Men’s Shed Govan

Every vote counts, click here to vote for Men’s Shed Govan as your ‘Scottish Men’s Shed of the Year’ 2022

Background/History

Men’s Shed Govan (MSG) was set up when Practice Nurse Sarah Everett saw a need for a group for men who are retired, unemployed or unfit for work, who are bored, at a lose-end, sometimes isolated and lonely with no sense of purpose. In April 2017, Sarah asked her patients at Govan Health Centre if they’d like to start a Men’s Shed and they agreed.

Quickly it expanded to 15 on the team. Meetings were held in the health centre and advice given by a community development officer Mark Ellis to set up their committee and constitution. Then they found their premises – a derelict ex-nursery nearby in Arngask Road, which they now rent from City properties after some negotiation from Councillor Ricky Bell. They became a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) on the 9th January 2018.

They began refurbishing the premises to make it a welcoming place to enjoy. The guys worked hard to clean away the dirt and mildew, paint the interior, replace flooring, create a wood-work room, an art room and they cut away the waist-high weeds to create was has now become a flourishing garden.

Around this time, Sarah’s father Bill Brown came to live with her and her husband when diagnosed with dementia, so furniture and equipment to get them started –  seating, tables, fridge, kettle, microwave etc was donated by him. Locals were supportive and donations came flooding in of tools, garden equipment, paint, dvds, and books. It was great to see how supportive the community was of the venture. They really wanted to see it work. The guys did an amazing job and made the place look fantastic within months.

Their official Opening Day was in August 2018 which included live music, stalls, tombola and provided the local community with the atmosphere of a small fete. Sarah did health checks and became their funding manager applying for grants and making sure there was always funding for all the things the guys wanted to achieve. The guys soon created a welcoming place to come to with lots of activities on offer.

In July 2019, Sarah represented MSG and won the Royal College of Nursing’s “Patient’s Choice” Award for the UK after being nominated by the men. She also won “Uniformed Services” Award at the Glasgow Times Community Champion awards. MSG was then recognised in both the House of Commons and Scottish Parliament as early day motions were read to the houses. In 2019, the men started doing community work – providing a grass cutting service to elderly and doing playground repairs in local primary schools. They made bird and bat boxes for Pollok Park, did a shop refit for “Make do and Grow” and got involved with maintenance and repairs for ”Horatio’s garden” – a garden at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital for long-term in-patients. Today, the membership has expanded to 70 as different men bring their expertise and experience, developing the group to include model-making, a model railway, cookery, and jewellery-box making.

Achievements

• A very strong sense of camaraderie would be the number one achievement  – members express how attending the Shed has improved their quality of their lives by giving them a purpose, people to talk to, things to try such as Billy’s soup, Charlie’s music sing-a-longs, art classes, model making, working on a model railway, making tablet, biscuits, jam, planters, raised beds, insulating a potting shed, bike repairs, making requests for people such as a potting table, planters, etc, enjoying a day-trip “Doon the Watter” on the Waverly or a visit to see underneath Glasgow Central station, the list is as varied as it is long, ensuring that there’s something for everyone.
• “We feel we stand out from other sheds in that we have purposefully tried to keep a large variety of things to do on offer as not everyone likes woodwork. Our website displays all the things that have been going on in the Updates section.”
• Development of a previously undeveloped outdoor space which was used as a dumping ground, into a beautiful community garden with Boules pitch. This is another way of encouraging members’ improved physical activity.
• Opening the doors for a spin-off group “She-Shed Govan”, a ladies group on a Thursday where they have been gardening, line-dancing, cooking, knitting, taking art classes, using our gym and getting to know each other.
• Successfully improving physical and mental wellbeing by holding Tai Chi classes for both the men and women which is so good for all aspects of physical and mental health.
• Billy and Gordon represented Men’s Shed Govan at the Royal Garden Party at Holyrood when invited as a reward for the good that volunteering at MSG is doing for the community.
• Lots of new members since re-opening after COVID lockdown.
• Creating a nice connection with local primary schools, with one member doing a talk to primary 7 pupils on growing up during World war 2, making raised beds, benches, playground repairs and cement stepping stones with pictures such as rainbows on them for the children to colour in.
• Mentoring a young lad with ADHD/Autism who felt he did not fit in at school but is really enjoying learning woodwork with Chris, John and James who have taken him under their wings.
• Establishing connections with Glasgow University as they placed a final year Community Development student at the Shed to see how a small charity runs. Also, two students have carried out dissertations and studies on MSG and its impact on the member’s mental health, and a geography student did a dissertation on derelict spaces being turned into community projects using our Shed as a prime example.
• Raising awareness of Prostate and Bowel cancer with educational talks at the Shed.
• Raising funds for a defibrillator.

Challenges/Barriers

COVID restrictions, even after lockdown ended, has meant that some people have been wary of going into communal situations where there are gatherings of people. MSG could see that this could potentially hamper growth so they changed to provide as many outdoor areas as possible where the members can chat outdoors, or work on projects outdoors rather than being in smaller spaces with less ventilation. The guys have built three covered outdoor areas where you can work outside but be protected from the rain and their electrician installed two outdoor electricity points so that machinery can be used if needed. When potential new members come to look round, they like the fact that there are so many different spaces outdoors and indoors so they are not all crammed into one room. This makes them feel happier about attending a group and mixing with others, knowing that they are not in a confined space, and think this has contributed to their continued growth.

At the peak of the COVID pandemic and lockdown, some of their electric meter readings weren’t submitted on time because members were isolating at a time when people were told not to leave the house unless it was absolutely necessary. The company supplying their electricity took it upon themselves to take £330 a month from their bank account when usual usage was £60. This was at a time when the shed was completely closed and only the fridge was still running. MSG tried to get hold of the company to sort it out but they didn’t respond to e-mails, telephone or letters so this continued until they had taken over £1,000 from the Shed bank account.

In fear of this carrying on until they had taken all Shed funds, MSG cancelled the direct debit to prevent any more funds being taken but this action triggered the company to charge us at an even higher rate because of cancelling the direct debit!  This was a very stressful time and hours and hours were spent trying to get the situation corrected, putting in complaints and getting the ombudsman involved. After four very stressful months, they finally got a refund. The Scottish Men’s Sheds Association (SMSA) have recommended Citrus Energy who have helped the Shed secure a better electricity deal with another company.

Impact on Local Community

MSG has created bonds with St Constantine’s , St Albert’s school and now Pirie Park primary schools which are close-by. The Shed has made raised beds, benches, fire pit, cement stepping stones and carried out playground repairs for them, and arranged for their oldest member to talk to two primary 7 classes about growing up during World War 2 as they were doing a project about it, they loved hearing his tales. MSG plan to do this again for the next primary 7 classes.

MSG made and donated an outdoor bench for Robin House Children’s Hospice in Balloch, for the families to sit outside in their lovely gardens.

The Shed has an allotment at South Western Allotment’s Association where they brushed down and re-painted the large wrought-iron entrance gates and made a new wooden sign for the association.

Horatio’s Garden at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital is a garden for those long-term patients who aren’t able to go home for long periods. The Shed carries out repairs and maintenance on their fountain, and wooden garden structures every year. They are delighted at the input and dedication to keeping it looking nice for the patients.

Moogety Community Meals (local food poverty project) – MSG provide produce grown at their allotment and polytunnel such as cauliflowers, marrows, french beans, broad beans, lettuce, butternut squash, beetroot, onions and potatoes, and they make soup and hot meals for those who are struggling to make ends meet.

Garden tidying for the local elderly – hedge-trimming, grass cutting and weeding for some local elderly who can no longer manage. Their families have expressed how grateful they are.

Providing Christmas collection boxes and Easter eggs for the local young carers group who were totally delighted and said that no one had ever given them anything before.

Johnstone Early Learning Centre – the Shed made a mud kitchen, small benches and some play structures for the children, and the Shed saves their offcut bits of wood for them to tinker with and draw on. They are very happy with the bonds made with them and are planning further projects.

Chris makes Tablet, jams, jellies and cakes and takes them to trade fairs where he networks with other community groups, such as Braeside community garden.

MSG creates a local “Fete atmosphere” at their open days with live music and stalls which is great for the local community, to give a positive boost to the area.

City of Glasgow Wind Orchestra – the Shed arranges for them to play in the local church in Govan every year, bringing music to the people that they would not usually have access to.

The transformation of the Shed’s side area, which looked like a dumping ground, into a beautiful community garden makes the local residents smile when they go by, and they all comment on how improved the whole site is since MSG took it over from being derelict, it provides six raised beds for growing vegetables, four beds for flowers and a boules/quoits pitch to enjoy some physical activity.

The Shed raised funds by doing a 12-hour relay “exercise-a-thon” to buy and install a defibrillator which is accessible by the community 24 hours a day. (See below)

Leading Light

All of MSG are leading lights – Richard Caird, John Affleck, Stevie Kelly, Billy Love, Bob Wood, John Devlin, Frank Murphy, Gordon Anderson, James Dempster, Tommy Young, Calum Connor, John Stuart, Calum Connor, John Alexander, Roddy Currie, Martin Haddow, Tam Hurst, Greg Soper, Michael Daly, Wesley Hands, Bobby Craig, Denis Kelly, David Marks, Joe Kelly, Robert Sanderson, Wesley Hands, John Ankers, George Graham, Tommy Torley, Del Bissett, John Devine, Jim Veitch, Ricky Urie, Chris McCartan & Sarah Everett.

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

George Benson, the brother-in-law of one of member Billy Love, sadly died of a heart attack suddenly and unexpectedly. Family understood that he might have survived if there had been a defibrillator nearby. He was only 53, a fit and healthy man. As a result of this on discussion with members, MSG decided they would like to provide a defibrillator for the local community on the basis that the more defibrillators available to the general public, the less chance of sad stories like that happening again.

The Shed made it their mission to make this happen and organised a sponsored 12-hour Exercise-a-thon, where they used their exercise equipment outside (because it was a nice day) to make sure that the exercise bike, the treadmill and cross-trainer were used in relay, with members taking over each device as they got tired, for a constant 12-hour period. This sponsored event was a great success and managed to raise £1,645.  Billy the Victory Christian Centre where George had also been a member of the plans. Their church is just around the corner from Men’s Shed Govan and so they were also keen to have a defibrillator close-by. They also raised £375 from their congregation. This gave the Shed enough money to purchase and pay for installation of the defibrillator at our gate entrance. MSG wanted it to be fully accessible 24-hours a day for people living in the surrounding area, many of whom are elderly, and to put something in place that had the potential to save a life. It is connected to the Ambulance service who would be able to tell someone where the nearest defibrillator is.

Because MSG has a padlocked gate, they couldn’t mount the defibrillator on their external wall, as they wanted to make it available at all times. So, members Bobby and Robert dug in and cemented two steel posts and buried armoured cable under their slabbed path for the electricity supply, so that the general public could access the defibrillator even if the Shed was closed. Electrician George spent the entire day on the installation as it had to be hard-wired into the mains box which is at the back of the building so it involved a lot of work, with help from Richard, Bobby and Robert. MSG installed CCTV to deter any thoughts of vandalism or theft and have announced its availability on Sunny Govan Radio and in the Glasgow Times. The guys are delighted that this is now all in place and there is peace of mind to know that such a life-saving device is on hand should it be required.

Future Plans

• The Ladies spin-off group” She-shed Govan” is just starting out and expanding and is already offering line-dancing, Tai chi, cookery, knitting and art classes. It seems to be expanding quickly and already there is some joint working to make the facility even better.
• MSG has two members currently attending a cycle leadership course so that we can run their own cycle group and the Shed has funding to buy two electric bikes for those members who feel they are not as fit as they used to be. They can gain confidence by using the electric bikes to help them to keep up with others.
• MSG plans to invite some more Scottish crime writers to do “An audience with…” session as it was so popular during lock-down and we would hope to share it again with other men’s sheds across Scotland.
• The Shed plans to make their own solar panels to provide heat and light in the Potting shed and in the Shed at their allotment.
• Plant some carbon-reducing plants on top of our shipping container and in vertical walls around the perimeter of our community garden to do our bit for the planet.
• The group sees some tough times on the horizon for a lot of elderly during the cost-of-living crisis and plan to do some tea and soup days for locals to help them get through the winter, and possible extending normal opening hours to help provide a warm place to be.
• One member plans to recycle IT devices such as mobile phones, tablets for the refugees from Ukraine who are currently staying on the cruise-liner at Govan docks.
• Energy Saving talks for members to help with the cost-of-living crisis.

Additional Information

MSG stands out from others because their Funding Manager is a Practice Nurse who on a volunteer basis, does general checks from time to time for blood pressures, weight checks, BMIs etc. Because, they have so many members with Diabetes she encourages healthy eating and cooking. Sarah has sent several members to their GP because of undiagnosed high blood pressure, asthma or poorly controlled diabetes, and has connected members with help from external groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and their families with Al-Anon. Sarah organises health talks and has arranged First Aid and suicide prevention training for some of the members.