Lanark Men’s Shed

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Background/History

Lanark Men’s Shed (LMS) began in Sept 2021 with just five members, no machinery and no funds in order to move the shed forward. Alan Ross became Chairman in March of this year and applied and was successfully awarded three large grants from South Lanarkshire Council, VASLan and the Lottery Community Fund which kickstarted the Shed’s path forward.

In five short months, they have renovated their second Shed from an empty metal container to be fully insulated, sheeted with new electrics installed and this will be their main machinery workshop; purchased a new smaller container in June which will be their finishing/small projects workshop; renovated a third Shed which will be their social hub and small office with computer and laser printer for tutoring and learning purposes. Their membership has grown significantly from five members to 44 in a short period of time; in addition to their woodwork group and guitar group they created a writers and walkers group. The Shed is now open to Shedders Monday to Friday instead of just two days, with the further possibility of adding additional clubs over Saturday and Sunday if required.

Achievements

LMS’s biggest achievements within the last year have been many in a short space of time:

  • Two new additional workshops
  • Vastly increased active membership
  • In June 2022, LMS offered a long-established writing group that had been operational within Lanark for 15 years the use of the Shed premises, this evolved and with new members the LMS writing group was born. This group incorporates both male and female, includes several published authors and there ages range from mid 50’s to 94 years.
  • Created the LMS walkers group. This group also includes both men and women and has been active every Monday morning. This group has been a lifeline for many Shedders who since COVID experienced loneliness and anxiety which the walking has helped massively with.
  • Created a new Facebook group page which has a very enhanced visibility and raised awareness exponentially within the local community, South Lanarkshire Men’s Shed and the SMSA.
  • In June, LMS met with Lisa-Jane Dock from Breathing Space who provide vital mental health support which is important to some existing members and continue to work close with Lisa in obtaining information and talks.
  • Gained media awareness with the local Lanark & Carluke Gazette newspaper. This provided the opportunity to have an interview and a two-page spread on LMS.
  • A visit from a local photographer to take some photos and aerial footage of the LMS site, this was incorporated into their three-fold colour flyers.
  • Shed in the Spotlight feature in the SMSA’s ‘The Scottish Shedder’ magazine (June 2022 edition)
  • Coming together to assist and support a fellow Shedder transition into his new sheltered housing after major heart procedure by decorating over a weekend.
  • The Shed Secretary was invited to a meeting at Castlebank Park to discuss recent vandalism. This resulted Shedder, Tom Docherty volunteering to repair the damaged wooden fairy dell within the park which was highlighted by Lanark Community Development Fund.
  • A local wildlife photographer, on seeing LMS’s Facebook page offered to donate a percentage of all calendar sales to fund the Shed.
  • In July 2022, LMS launched their branded polo shorts. The Shed felt this was important as it shows unity, pride in your organisation as well as differentiates from others on their multi-use site.
  • SMSA Development Officer visit to the Shed site to see progress and receive a tour and discuss support
  • Collaborations with Tesco, Lanark to work in the community and provide music and tea afternoons within local care homes for the elderly. This will consist of both the guitar group and writing group performing some music and reciting a piece of poetry or a short story and Tesco providing the afternoon tea. LMS plans to carry this out each month at different care homes throughout Lanark and look forward to seeing the joy this will bring. The Community Champion for Tesco, Rosemary also popped in with a cash donation recognising the effort and work being carried out by the Shed.
  • LMS has established a relationship with Morrisons, Lanark who have provided support by means of a new kettle and microwave for the new social hub shed, and the Shed is in discussions with them regarding a future project.
  • The Shed’s normally shy guitar group play at the local CCI Music Festival attended by over 350 people, and this performance gave them the confidence to go ahead and agree to the Tesco project (with one of their group only taking up the guitar six months earlier).
  • In August, LMS applied and were successfully awarded a further two grants. One from Lanark Community Council for renewable energy, and the second from Building & Celebrating Communities Fund. They have also applied for funding through BeGambleAware that they utilise to provide support for shedders with addiction. This group along with Breathing Space are great providers of information, guidance and support for those that need it, and this is something the Shed intends to continue to follow though on going forward.
  • A community project that helps the young people of the Lanark community. The Shedders have been tasked with relocating outdoors and the building of a wooden pirate ship to a local children’s nursery.
  • LMS recently attended their first outdoor public event ‘Walk a Mile for Literacy’, where they hosted a stand. This created so much further interest in LMS.
  • Another existing Lanark writing group expressed interest in becoming part of our writers group.
  • Lanark Scout Group has asked that the Shed’s woodwork group assist with providing tutorials for scouts sitting their woodwork badges in Jan/Feb 2023.
  • Youth, Family & Community Learning Services is keen to collaborate in classes for adults based at the LMS.
  • Finally, the Shed held its first social meeting of all their groups at the end of September, which is indeed one of their greatest achievements in this short space of time.

Challenges/Barriers

One main challenge is the isolated location of the LMS, it is not located directly in Lanark town centre and is approximately one mile out. This does present issues for those wishing to join that do not have their own car and public transport is unreliable. LMS is currently trying to resolve this with a few options, one is applying for funding to help with a LMS electric leased vehicle that they could use as both a method of transport for Shedders requiring it, and as a vehicle we could use for transporting materials to the Shed. The other option is to source money to pay a local business, either taxi or minibus company to assist.

Impact on Local Community

LMS has had an amazing impact locally within its community and in surrounding areas, mores since they launched their Facebook page which is driven by the Shed secretary and every event or bit of news is posted and shared to all community groups.

The Shed is pleased to say that they are now working with many of the community based groups within Lanark, and vice versa many are eager to incorporate us into their work in the community also. The Lanark Community Development Trust and Discover Lanark are hosting in October Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022. Tom Docherty, one of the writers group members has been selected to contribute some of his work. He will be performing two pieces of storytelling, and leading a walk up Tinto Hill where he will then latterly recite a Tinto Tap poem in the Tinto tea-room. This is a very rewarding event to be involved in as not only does it give LMS recognition but allows some additional funding to us which is always appreciated. The collaboration with Tesco to attend and provide entertainment and afternoon tea to the elderly in care homes is another great community project and one they hope to continue. A further demonstration of the Shed’s impact locally is the continual delivery of donations of wood, machinery and items for upcycling which shows people are aware of the Shed now and what they can bring locally.

Leading Light

The Shed Chairman is the driving force behind all the funding received and is always looking ahead at the bigger picture and what the future of the Shed holds. Alan has undertaken the following:

  • Collections
  • Attends months Zoom calls for South Lanarkshire Men’s Sheds
  • Attends Seniors Together Meetings
  • Sources training & workshops for all Shedders
  • Is the liaison with many of the local community groups
  • Arranged and assisted with the completion of two grant applications for another voluntary group, LANARK IN BLOOM resulting in them being awarded funding.
  • LMS did have initially a small membership of wood Shedders which limited help and extra labour when work commenced, this meant the same two or three manual workers were doing the major work however since numbers increased this helped with larger workforce on days required. In the beginning, the Shed did use social media to view what other more advanced Sheds were doing, how they progressed and what ideas they had. This gave the Shed motivation of what it could become and it has served them well.

Tell a story of a time when your Shed has gone above and beyond

One member had not been attending for a while and on reaching out to his wife, LMS discovered that he had been very ill and was awaiting major surgery. At this time, he was also in the process of being relocated to a new sheltered housing complex but could not afford to redecorate this. Several members decided to take this upon themselves and get the required paint and spent a full long weekend doing this work. He and his wife were overwhelmed and so appreciative for the gesture and as a thank you, the member gifted a new PAT machine to the Shed. Tom has now had his surgery and is on the road to recovery and has visited the Shed on several occasions since his operation.

Future Plans

  • Acquire a Shed-owned electric vehicle to assist with transport to and from the Shed to Lanark town centre.
  • Increase current number of groups to include a chess group, a general games group, photography and a computer group. The computer group will be tutorial one on one learning in our office.
  • Have more guest speakers and social afternoons. This will range from health and wellbeing, stress management and dealing with anxiety and loneliness, Adult Learning, photography and subjects of interest to our shedders.
  • Create a tool library for the local community use, whereby tools and machinery can be rented out for day or weekly use.
  • Look at extending number of sheds as already the guitar group is at capacity for the shed size.
  • Investigate solar energy panels for the reduction of energy cost.


Additional Information

LMS feel that they are unlike other Sheds in our early stages of life. They have a lot to achieve and complete but have come such a long way in such a very short space of time. LMS has worked so hard at getting the Shed started and established and are so very proud, and more proud of all the shedders and what they contribute.

This Shed is not one person but a team of individuals who started with nothing and are ecstatic at where they are now. LMS has been able to attend lots of meetings, workshops and events through South Lanarkshire Men’s Shed, with the support of Seniors Together and the SMSA. The Shed has lots of ideas and plans to go forward to the next year and continue their great success.

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