On the 12th May 2022, 13 members of the St Andrews Men’s Shed hit the road to visit the Aboyne & District Men’s Shed on a learning visit fully funded (£700 expenses) by the Scottish Community Alliance’s Community Learning Exchange and endorsed by the SMSA.
John Meek, St Andrews Men’s Shed Treasurer, said: “The purpose of the visit was to help us better understand what we need to do to establish new premises. Topics for discussion, amongst other things, were how Aboyne & District Men’s Shed achieved the funding for their new premises; how they designed and constructed the building; and how they manage it as a community asset.”
Adrian Snowball, St Andrews Men’s Shed Committee member, said: “The visit started with a tour of the workshop facilities; there was much discussion and comparison about the equipment in our respective Sheds. As with St Andrews Men’s Shed, much of the equipment has been donated either from local schools, businesses and individuals.
“The day-to-day operations of the Aboyne Shed were outlined. All members using workshop machinery have to be competent and assessed and trained by the Shed supervisors. St Andrews found this to be very interesting and will be updating their own procedures in light of this.
“The Aboyne Shed has 85 members. There is a strong focus on not undertaking work unless that person has been through an induction course in any equipment operation conducted by one of the Shed trainers. The Shed has several workshop supervisors and they keep visibly displayed, an information board showing a matrix of member’s competencies.
“The second floor of the building provides rental income. The Aboyne Shed’s success in creating a community hub, owned by the Shed as the legal entity, with a wide variety of community groups using it significantly helps to fund running costs.
“We learned so much during this visit. We didn’t want to reinvent the wheel and all came away with ideas as to how we might change and improve our operations. We would highly recommend that our fellow Scottish Men’s Sheds apply to the Scottish Community Alliance for funding for Shed to Shed visits.”
Click here for more information on the Scottish Community Alliance’s Community Learning Exchange.
