situation and socialise. It was also suggested that (for this next and future meetings) members would:
• Look out for and bring possibilities for any premises or land to investigate
• Bring ideas for practical local projects we could engage in without premises
• Bring along small personal projects that we could perhaps help with
A suggestion for future meetings was that we could also meet at members own personal sheds in rotation. Whilst everyone appreciated not every member will have a shed and of those that have, these will inevitably be small, it will be interesting to visit the range we do have amongst us and again, members could further support personal practical projects in that member’s “back yard”.
We should also include discussions regarding funding opportunities (when we get premises), ideal equipment and tools, scavenging and organised trips to engineering, electronic, carpentry, plastic moulding, construction, etc companies, dock yards and the like.
I think we all agreed, this was a great start for Petersfield Men’s Shed, but the onus will be on all of us to keep the positive momentum going. If we all do a small bit towards the Shed, it will thrive. Thank you to everyone.
Steven Watts
Chairman