Shed in the Spotlight – Portsoy Men's Shed
It’s only been a few months since Portsoy Men’s Shed had its first public meeting to gauge interest and it has been all guns blazing ever since. The group has made huge progress ‘doing up their toon’, been recognised in Parliament for their ‘outstanding community efforts’, moved into a temporary Shed home and if that wasn’t enough…they have a permanent Shedquarters building in sight for the future!
Army veteran Richard Smith, Chair of Portsoy Men’s Shed, said: “My wife’s ill health and my early retirement resulted in our decision to move to Portsoy for a better quality of life. On speaking to a couple of local fellas, they mentioned that there was talk of a Men’s Shed for Portsoy.
“Although I unfortunately missed the first public meeting on the 25th September 2024 at the town hall due to my bad back, I popped along the second week and really liked what I was hearing. It sounded right up my street as I like to get out of the house and get bored very easily and used to be a pub-goer.
“At the Shed meetings, I started meeting more like-minded men that I would never have connected with otherwise in the local community.
“SMSA Development Officer Tim Green was a great help. He explained all of the steps we had to take but also expressed that we should not worry about how long the process takes. “But as I have zero patience, I wanted to crack on as I was fortunate enough to be retired and could devote the time to see it come to fruition.
“The SMSA created a poster for us to display around Portsoy promoting the idea of a Men’s Shed in the area and there was a buzz around it.
“We visited other Sheds—Banff, Macduff and District, Aberchirder and Finechty Men’s Shed—and not only made new friends, but were extremely impressed with what they had to offer and learnt so much. Men’s Sheds are just like a youth club but for men…with tools!
“The hardest task to date, I would say, was filling those office bearer roles. I spoke to another member, Pat, and asked him ‘If you do Secretary, I’ll volunteer for Chair? If we don’t do it, no one else is going to at this point’. So we did, and then recruited our Vice-Chair Graham Hadden and Jill Douglas who was already the Treasurer of the Portsoy 75 Club.
“We filled all the office bearers’ chairs, got a bank account, became a registered charity in January 2025—now we had to walk the walk. We secured a free meeting space at the Station Hotel and began our advertising and recruitment campaign. We went from just a handful of us to now having almost 30 members—several of which are younger men who work offshore.
“My past includes being in the British Army and then being a train driver. I have been extremely unfortunate to be witness, or involved with, many suicides in both of those career choices and the one big common denominator is… they were all men.
I often think, what could have prevented this? A chat could have stopped those thoughts. Going along to their local Men’s Shed could have helped.
“I tried in the past, through ex-forces Facebook pages and trying to work with my former train company employer about having alerts for people missing and at risk. Now, with the Men’s Shed, I feel like we are helping people to help themselves without even realising it.
“But, not all heroes wear capes! Sometimes they don waders and retrieve bins and cones chucked into Loch Soy! We laugh our heads off as we work. I think it had been quite some time since we had all laughed as hard as that. Our banter, men amongst men where we love to take the mic, is accepted, allowed and encouraged!
“Our other community projects include improving paths and walkways, replacing the rotten hand rails on the path leading down behind the cemetery so they’re all new and stable. We even installed dog poo bag dispensers, sponsored by local business to improve our environment.
“Our largest project, and arguably the most enjoyable so far, was when Ordiquhill Primary School Parent Council made an appeal for resources to improve the garden for their young pupils and we stepped in to transfer it into a sensory garden—alongside Young’s Plant Hire (Cornhill) and Colin Smith Contractors.
“Another feel-good project took place when we were approached by a local wheelchair user (pictured below) who couldn’t leave home as he could no longer get his mobility scooter out of his shed due to extremely uneven ground and broken flags. Our Shedders sprang into action to help. Four of us spent four hours lifting the flag stones, levelling the ground and re-laid the slabs to allow him full access. We now see him going about the toon, which makes it all worthwhile.
“We have also held events—a quiz night and horse race night—to raise funds for the Shed whilst raising awareness of our Shed to hopefully reach more local men and encourage them to head to the Shed.”
On the 16th May 2025, Portsoy Men’s Shed was commended in Parliament for the ‘outstanding community effort that led to the refurbishment and revival of the sensory garden at Ordiquhill Primary School and Nursery for the benefit of pupils; and acknowledged the generosity and dedication of the Shed, whose gift of time, materials and hard work has transformed the space into a valuable community asset, and believes that their efforts will provide joy and enrichment for the pupils for years to come.’ Richard said: “We are honoured to be acknowledged in this way and look forward to doing many more projects like this for good causes.”
And now we venture into the Expression of Interest and Community Asset Transfer phase of our Shed’s journey—for the local gasworks building—with many letters of recommendation, good backing from our local politicians most notably Karen Adam MSP, almost 400 signatures in support through our petition and the powers of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.
“Although I feel so out of my comfort zone and feel frustrated and stalled awaiting decisions, if I can do this then anyone can. I am fortunate to have the support of member Hugh Bennett who is experienced in all of this. He is the calm to my impatience so we make a good team and we won’t give up. If we get knocked back, we will appeal.
“I often feel like we are a small fish in a big pond, but we need to think like a huge fish in a tiny pond! If we are successful, it is not a building that we could just move into straight away. The roof requires repair but we have the skillset to do it so that won’t stop us. We have excellent quotes from a local builder who supports our cause—we are good to go.
“Our plans would be to build a separate Shed, keep the roof line to existing walls and make our social area. Over time, we would then do up the toilet block and create a large room to restore cars and bikes. One member is very into building cart bikes (pictured below right) and it would also be great to transform an old car together.
“We carried out an online poll on our Facebook page to ascertain what activities people would like to see at the Shed. If there is a want for French darning then we will cater for that. We will cater for the minority, not just the majority. We will also work with our local health professionals to recommend us—socially prescribe us, not medication.
“Like all Sheds—some of our members are just there for the tea and chat. So if your skill set includes the ability to chat and make a brew and you want to get out of the house then come along and see what we’re about.
“We invite all men in and around Portsoy, Sandend, Fordyce and Cornhill to join us and play a part in the exciting development of the new Portsoy Men’s Shed. We are finding our own way out.”
Whilst writing this article, the loaf-ly news broke that J.G. Ross (Bakers) Ltd had offered the Shed their former bakery premises on the square on a one-year lease, easing the burden of the Shed group’s rush to secure the gasworks building. The Shed moved in at the end of May—no more working from the boot of their cars. We wish them all the best in their new temporary home…they are certainly on a roll!