Petersfield Men's Shed

It’s been a while since the Men’s Shed last met, but the management team have simply been busy trying to sort premises and it is taking longer than we hoped. However, now we have news and think/ hope it’s very good news!

As you are aware, we have been negotiating with East Hampshire District Council regarding the possibility of us taking on 16 Heath Road, Petersfield as our first Shed. The good news is we have a draft licence from the Council which the management team has reviewed, discussed and with a few minor amendments is happy to agree. The licence offers us the whole premises including the two sheds, all the gardens and grounds and the house itself.

In connection with the licence negotiations, the management team has also progressed a grant application to the Council for funds to make the sheds, grounds, and house secure with new locks, door, and windows, and safely powered with electrics.

On the assumption that a licence is signed, and we gain the necessary grant funding, the hard work to become operational begins now which will involve every member. This will include;

• Identify a team of member key holders and safety officers to “manage” the site whist members are on-site.
• Identify a tools manager.
• Agreeing the designation of all areas/ buildings/ rooms for our various activities, this may be in stages and change over time.
• Establishing what work needs doing and its priorities.
• Creating working parties to carry out the work based on everyone’s individual skills.
• Establish, agree, and purchase the initial tools/ equipment/ benching to get started.
• Agree our “Shed Open” annual membership fee.
• Investigate commercial sponsorship and local donations for on-going funds/ tools/ equipment/ wood/ anything useful.
• Promote the Shed membership to increase numbers.
• Finalise the operational budget.

Knowing how long final negotiations can take, we propose a whole Membership Meeting on Wednesday 5^th October at 2pm either at 16 Heath Road or either the Townhouse on the High Street or the Half Moon pub in Sheet (to be confirmed later). The purpose of this meeting will be to provide further updates and to discuss, agree and confirm volunteers to work on and complete the elements above. I urge you to make every effort to attend this meeting and also start to consider how you can best support some of the actions above.

We have been working for this for over two years and finally, it may well happen. This is our Shed, jointly we can make it the best Shed.

Thank you.

Steven Watts
Chairman

Topics discussed;

• Gerry Johnson – Regional Men’s Shed Representative introduced himself and gave an overview of our local Sheds.
• Nick, Trevor, Martin, and I shared their visit to Waterlooville Shed; a very well established Shed with great facilities. We met their chairman and other members who were very helpful in answering our many questions. I will write to thank them.
• I described the opening of Liss Shed and the facilities they have.
• Trevor introduced a very real possibility for our future Shed premises. 16 Heath Road is a 3-bed detached house with substantial grounds and 2 large sheds owned by EHDC located in the Festival Hall car park. Councillors Julie Butler and Robert Mocatta are supporting that the sheds and grounds be licenced to us to develop as our Shed. We may also explore use of the house in the short term. Trevor and I met the councillors on site with the EHDC Estates Manager to review the possibilities which are very favourable. The EHDC Estates team are now drafting a licence to occupy document for the management committee to review and discuss. We shall update the members in due course. All fingers are crossed!
• In discussion with member Martin, I asked if he would consider joining the management committee and becoming a Trustee. I am pleased that he has agreed to be put forward at the next MC meeting. If any member wishes to explore this opportunity, please contact me.
• Next Members Meeting was agreed on Wednesday May 4^th at 2.30pm at the Half Moon Pub.
• Further date for everyone’s diary – We are heading for our second anniversary so have set our AGM for Tuesday 7^th June, 2.00pm again at the Half Moon Pub. This will be followed by the normal Members Meeting. All members are welcome and an Annual Report will be distributed prior to the meeting.

Steven Watts, Chairman

Just a reminder that our next Petersfield Men’s Shed Members’ Meeting is at 14.00pm Wed 30th March at the Half Moon Pub, Sheet.

All members are welcome. Potential members are also welcome to come along and see if our Men’s Shed suits them.

Topics for open discussion;

• Welcome to Gerry Johnson – Regional Men’s Shed Representative
• Visit to Waterlooville Shed – Report (All)
• Opening of Liss Shed – Report (Steven)
• Premises/ Land Survey Update (Chris/Steven/Trevor)
• Member Open Discussion (All)
• Future Meetings Activities/ Location  (All)
• Next meeting date/ time/ location (All)

Steven Watts
Chairman

We started our meeting with a minute’s silence to remember one of our founding members John Ide who sadly passed away. We are very grateful for his input and offer his wife Tricia and family our heartfelt condolences.

Our topics;

• We discussed local premises/ land survey potentials for our future Shed. Our search continues and we urge all members to get involved and pick area squares to walk and scour. Please see web site or ask Chris for details.                     
• Nick gave us the outputs of the recent Member Survey; these will be added to the web site.                    
• We discussed future community projects that we could potentially complete without the need of a Shed. These will be explored further at our next meeting. Phil has a few ideas to share but please can everyone bring their thoughts.
• We also want to put together a program of potential visits, trips, guest speakers, etc for future meetings, so please bring some ideas.          
• We discussed and agreed that to try to accommodate all members, including those working full time, we would alternate the times of our meetings from afternoon to evening. Therefore, the next meeting will be on Wednesday 23^rd February at 6.30pm at the Half Moon pub. Their kitchen is open from 5pm till 9pm, so anyone wishing to have a meal before or after the meeting, can do so.    

I look forward to seeing many of you on the 23^rd.

Steven Watts
Chairman

We wanted to build up a picture of what shed members would be interested in doing when we have a shed, allowing us to plan things so it meets their needs, but also understanding the skills that could help get the shed up and running.

Thanks to all members who completed the survey – the results are now in!

The chart below shows the percentage of respondents who were interested in various activities. There was also an option to suggest other activities, which is covered later in this post.

We also asked what existing skills members had, and it turns out there are a lot, with someone competent in every field. For those novices wanting to learn, there will be plenty of good advice available.

Finally, we asked for suggestions for shed activities and what hobbies / work people did at the moment.