Nairn Men’s Shed Chairman John Rushforth tells the story of their Shed’s full steam-ahead journey to date at their 19th-century railway station hub.

John said: “Seven years ago, a local public meeting was arranged to discuss the concept of Men’s Sheds and if there was demand and a need for one in Nairn. After this meeting, six of us began meeting regularly at Dunbar Golf Club to drink coffee and dream about Sheds.

“We explored several leads for potential premises including a disused garden centre and old stables, but they just didn’t fit the bill or would cost a scary amount to get up and running – something that would not phase us today.

“We kept meeting every week, enjoying each other’s company and chat, and then a moment of pure serendipity happened at a local football match when a Trustee was walking to the game with a friend and happened to point out a disused building on the south platform stating ‘That would make a grand Shed!”.

“The person he was talking to worked for Scotrail, the leaseholder of the building (the old Stephen Seedhouse florist building) which had previously been an old waiting room at the train station. Scotrail had been unable to lease the building out to anyone else so it was just sitting empty and getting in a bit of a mess. It was a fantastic building though and had huge potential to meet our needs.

“So, in 2017, we applied for a lease and within two weeks had received a long-term lease at £1 per annum. We got the building, but then had nothing to put in it and part of our lease agreement was to do up the outside of the building which would both cost a pretty penny.

“We reached out to the Railway Heritage Trust which offers grants for the reinstatement, maintenance, repair and restoration of railway historic buildings, structures, and fittings and the Davidson (Nairn) Charitable Trust, which benefits the community in the Nairn area or district, and they both offered to stump up half of the total costs each.

“We were off and running – kitting out the Shed, making the building fit-for-purpose and transforming the exterior of the building back to its former glory – and just like the famous quote from the 1989 movie, Field of Dreams – ‘If you build it, they will come’ – they certainly did.

“Thanks to funding from the Co-op Local Community Fund and a visit from Axminster Tools, we have an incredible workshop with every tool and piece of machinery that our members could dream of. I, as a self-confessed non-DIYer, am happy to be banned from the workshop, it just isn’t my thing. After a career in social work since the age of 19, give me the chatting and form-filling any day!

“Some of the members on the other hand, like to get their teeth into projects especially the ones linked to helping our community like making a craft table for the Nairn Alzheimer’s Group and storage boxes for the football club to name but a few.

“Projects close to our heart are also the ones linked to the heritage of the railway station like the restoration of the railway clock and owning the original ‘Nairn’ railway sign that was purchased and gifted to us by Sheena Baker, in recognition of her husband and our founding Chairman, Jeff Baker. The sign is now proudly on display in the Shed social area in his honour.

“Things were going swimmingly and our activities evolved to include walking, crafting, painting, playing games, computing and woodworking but we still especially enjoyed our Tuesday and Thursday morning social gatherings where we put the world to right and just share a cuppa – the most important part of the Shed as far as we are concerned.

“Our oldest member, who is 94, sits and shares his stories which is great for him, and us. We used to have a member, sadly now passed, who saw his place at the Shed to make everybody a cuppa and dare you to try to make your own he would be annoyed – that was his contribution and ‘purpose’ and one of our veteran members enjoys coming along as ‘there is no commitment for me to do anything at the Shed’.

“As numbers increased, we started to notice we were outgrowing our social space. Our ‘glue’ is that we sit and chat. No topic is off the menu so making this space larger to accommodate everyone was incredibly important to us – you can never have too many friends.

“Across on the north platform, was another old waiting room previously used by the florist for storage and it had two big rooms and a toilet but was quite derelict. We contacted Scotrail and to our delight, our lease was extended to include the additional building. The Railway Heritage Trust once again helped us as long as we refurbished the old toilet/storage shed on the South platform. They gave us the grant to improve the interior and the work on the Shed. A really nice bonus is that we are paid hourly to maintain the exterior of our own buildings! We now had the big social space required to accommodate our growing membership and also space for computers and a craft area. And just then, as things were looking bright, COVID hit us.

“Throughout lockdown, our members were incredibly active on Zoom. At each meeting, we had around 20+ members online and staying connected. It was so popular that we also extended an invitation for anyone to join which was great. We had people from Sheds all over the world joining from Australia to Hawaii. It’s funny as now that we have returned to the Shed, I can’t get them to go anywhere near Zoom.

“Today, we have 70+ members, all very much active, and this Shed is making a phenomenal difference in their lives. Only the other day, we had 25 members turn up just for a coffee and you could feel the buzz in the room. Such a lively bunch, happy chatting away and working on a range of different community projects.

“We also have a Saturday activity where some of the younger Shedders join us for an intense and extremely competitive game of Dungeons and Dragons (pictured above left).

“We are currently in such a good place and also have some exciting plans for the future including visiting other Sheds which we will apply to the Scottish Community Alliance Community Learning Exchange programme for our travel expenses through our SMSA membership.

“Some weeks we are open five days, there is always something on, but we still have the potential to do even more. To pursue these plans however, like all Sheds, we need more leaders to deliver this. We are in discussions with Scotrail regarding two old signal boxes (one pictured above right) with a vision of turning one into a Shed allotment/community garden and the other into a model railway club. We already have interest in both from the current membership and think it would bring in additional members also. To be honest, I think we will be beating them off with a stick!

“We have a brilliant set of Directors, everyone has a specific purpose and role to do. It is an absolute hoot. Nairn Men’s Shed is a place where two men, who have work and life experiences that are poles apart – who would probably have never crossed paths before – meet and bond. This is what it is all about.

“Our Shed journey sounds so care-free that we sometimes feel guilty when hearing about other Sheds struggling but then I remember, that this is the way it should be and Sheds should be recognised for this and supported to do what they do.”

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