Member Update – 20/11/2021

Following our second members meeting on Thursday 18th November at the Half Moon Pub I attach below a few notes on the discussions raised and decisions made. A total of 16 members attended, including 5 management committee members.

  • Premises
    • Trevor Nichols updated the members on the current position with the old Swan Surgery building in the Festival Hall car park. Whilst we have been informed that the Swan Medical Group now wish to sell the building: as we believe this would be almost impossible due to the shortish lease length with EHDC and its current poor state of repair, we continue our interest and investigations through EHDC and the Land Registry. The building maybe too big for us to start with but better than too small and it’s in a perfect location.
    • Trevor and Nick Broom updated the members on the Buriton changing rooms building opportunity. Our discussions with Buriton Parish Council have progressed well and very amicably; the next stage is a presentation to the Parish Council with our outline plans.

However, it was felt that many members do not favour progressing with this building due to its location and small size. Therefore, Trevor and Nick revisited the building to gain a clearer understanding of what would be required to make the building work for us and the likely costs for this. The conclusion was that it would need a substantial structural extension (at least half again), a significant steel beam to remove the centre wall (this may also incur having to raise the roof line) and significant improvements to the services. An estimate for work this was between £35K and £50K.

  • With this additional information, there was much open debate and questions among the members, encompassing location, should we plan to spend that level on a building in Buriton, what do we really/ ideally want to do in our shed, where the current membership lives (overwhelmingly in Petersfield town), are we missing better opportunities?
    • As it was felt, we could not keep Buriton waiting for our 100% commitment, it was agreed that following on from our discussion topics below (which are obviously related) I would ask each member in turn – are they for or against continuation of our discussions.
  • Building/ Land Search
    • To help ensure we are not missing any possibilities for our future shed building, we agreed that using Google Maps, Petersfield and the local area would be divided in to search zones. One, two or more members will take one or more zones to complete a walk/ cycle search for any possible buildings, land, and storage opportunities. Any found should be reported back to Chris Jeffrey (via our [email protected] email), who is taking the lead on this project and the prospect will be investigated further. Once an area is fully searched, it can be crossed of. Please look out for Chris’ communication and please sign up for at least one area. With all current 23 members searching, this will make the task easier and quicker.
  • Equipment Donations Storage
    • We are receiving a steady flow of equipment and tools donation offers which is great, but we have no shed and no storage! A recent donation that we are trying to sort was a real find, so we do not want to miss out on these if we can possibly avoid it. Hence, linking this search with the building/land search above; so if you come across an empty and lonely container or reasonable storage shed that you think we could secure, please also bring this to Chris’ attention.
  • Member Questionnaire
    • To help us better identify a consensus among members of what do we really/ ideally want to do in our shed, Nick developed a brief member questionnaire which all 16 attendees completed. If you could not attend this meeting but would like to still complete a questionnaire, please contact Nick via our [email protected] email. Nick will assimilate your responses and report back to us at our next meeting.
  • Are you for or against continuing our discussions with Buriton?
    • At the end of the meeting, having fully debated the Buriton building, we returned to the question above. Each member voted either “for” or “against”; the result was 4 “for” and 12 “against”. With a 75% majority it was agreed to stop our further discussions. I have now spoken to the Chair of Buriton Parish Council to confirm our discission and share some of our discussions regarding the pros and cons. Naturally, he was very disappointed but understood our reasonings.
    • Dave Grant introduced an interesting concept of the possibility of making Buriton a PMS annex with space for a single activity and social kitchen, which would not require anything like the level of investment. Although, finding our main shed premises remains our priority, Dave will try to establish the local level of interest.
  • Future Projects
    • As the content above, quite rightly took over all the meeting, we decided to defer this topic to our next meeting. Please bring your ideas and thoughts for projects we can still undertake without a premises.
  • Date/ Time of next meeting
    • Agreed Thursday 20th January at 2.30pm at the Half Moon Pub. We shall discuss the possibility of holding later meetings as well to help those members still working.

Steven Watts
Chairman

Update 15 October 2021 – First Physical Meeting

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

Membership Open / First Meeting

We are delighted to announce that membership to the newly formed Petersfield Men’s Shed is now open. Membership forms can be found here. These can be either completed online, or printed off and posted to the Membership Secretary.

Membership initially costs just £10 for a year, increasing to £50 when we secure a permanent home shed and workshop. Until then, we shall meet socially on a regular basis, starting at the Half Moon Pub, Sheet. Our first social meeting will be on Thursday 14th October, starting at 2.30pm in the afternoon.

These are not formal meetings and are more social. However, as well as introductions and starting to get to know each other we should also discuss:

• Possible local sites/ unused buildings for our permanent shed/ workshop,
• Opportunities to use member’s existing sheds for small projects,
• Local community support and project ideas, not requiring a workshop,
• What you want from the Shed and what you can contribute,
• Joining and supporting the management committee.

If you have any great ideas, please bring them and share.

Members of the existing management committee will be there, and we welcome all new members to come and say hello. Do please join us if you can.

Steven Watts, Chairman

Zoom Introduction to the Petersfield Men’s Shed. Tuesday 27th July at 6.30pm

The management committee would like to invite you to a live online Zoom meeting to hear about the work we have been doing over the past 18 months to create a Men’s Shed here in Petersfield.

You will meet the committee members who will explain the developments that have taken place and more importantly the type of men’s shed and the projects we have planned.

Gerry Johnson the UK Men’s Sheds Association Ambassador and Chair of Hayling Island Men’s Shed will present an overview of local and national men’s sheds.

We will be using the Zoom chat function for you to ask questions as discussions are taking place and hopefully there will be an opportunity for some of these to be answered at the meeting. We will also be recording the meeting so that we can answer all questions and feedback the answers on our website.


Anyone who is interested in joining the meeting please contact us. We will then email you a Zoom link invite before the meeting that will enable you to join us for the meeting on Tuesday, 27 July from 6:00 PM so that we can start prompt at 6.30PM.

I and the team look forward to meeting you then.

Steven Watts, Chairman

An Update from Petersfield Men’s Shed

We are building a community space for men to connect, converse and create.

I cannot believe it is now over a year since we launched Petersfield Men’s Shed! However, whilst the management team have been very busy setting everything up, due to the pandemic restrictions, we have yet to find a permanent premises, start proper meetings or accept members. But hopefully, from July and the end of restrictions, that is all about to change.

What have we done;

  • We have become a charity
  • We have gained some funding from generous sponsors
  • We are currently in discussions to lease an excellent premises in the centre of Town
  • We have a web site and Facebook page
  • We have received over 100 expressions of interest to become members
  • We are currently surveying what practical skills and interests potential members have
  • We have all the necessary policies, procedures, and insurances in place

What’s next;

Saturday July 3rd July – 9am to 3pm – Market, Petersfield Square

Come, meet, and chat to members of the management team and see if Petersfield Men’s Shed is for you.

Tuesday 27th July – 7.30pm – Zoom Open Meeting

Open forum with short presentations from the management team and guests, Q&A (using Chat facility), and hopefully your inputs.

Future;

Obviously, we would rather launch with our premises, but in the meantime, if the restrictions continue to ease, we feel we should start to enrol members anyway, meet in temporary venues and start working on small local projects. So do please come and meet us and let’s get Petersfield Men’s Shed going, together.

Steven Watts, Chairman

2020 Year End Review

What with more Covid lockdowns and a new virus strain, unfortunately all our plans for a proper “face to face” launch meeting this year have again had to be postponed. It will happen, now probably in Spring 2021 even if we have a digital version via Zoom or similar. Everyone who has already expressed interest in joining us will be invited and a media campaign will run to promote it to other potential members. Please keep an eye on the news and further web site updates.

With regards premises, we may have some very exciting news early in the new year! We are currently in discussions to lease a building in the Town centre; all on one level with lots of usable space. It will need work to convert to workshops and social space but would be a fabulous first real project together as a Shed.

In October, we were delighted to have been awarded Grant funding for the initial equipment to kit out a Shed workshop from East Hampshire District Council; our thanks go to Cllr Robert Mocatta for his support for our development.

The management team are now working on an application for the Petersfield Men’s Shed to become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). Becoming a charity will not only have local and social benefits but will help us financially with potential funding opportunities.

As you can see, in spite of Covid, Petersfield Men’s Shed is very much alive and we look forward to 2021 and becoming a proper functioning Shed.

Steven Watts

Chairman

East Hampshire Community Lottery

We now have a page on the East Hampshire Community Lottery website. Click here to buy a ticket and support us.

We receive 50p for every £1 spent. Any money raised will be used to develop our Shed and support local men (and women) and community projects.

Thank you for your support and good luck!

Petersfield Men’s Shed Facebook Group

We have created a Facebook group for Petersfield Men’s Shed. It’s a place where you can ask questions, find out more and discuss ideas. If you are a member of Facebook, then you can find it here.

Please have a look and join the group if you are interested in what we are doing.

Local Shed Network and Researching Premises

June 2020, saw the new committee of Petersfield Men’s Shed, make contact with the already well-established Hayling Island Men’s Shed Association. Our objective was to gain a better understanding of how other shed associations in our region had approached securing suitable premises, from where they could delivery regular activities.

We were welcomed by Roger Davies, Chair of the Hayling Island Shed, who very kindly invited our committee down to their new coastal HQ for a fact finding visit, of course following all of the appropriate UK government guideline on social distancing.

Hayling Island Men's Shed Meeting and Admin Space

We opted to send one member of our committee and set up a virtual video call from the Hayling Island Shed, so that other committee members could join a Q&A with Roger, gaining an insight into the journey taken by the team at Hayling Island, which took them from their concept through to a comprehensively kitted out shed facility.

It took the Hayling Shedders around two years of regular meetings, consultations, planning and fundraising to get to the stage where they had secured a site for their new premises and raised sufficient capital, through sponsorship and fundraising activity to erect and fit out a purpose made new building and workshop.

They opted for a purpose made composite metal structure which was erected by professional contractors, with the majority of the internally finishing and fit out completed through the hard work and commitment of their members.

It was not all plain sailing, with ongoing negotiations required with their new landlord (the local church) throughout the build process and the potential of unexpected spiralling costs associated with connecting the new facility to mains power. However, following a team effort, some hard work and commitment they got there, with the new facility scheduled for opening in March 2020…… but then COVID-19 happened.  

Hayling Island Men's Shed Interior with Tools and Equipment

Although lock-down and COVID-19 resulted in a significant delay to the scheduled launch date for the new shed facility, it actually provided an opportunity for the team at Hayling Island to work on their operating guidance for members (the rule book as they like to call it) and to finalise their policies and operating procedures, so that they are full prepared for launch as we move into the COVID-19 recovery period. Every cloud has a silver lining as they say.

It was a really useful visit and we thank Roger for his warm welcome and for taking the time to guide us ‘novice’ Shedders through the challenge of finding suitable premises and establishing a new shed. There were a number of key learning points which we took away from the visit, which we hope will help us as we move forward on our journey to Shedtopia.

Learning Points

  • Setting up as a registered charity (CIO) is of great benefit when it comes to raising funds and sponsorship from Trusts and Charitable Foundations.
  • Having regular member meetings during the planning stages, really helps to shape the vision and also develops contacts within the local community which can lead to ‘in kind’ support of various types.
  • A clear project plan for your build is essential and working to an agreed project timeline under the guidance of a Project Board can help to keep things on track and avoid any unexpected pitfalls.
  • Finding premises with utilities and services already in place can be a great advantage and avoid unnecessary project costs.
  • Think about sound proofing, sheds can generate quite a lot of noise, so it is good to consider this as a part of your construction or refit, so that you can specify in appropriate noise reduction measures to keep neighbours on side.
  • Build your supporter base, you never know what additional support could be offered from the community, including a venue, technical skills or donations.

Where are we at now?

As a result of the Covid19 pandemic we have not been able to promote and meet new members as we had wished.

We are currently looking for a building space to develop our meeting and workshop aspirations but in the meantime, have several offers of temporary meeting spaces which we will open once we are allowed to meet physically.