The men of Poole’s Men’s Shed group have been meeting regularly for over a year and have come up with a plan to launch a new and exciting weekly event, which they hope will encourage others to come along and join them.
Men’s Sheds have been popping up all over the country and are based on the idea of the typical man’s garden shed. However, that’s where the similarity ends, as these groups are all about doing things together.
“Here we have a place where a friendly group of men can come together to work on projects at their own pace in a friendly and inclusive venue. It’s a place where everyone is welcome to share skills and crafts, somewhere to feel at home, have fun, socialise, make new friends and stay active,” says founding member of Poole’s Men’s Shed group, Howard Ellis.
The new Monday meet-up wants to encourage men of all ages to come along for a coffee and a chat to find out more about Poole Men’s Shed group, what the ‘shedders’ get up to and how they can get involved.
“We can even offer help and advice to anyone thinking about setting up a new Men’s Shed group where it’s needed,” adds Howard.
Chris Flynn, who attends almost every week, says that being part of the group has made a huge difference to his social life, adding, “By regularly attending Men’s Sheds, I have made friends with a really great bunch of interesting, skilled and positive people who are happiest when they get together and help each other out. It’s great fun and we have so many amazing plans for the future. We have found that women seem very good at organising themselves and the men sometimes get a bit left out. We are here to fix that.”
Successful projects include making over 50 bird box kits for Dorset Wildlife Trust, refurbishing a couple of old bicycles as well as building an amazing ‘Splat The Rat’ game to help raise money at a recent local community event. Plans to refurbish a remote controlled galleon, upcycle salvaged furniture and build a Christmas tree from recycled materials are in the pipeline.
The new event takes place every Monday between 10am and 12 noon at The Lookout Café. It is a great venue to host the get-togethers as it has lots of space, sofas and comfy chairs as well as an amazing view of the climbing centre below. The café is inside the Project Climbing Centre adjacent to Poole Central Library on the first floor of the Dolphin Centre just beside the bus station, making it really easy to get to from all over the borough. The weekly get-togethers will continue until Christmas.
