Carse of Gowrie & District Men’s Shed

“We are thrilled to be in the running for this year’s awards and it is great to see a good spread across Scotland with the Shed finalists. We would not be in our tenth year of running our Shed without the hard work and dedication of our members. Without their co-operation, we simply would not still be here a decade on. The members and the trustees really do go over and above to make the Shed a success, meet the needs of our 70-strong membership and deliver for our community.”

Bill Beckers, Secretary of Carse of Gowrie Men’s Shed

Carse of Gowrie Men’s Shed began back in 2013 and 10 years on find that some members have been with them from the beginning.

Over this long period there have been many changes, we have to acknowledge the role played by SMSA and the Strathclyde University research project in our development. We also need to recognise the role of members and their willingness to change and work in different ways.

Almost all of our current method of working stems from a fundamental look at both what and who a shed is for. Central to our shed is the belief that we exist for the health and well being of men, this encompasses physical, mental and social wellbeing, tea, coffee an cake play a large role in this.

With this in mind we changed to a model for running our shed that put members in the central role, we are a men’s shed, members own it and run it. They meet every month and as a group make all the decisions involved in running the Shed.

The role of the four trustees is two-fold, to meet the requirements of being a charity and to support the decisions of the members, the trustees do not need to give permission for the use of resources.

Membership has remained constant around the high 60s with an average daily attendance of around 25. The membership is made up of a real cross section with a wide age range.

Members undertake a wide verity of projects that reflect differing interests but they still find time and energy to tackle wide variety of projects for other charities and individuals.

A sample of some of the larger project are.

• A large plinth to hold a sculpture commemorating the pandemic (pictured above left). This is placed in the main entrance area of Ninewells Hospital, it has a place on the base to indicate who made the plinth, we hade our pictures in the local paper.
• Dundee Science Centre in conjunction with local schools asked if we could make thirty bird boxes. This we did, they were presented to the schools in an event shown on tv..
• MAGGIE’S Centre Dundee a major support for cancer suffers and their families has an out door seating area, this after several years was in a poor state, we restored this back to its original condition with matching timber and finish provided by local shops.
• We had a request from Brae Riding for Disabled to make a portable pitch and put set up to be carried and used at different events, this plus a range of signers to advertise the organisation and events.
• The wood turning section made six different items for a National auction, our items made over six hundred pounds for the nominated charities.
• We have an agreement with Dundee Dragons, a multi sport organisation for those in wheel chairs. This involves the repair and refurbishment of both chairs and wheels, this is an on going commitment.
• Scotty Dog Trail (pictured above right) is a major tourist and fund raising event staged over a three-month period. 32 very large Scotty Dogs have been individually painted by local artists, we have been asked to make the thirty two bases that the dogs will sit on. Each base is 2mt long by 1mt wide. Each one requires us to make 13 pieces of timber, cut to size, a total of 170 section all screwed together and then painted. The dogs on their bases will be seen on trail around Fife, they will then be auctioned to raise money for MAGGIE’S Centre. It has been a great experience for those involved in this project. There will be a great deal of positive publicity for the men’s Shed organisation.
• We have also been given a wide range of tools, both hand and power, these we offer to members and other organisation at no cost.

Shed activities

Wood working, wood turning, metal work, computerised equipment ie. CNC routing, laser scrolling.

Large kitchen facility for tea/coffee /chat etc, incorporating library / quiet area.

Biggest achievement

Better co-operation by members in running “their” shed allowing the members, at their monthly meetings, to voice their opinions on how to take their shed forward leaving the Trustees to facilitate / manage the general running of the shed.

The change in the management model of the Shed and the co-operation and input of the members in running the Shed has resulted in a relaxed feeling which has eased the burden off the Trustees who are now mainly administrators/facilitators.