News - Scottish Men's Sheds Association

COVID-19 Emergency Funding for Sheds Update

During the pandemic, the Scottish Men’s Sheds Association (SMSA) secured funding from the Scottish Government to provide vital funds to support Men’s Sheds in Scotland in crisis. The purpose of the £30,000 emergency pot was to reach those Sheds most severely affected by the pandemic that were struggling with financial pressures and/or facing permanent closure as a result of Shed closures in lockdown. The funding was quickly put in place to ensure these Sheds were still around to support their members

International Men’s Day Debate in Westminster

The Scottish Men’s Sheds Association (SMSA) represents the Scottish Men’s Sheds Movement across many sectors as well as through our Scottish Ministers in Westminster. At the recent Westminster Hall Debate for International Men’s Day 2021 various Ministers shared the difficulties men and boys face in our modern society today. Men’s health is more than often being overlooked by governments but there are new organisations and movements which celebrate and support a healthy masculine role model emerging to rectify the negative

Shoulder to Shoulder: Broadening the Men’s Shed Movement (A Book by Professor Barry Golding)

Professor Barry Golding AM – an internationally-published researcher and writer, associated with Federation University in Australia, who wrote ‘The Men’s Shed Movement: The Company of Men’ book in 2015 – has now produced a timely sequel entitled ‘Shoulder to Shoulder: Broadening the Men’s Shed Movement’. The book was published in the US in late October and is available with a special offer to SMSA members! Anyone wishing to buy the 2015 book on the same order as the sequel will

Health movement charity implements ‘Wellbeing Wednesdays’ for its staff

The Scottish Men’s Sheds Association (SMSA), a membership organisation supporting men’s health and wellbeing through Scottish Men’s Sheds, has scrapped the traditional five-day working week and implemented ‘Wellbeing Wednesdays’ for its committed employees. The initiative – proven successful in Japan, New Zealand and Sweden – involves staff working reduced hours for an improved work-life balance and employee engagement. The Association consulted with its staff to prepare a proposal for its Board of Trustees identifying how services would still be delivered