Men's Sheds History
How it started
The Men’s Shed movement Is a community based initiative that started in Australia in the 1990s It was created to improve the health and well being of older men by providing them with space to work on projects, socialise, And share their skills and knowledge.
The movement has since expanded its remit to include people of all ages and genders with thousands of active members across the country.
The Australia Men’s Shed Association(AMSA) Is the national service provider supporting womens and community sheds and is recognised as one of Australia’s largest male based community development organisations.
The Men’s Shed movement has been successful in addressing social isolation and boosting men’s mental health by providing a safe space for them to make friends and share meaningful activities. The Australian Government acknowledges the contribution that Sheds make to health of mostly older citizens and supports sheds financially to the tune of thousands of Australian Dollars, claiming that men live six year's longer if they belong to a Men's Shed.
More - a video about a typical Australian Shed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB6p5NHehGE
About nine years ago Sheds came to the UK, now there are over 1000 and new ones are opening at the rate of two per week. Each Shed in England is set up as a separate entity and most of them are individual registered Charities. The UK Men's Shed Association https://menssheds.org.uk/ is an umbrella organisation that supports the creation of Sheds by providing a blueprint of how to set up and run one, and supports the ongoing growth of Sheds.
Alresford Men's Shed
The Alresford Shed came about because Brian Durham whilst doing a "Befriender" role for Age Concern Hampshire visited a male resident in his sixties who lived alone, who was so depressed that he was talking about ending his life. Thinking that there must be some way of helping this person, he searched the web and came across The UK Men's Shed Association. He followed their road map for setting up a shed, had a couple of inaugural meetings which attracted nearly thirty people, and set out on a six months quest to find a Shed.
Eventually he came across Gavin Baldwin who with his wife Marian owned a commercial office unit on the Dean in Alresford. Gavin had encountered Men's Sheds in New Zealand where (with Australia) was where they first started. He knew the value of Sheds and he and his wife welcomed us into Unit One where we were given four rooms at a very low rent because the building was due to be demolished.
Jackie Porter Lib-Dem County Councillor gave a lot of support including Financial (£800) as did the Alresford Pigs Association(c£1,500). The rooms which had mostly been offices were rented and fitted out with Power, Lighting, Benches etc., by Mark Shaw and other Shed members over the Christmas Period in 2017. Fitting out was completed by the turn of the year and the Shed was opened for use by the 17 members who joined in January 2018.
Of these members Brian Durham became the Chairman, Ralph Pointer Secretary, and Peter Tudor the Treasurer.
Shed member Nigel Robinson an ex-Lawyer set the organisation up as a CIO Charity in the record time of six weeks in December 2017, a month after our inaugural meetings. As at the start of 2024 the membership has grown to 37 members including 3 female members.
An Alresford Pigs Association member Nick Denbow joined the Shed and brought with him the well established Pigs Mobility Scooter Service to the community. The Pigs run this service which is akin to the similar Red Cross Equipment Loan Service present in many towns, the nearest of which is in Eastleigh. The Pigs had struggled to store their equipment which ended up in members garages. The Men's Shed was able to provide storage, repairs, and a single point of contact. In exchange the Pigs support the Men's Shed to provide this service and with grants towards our planned new premises.
The Men's Shed occupies part of Unit 1, The Dean; and the whole of Unit 2 for storage. When we moved in back in 2017 it was for a period of six months prior to demolition, fortunately we are still here. However Metis Homes applied in March 2023 for planning permission to demolish Units 1–3 to build 14 Flats & a Public Car Park for 47 cars, it is in the amendment stage and could be approved by Feb/March 2024, which would give the Men's Shed six months to move out. If that happens the Shed has planning permission for four sheds to be built on the Scouts spare Car Park off Bridge Road. Planning permission and much of the finance is in place to facilitate new premises within that timescale. (i.e., by September 2024)
However, there was a Bill in Parliament - the Phosphates & Nitrates Bill which was rejected outright when it went to the House of Lords, which IF the Metis Homes Application is subject to, could delay planning permission for a very long time - possibly another couple of years.
