latest news and activities
ALAN TITCHMARSH & MCCARTHY STONE
Roger Perrott (left) and Rod Russell (right), both members of the Letchworth Men in Sheds, took on a commission to craft a distinctive planter mainly from reclaimed timber for the grand opening of the McCarthy Stone retirement community at Norton Place. This planter was the focal point of Alan Titchmarsh's winter planting demonstration, culminating in a ceremonial ribbon-cutting ceremony.
NEW STABLE DOOR
One of the existing windows, which was in disrepair, has been removed by the members and transformed into a new door, providing improved access to the building. The new frame and door, designed as a divided stable door, have been successfully installed. Only a few frame fixings, coat of paint remain to be completed, and then to make good the brickwork.
NEW MEMBERS INITIATION
New Shedder James passes the initiation test.......
HERTFORDSHIRE STEAM & COUNTRY SHOW
Our first display weekend at the Steam & Country Show at Standalone Farm, demonstrating all the great things men in sheds stand for - brilliant support and team spirit, lots of interest from visitors and hopefully some great new members.
LATEST VIEW INSIDE THE SHED
Lots of jobs left to do inside the main shed, including finishing off the stable door. We have also repurposed some old oak frames to become the bench for the new lathe.
RONSEAL DONATION
Lots of free items of Ronseal products thanks to the great collaboration between UK Mens Shed Association and Ronseal.
SHED'S NEW DOOR...TO BE CONT.
We were asked by the farm manager to take out the existing window and put in a stable door, which would give better access to the visitors side of the building. Afer help from Derek an retired furniture maker, over £400 worth of new timber and over £200 of hardware, we are nearing completion of the project. In the next couple of weeks the temporary door will come out and the new stable door will be in place. Pictures to follow soon.
WE ALSO DO REPAIRS
Helping out in the community by repairing the tennis tables at the Letchworth Sports and Tennis Club.
SHED ROOF INSULATION
Thanks to a kind grant from the North Hertfordshire Community Fund, we have nearly completed our next phase of upgrades to the shed. We are still looking to be on track to opening for business this summer.
SHED STOREROOM
Before.....
And after.....
CHRISTMAS MEAL
On Friday 9th December we got together to have our first Christmas meal. A big thank you to all the hard work the members had put in getting the shed renovated.
Great food and drink at the Broadway Hotel Downtown bar & grill. Good time had by all.
NEW MAIN FLOOR AND PAVED STORE ROOM
The guys did a first class job laying bricks and paving stones in the store room upcycled from around the farm. Main floor professionally completed by the Letchworth Heritage. We now have a solid and level base to now build the workshop on.
CO-OP LOCAL COMMUNITY FUND GRANT
We have been awarded a very generous grant from our friends at the Co-op Local Community Fund through donations received from their members in Letchworth and Stotfold. The total grant received is £3,685.40 which will be used to purchase much needed tools and saftey equipment.
SHED LIGHTING & POWER
The electrical installation was provided as a charitable donation by GFX Power Ltd with the majority of products donated free or heavily discounted by G2 Electrical Wholesalers Ltd. Mike from GFX Power spent four days down at the shed installing the lighting and power ring mains, consumer unit and meter.
A massive thank you to both companies for a great job, and a generous donation.
THE BIG CLEAR OUT
We managed to get in to our new shed and start clearing out several decades of farm storage to make space for the electrical installation. A real tough day for the volunteers that came along to spend their easter holiday getting dirty and dusty, but the sun was out and the tea was flowing. (Pictured from left to right Roger, Ray, Pete, Buzz, Jon, Mike - Neill behind camera)
POLYTUNNEL HELPING HAND
Several of the members (Pete, Neill, Ray, Mike, Graham, Steve, Richard and Buzz) gave a helping hand to another local charity called 'Green Care at Norton' who are a therapeutic gardening project based in Letchworth. Standalone Farm approached us to help Green Care erect a brand new poly-tunnel at the Farm, which will be used to grow produce for the farm shop. The project took a few days preparing the ground and posts, assembling the metalic framework and hanging the doors.
OUR NEW HOME
A Christmas present from our friends at Letchworth Heritage Foundation, a place we can now call home.
The Building is a Grade II listed garage situated on the grounds of Standalone Farm, its a bit of a fixer-upper but its in the right hands.
RAY'S SIGN FOR OUR NEW HOME
Ray has idled away a few hours doing some letter cutting, a skill he attained from a short course over 20 years ago.
Woodturning with Ray - The Mushroom
One of our trustees had a lesson woodturning from Ray on his Axminster lathe. It was our first video to our youtube channel which was recorded one afternoon last year. It's a simple mushroom carving from a yew tree branch.