Maryburgh Men’s Shed

Maryburgh Men’s Shed was granted SCIO status in August 2020. From then, the members lobbied and campaigned to buy the former primary school building in the village to allow them to use this asset as their base. The school had been closed for almost ten years and the building was becoming dilapidated.

In these early days, the covid pandemic was taking hold and the Shed activities were particularly limited because of restrictions and the members not having a meeting base. Many of the Shed meetings were through Zoom calls (old guys getting IT savvy wasn’t easy!) However, the members did manage some project activities where they arranged some tidying and grass cutting in particular areas within the village. The focus was centred on buying the old school building to obtain a place where the members could meet and better organise the Shed plans for the future.

The good news came during a Teams Meeting in February 2021, listening live to the Council Communities and Place Committee, who sanctioned the Shed’s Community Asset Transfer request for a payment of £1. The members were delighted and grateful that all their hard work and effort in securing support from the community and many different bodies and organisations had paid off.

However, this was not the end of the story. As the Council had initiated a construction project to build new houses in an adjacent field, the Asset Transfer was conditional that the members could not take entry until that project had completed. The members accepted the delay, knowing that they would eventually take ownership. The housing project completed at the end of June 2022 and the members received the keys – there was a party that night!

There was a lot to do, the old school had lost its power, water and telephone connections, the windows although boarded up were in a poor condition and there were leaks in the roof which had let rain in over the years. These all had to be addressed and reconnected as quickly as possible.

This took a lot of work to arrange, manage and pay for. The members were lucky in securing public and community funding to help pay for the work but the members also received a lot of voluntary donations of money, time and materials. The members could not have achieved this without their support.

Currently the old school is looking really good and the members are extremely proud of it. The members are now enjoying meeting up in comfortable and friendly surroundings.

Activities

The members have recently created a ‘working room’ where members can take advantage of the many tools the members have had donated or bought, to allow them to create their own projects from timber or other materials. They can also contribute towards community projects being developed within the Shed.

Some members simply enjoy the facility where they can meet up for a cuppa and a chat. They can do this in comfort with no pressure to undertake activities if they prefer not to.

The members organise presentations for members to hear talks on various topics and particularly on health issues for the elderly, which have been well received.

The members also engage with other community groups in the village. The community has recently bought an adjacent woodland and the members have helped to manage this with them, doing some tree planting and litter picking.

The members have regular monthly meetings where all members can input to what the members want to get involved in next and what projects the members want to progress.

Achievements

The members are particularly proud of having replaced all the Shed windows and external doors in the old school building. This involved securing funds for the project from various bodies and managing this through to completion. This was largely done over the winter months which added to the difficulty of delivering the Shed’s first large project. Once the members knew what they wanted they invited tenders to find the most competitive contractor and made an award to allow the windows and doors to be manufactured, eight weeks in advance of installation.

The new windows have made a huge difference to the Shed building, both in what it looks like from outside and how much it has improved the overall insulation of the building. The old windows were single glazed, iron framed with some panes broken. The contractor undertook a very professional removal and disposal of the old windows and installation of the new double glazed PVC windows.

During the year, the members have been busy arranging different actions to get the building in a fit and safe condition to be allowed to visit and to do what the members hoped – regularly visiting the Men’s Shed for activities and social interaction, reducing isolation in the Shed community. This work became an activity in itself, with many members willing to come and help where they could, doing small jobs from painting to joinery to tidying up. This has been a real joy to see all of the Shed members willing to join in to help for a common goal.

As a celebration the members decided to couple up the Shed AGM with a Christmas meal at the Shed local pub which everyone really enjoyed and made the Shed group even stronger.

The building has three large classrooms and a staff room. The members were pleased this year to engage with a local community ladies hair dresser, who the members are delighted to say has now become a tenant, utilising the old staff room as a hairdressing salon. This brings a welcome rental income to the Shed and also generates some further activity around the school building, which has lain dormant and unused for so long in the village.

From the early days, the members recognised the benefits of renewable energy schemes for the old building and how much the members could improve from that type of project and the energy transition to net zero emissions. The members currently have a diesel fired boiler heating a wet system. The difficulty is that these new installations can be very expensive to provide and the Shed could not afford the high costs. During the year, the members have engaged with various Government schemes and were delighted recently, to receive a confirmed funding offer for: Solar Panels and battery storage; an Air Source Heating package, together with roof insulation and lighting improvements. This will make a huge difference to the Shed’s heating costs, particularly over the winter. The members are now super keen to get going with the installations and are working towards that.

Challenges/Barriers

During the period from when the members were granted a Community Asset Transfer of the school building to the time when the members received the keys for entry, the members were not allowed access to the building or surrounding areas, as the house building contractor occupied this area. This was a real frustration for us, as the members knew that the power and water were disconnected from the Shed building. If the members could not get these connections redone at the time of open excavations being available, then the members knew the members would struggle to get approval to dig up a newly tarred road. Alternative routing options were extremely expensive and would likely stop the Shed project before the members even got going. The members fought for attention from the contractor and the Council building project team to allow underground ducts to be installed at critical points, for the Shed use, to allow them to then use these ducts to service the Shed school building once entry was allowed. This saved them time and money when the members finally gained entry and the connections could be redone without requiring to open up a newly surfaced public road.

The members can imagine that all Men’s Sheds face regular challenges when looking to fund activities and projects. This is a continual challenge for them too but the members feel the members are getting better at submitting funding applications and recognising which funders would be likely to support the application, as some submissions can take a considerable time and effort to complete.

Impact

The members have enjoyed superb support from the community for the Men’s Shed right from day one, for which the members are very grateful. Before the members applied to be a Men’s Shed the members circulated a questionnaire throughout the village to gauge a community reaction to the thought of a Men’s Shed becoming available within the village. The response was extremely positive and this was reflected in the Shed’s very first fundraising event, a race night in the village hall that raised nearly £1,500.

The members have also had many donations from the community, of tools for use in the Shed – materials donated for selling on for them to retain the secured funds and professional services made available for the Shed’s use at no cost. This has been a real boost knowing that the whole community is behind what the members are doing.

There are quite a few different community groups within the village, each set up for a particular goal or function. The members engage well with them all and offer the Shed’s services where they think the members may be of help. The village recently bought a section of a local woodland and brought it into community ownership. The members have attended this groups’ meetings and many of the members have been to the wood over the last year, to help with tree planting, tidying the paths in the woodland and building and installing bird boxes, to improve this area for the whole community.

Local secondary school pupils have visited the Men’s Shed to gather information about what the members do and why. This was to help with their submission to a national school competition on charitable causes within all communities. The members enjoyed discussing this openly with younger people and helping them understand the benefits being generated by Men’s Sheds across the country and to let many more people be aware of these.

The community puts out a flower display each year and although this is managed by the Community Council, the Men’s Shed now attends to watering and managing the flower displays once in place.

Above and Beyond

The existence of the Men’s Shed has greatly helped our community. The Shed has several new members who required some encouragement to join but now they are with us, they look forwards to the regular meets and enjoy the camaraderie which comes with meeting up with friendly people of similar ages. The members have had feedback from members’ families who openly discuss that these members had little interaction with the community before the Men’s Shed became an option and that they needed something different, which would stop them from becoming more and more isolated, lonely and bored.

The Men’s Shed has certainly provided that option and it is great to hear the guys laughing and joking over a cup of tea whenever they meet up. Also chatting about old stories and what projects they can get involved with. The members can see and hear this improvement as the members move about the community.

The Community Asset Transfer building will also, in time, offer a space for another community group and the members are in regular contact to get this space ready for them. They have separately sought funding for a community fridge and the members have helped install this for them and it now sits at the front of the Shed building. It is open early to late most days. This fridge and freezer provides for surplus food about to go out of date, from supermarkets, to be available for anyone to take away, when the fridge is open. This reduces waste going to landfill and provides available, free food for all in the community. It is being widely used since opening and is very popular.

“Our Shed is in its early stages of development however, the members have achieved a great deal in this short time. From securing SCIO charity status, to succeeding with a Community Asset Transfer of the school building to act as our base and undertaking progressive improvements to this building, but the Shed’s greatest satisfaction is witnessing first-hand the real benefits it brings to our community and individual members. Seeing members coming out of their houses to meet up socially, enjoying each other’s company and having fun, is super satisfying and makes all our efforts so worthwhile. This hugely motivates them to progress with the Shed’s future development and the members are really look forward to the happy and bright future ahead in the Shed. Why not come and visit us, the kettle is on.”