Banff, Macduff & District Mens Shed

“We are delighted and honoured to be shortlisted for this year’s awards. It has come as a huge surprise given the high standard of the Sheds across Scotland that we read about in the SMSA’s magazine, ‘The Scottish Shedder’. I am extremely proud of our Shed and members. We continually hear about the benefits of Men’s Sheds in communities all around the world and I am delighted that our Shed is being recognised for the achievements and progress that has been made in the short time that we have been in our new premises. We would also like to wish the two other finalists the best of luck and look forward to meeting them at the awards event.”

Bob Copland, Chairman of Banff, Macduff & District Men’s Shed

Our Shed started in 2017 with a few guys, 7 or 8 of us, meeting in a room above the Railway Inn Banff.

We were extremely grateful to welcome a member of the board of trustees from Deveron Age Concern who offered us a small grant. I should point out that up to that point we had no funds whatsoever.

Those funds enabled us to rent 2 units under the Arches in North Castle Street one small unit that would become our meeting place and another much larger for storage of tools and materials.

We received vast donations of tools from the local population which we were extremely grateful for. Although it was great to have our own base we were restricted in what we could do as only a couple of people could safely work in the unit at any one time.

We started looking around for empty and derelict premises that might suit our needs, or spare land. Other Men’s Sheds had managed to get off the ground by taking on a piece of waste land and building sheds and purchasing Shipping Containers or old Port-a-Cabins.

We set our sights on the disused Listed “Kingswell Nursery” next door to the Banff Bowling Club on Seafield Street that the council were in the process of selling off. We obtained a viewing and after some discussion decided that despite the roof falling in and the rotten windows it was within our capability to resurrect it and save it. To that end we sent our Community Asset Transfer Expression of Interest Form in to the Area Managers Office at the Council. We persuaded the council officials to accept our formal Asset Transfer Application. Unfortunately in the meantime the council had received an offer to buy the school and advised us that they were of a mind to accept the offer denying our asset transfer application. Incidentally that building is still derelict.

Undeterred we went ahead and submitted a further Asset Transfer Application for the Former Fife Street School in Macduff a large granite building left empty when NESCOL vacated it some years before and was also up for sale, this was in 2018 and after some hiccups we eventually gained access in September 2022 and signed a Lease in March 2023.

Activities

• Wood working
• Gardening
• Small machinery maintenance
• Computing Classes
• Leisure activities – Snooker, Table Tennis, Card & Board Games,
• Group Debates
• Presenting shows on Local Radio
• Photography

Achievements

Our biggest achievement would be saving a perfectly good building from impending demolition. A building that will not only be used by our Menshed but also the wider community. Although we could use the entire property, there is a huge lack of suitable, affordable premises for smaller groups in our area. We felt that although it would be nice to have the whole building to ourselves all the time, it was the right thing to do to allow the wider community access to our building, there is also the added benefit of income to our Shed from room rental.

The other benefits of bringing groups together leads to shared assets, shared resources such as knowledge, contacts, equipment etc. This brings together the added overall benefit of the community working together.

Some of the groups who are currently using the rooms have not been able to meet for a number of years as they haven’t had access to suitable and affordable premises – we are now able to supply that to these groups, who some faced impending closure.

We have secured the building on a 99 year tenure which now gives the members of the Shed and the groups who are currently using it peace of mind and security.

Our local Councillors have since told us that our application was the last chance for the building to be saved – something the Shed and the community think is indeed a great achievement.

Impact in local community

We have an excellent relationship with the local community; and have got involved with various community groups and educational establishments within our area. Some of our involvement includes:-

• Macduff Primary School – we went along to help mentor the pupils within the Nurture Hub
• Banff Academy – pupils came along to the shed and made up bird boxes
• Local Brownies – came along and also made up bird boxes
• Sheltered Complex in Banff – We refurbished a sun house and built a greenhouse and refurbished garden seats there are many other projects in hand for the complex
• Banff Castle – we restored a plaque for a tree planted by the Argentine ambassador in the early fifties. Also at the castle we set a plaque in a piece of granite to commemorate the Kings Coronation
  Deveron Age Concern – run a charity shop in Macduff. We built storage sheds and tidied up garden in form of cutting back overgrown bushes
• Community Notice Boards – in both towns are maintained and updated on a regular basis
  In our premises we have various community groups using the men’s shed for their meetings:-
  Home Start which helps young mothers and children with help and problems
  Computer Classes are held here on a Tuesday
• North Aberdeenshire Integrated Drug and Alcohol Service Health and Social Care Partnership hold Acupuncture classes for addiction every week.
• Macduff Market hold their market once a month and have full use of premises
• Recently a community group wanted to hold a reunion of various streets in Macduff of the people who stayed there from the sixties. It was held in our men’s shed and turned to be a most successful day. They came from far and wide
• The accordion and fiddle club meet once a week
• Macduff Crafters a women’s group that practices their knitting and sewing
• Deveron Camera Club meet once a week to enhance their photographic skills
• Puppy training classes are held once a week
• LJ Street Dance Group meet once a week
• Children’s Board Game night once every two weeks
• The CFINE Food Van attends our Shed fortnightly
• We recently organized a car boot sale it turned out to be a very successful day for the community it was the first to be held in Macduff local people thought it was fantastic
• We have helped people with various repairs of lawn mowers and strimmers

In summing, up there is a good relationship with the community at large and hope to continue to help and support the communities of Banff and Macduff.

When we took possession of our building, we decided that as there is a shortage of suitable and affordable places for groups and organisations to meet in our area, we would make some space available for community use, even although we could easily use the entire building ourselves. There are now two rooms kept solely for letting to the local community and these rooms are booked nearly every day of the week.