On Monday 7th June the Northleach Men In Sheds (and She Shed) held an open morning at our site behind the Westwoods Centre. We welcomed visitors to view the facility including a guided tour of the Workshop Shed, The Tea Van and our Garden. Much tea was drunk and cake eaten (thanks to Linda Messenger from the Lions Club for helping out and to all of those bakers who made the cake).
Our visitors were shown what we get up to at our sessions. Our initial projects have included building work benches in the workshop, setting out work stations, making the tea van homely and getting the sheds organised and since the recent re-launch following Covid restriction relaxation we have been busy making wooden toys, repairing tools, making planters, building a wheelchair access ramp and more recently preparing the This Country bench for installation in the KGV play area. In the future we will be raising funds for our projects by selling toys, tools, garden items or whatever you need that we can make.
Now that we are fully up and running again we would really like to welcome some new members and Shed Volunteers so that we can get involved in more community projects and open more mornings each week. We are confident that the Open Morning has encouraged two new members (and hopefully identified one new volunteer) to join and enjoy the fun.
We stressed to everyone during the event that attending the sheds is not all about the practical side of things. Cotswold Friends’ main goal is to provide a welcoming environment for members to make friends, chat and have something outside of the house to focus on. Getting things made is not a priority, our mental well-being certainly is.
Everyone involved would like to thank all of those that came to see us on Monday and would ask you to pass on a good word to encourage anyone you know who might have missed out to come and make contact – we are always ready to show them around. We are still in the early days of the project but the future looks bright!! Come on down and help us grow.
Rob Platts
Men in Sheds Project Worker
www.cotswoldfriends.org