The SMSA chats to Hamish Thom, Chairman of Spey Shed, which now has 25 members and growing steadily—so much so, that they are beginning to feel that they are already outgrowing their current premises. Could a future move be on the cards?
Hamish said: “Four years ago, our local authority, The Highland Council, funded a woodwork teacher to open up on Friday afternoons for members of the local community to undertake woodwork activities there.
“Although, it was not called a Men’s Shed as such, it was a wee taste of what was to come with a great social side, with exceptionally good craic, and a place to learn new skills. There were 20 of us attending regularly before Covid came along.
“The pandemic changed everything and no longer could we meet at the school. We were devastated, what were we going to do? From there, our will to set up a Men’s Shed in Grantown-on-Spey began. We had no money, no constitution but we certainly had a committed group of men keen to have somewhere to meet again so we began our journey.
“I contacted the Cairngorms National Park and The Highland Council as well as their grant team about our vision and initial discussions were extremely encouraging.
“But then my wife Claire Thom, who just happens to be the Chairperson of the Grantown YMCA Community Centre on the High Street, offered us a room to meet. The workshop and social area (The Howff) were in a state of disrepair so, in return for being rent free for the first year, we offered to fix it up and make it a new and improved usable space to meet our members’ needs.
“The Highland Communities Mental Health Fund awarded us £7,000 which helped immensely to get us up and running. We fitted out the room, rewired, decorated, built wheelchair-accessible benches, constructed storage, sourced tools and repaired the stair lift (bottom right) which one of our members could not be without.
“The community started to hear about us and started donating items and Wickes also made a generous donation of tools. Wood was so expensive so we started recycling wood and receiving donations and surplus wood from local companies and individuals. We also began working with our local community development company, the Grantown Initiative, which supports local projects for the benefit of our community.
“We became aware of the SMSA at this stage and formed our committee and then we received our SMSA Shed Members handbook which helped us out hugely with many things—and saved us reinventing the wheel— such as securing discounted insurance and gaining charitable status. The SMSA has been an excellent support—we have full admiration for the association and they are always there—it’s great to have them just a call, email or visit away if we need assistance.
“We had plans to advertise our official opening widely but in the end, we really didn’t need to. Word was spreading fast across our community—we were already very well known and respected—and in July 2023, we held our official opening (pictures below) and what a day it was!
“Our committee spent a great deal of time putting systems and processes in place to deliver on our duty of care responsibilities for safe working. We found that we were struggling to have two Shed Supervisors at all times—especially in the warmer months—so the Shed members and trustees made the decision to close the Shed down over the summer holidays each year.
“So much work has gone into getting our Shed to this stage—as a friendly and supportive space for the people of Strathspey—and although we are already feeling with our current 25 members, that we are starting to outgrow this space, we still want to take some time to enjoy this stage and a wee breather before we even think about moving—after all, that’s what it’s all about. To manage our numbers, we are also thinking about implementing an online system for members to book themselves in for a slot to ensure everyone’s safety.
“Spey Shed aims to grow to add other skills, crafts and potentially other Strathspey locations however right now our current space meets our needs. We feel a real part of the community—we recently received a £500 donation from the local church that uses the centre and £500 from the Highland Hub to improve our heating and insulation.
“We have access to kitchen facilities and even a cinema at the YMCA centre! There is so much potential and opportunities available to us that we have not had time to explore yet—we could potentially introduce cooking as a new activity for our members.
“We are also keen to visit other Sheds to learn from them and will be looking to apply, through our SMSA membership, to the Scottish Community Alliance Learning Exchange to fund this.
“Really, the world is our oyster. Yes, we do have our eyes on another potential building but, we have such a great relationship with the YMCA that we are staying put for a while. But, watch this space!”
