Men's Sheds are places where people (mainly retired men) meet to make and mend things together. This productive social environment is known to reduce loneliness and social isolation. There are currently an estimated 500 Men's Sheds open in the UK.
Basingstoke Shed was established in June 2016 and now operates two workshops in the town where people make and mend things, and a music shed where members make music, Many of the things we do, we do for the community; see the gallery section of our website.
Over the past six months we have been raising funds and planning for a major new project, called Shed-in-a-Bus, We are going to convert a double decker bus into mobile Men's Shed so that the bus can visit communities where there is no Men's Shed - we're taking Shedding to Communities.
We make things; many of our members are ex-tradesmen or gifted amateurs, who enjoy making things for themselves or others.
We pass skills on: we work with two local schools and help give some of their pupils practical skills, which today's educations system has reduced dramatically.
We drink tea: social interaction is important to our members and sitting and discussing things over a cup of tea is an important part of what we do.
