Back in the days before Covid, Boris, Elections, Ukraine, the cost of living crisis and other sundry interruptions, we had a Men’s Shed in Bordon. I have written before about our magnificent workshop we built in a old warehouse. To remind you what Men’s Sheds are about:

‘They’re community spaces for men to connect, converse and create. The activities are often similar to those of garden sheds, but for groups of men to enjoy together. They help reduce loneliness and isolation, but most importantly, they’re fun.’ This is a direct quote from the Men’s Shed UK Association. Unfortunately it hasn’t been much fun lately.

After we spent a year building a superb workshop in Prince Philip Park in Bordon, we had it just right: a ‘clean’ workshop, and a ‘dirty’ workshop, tea bar, wood store internal and external and a whole range of machinery, tools, hardware and accessories to build, well just about anything. After all if we could, when most of us are in our seventies build two 6m x 3 m workshops with walls, roofs and be fully equipped with electricity and a place to relax, we could probably tackle most things. But the rug was pulled under us when the hosts, the Furniture Helpline lost a contract with a local council to remove waste to recycling stations around the area. It was a lucrative contract and paid for the rent on the building in which we were co-located with them. They couldn’t afford the £12000 a year rent so had to leave and since we were on their shirt tails we had to go as well. So, after being used for six months in anger, we had to strike the workshops and find somewhere to store a huge amount of 8 x 4 panels, lathes, table saws, drills and myriad tools and hardware. Luckily one of our members had a lot of land around his house so we bought a car porch and stored as much as we could in there. Some of the rest went into his disused swimming pool and the benches and cupboards went into a unroadworthy lorry belonging to the Furniture Helpline in Prince Philp Park.

This left us without a home, and we’ve been this way since the end of March 2022. We aimed to raised money from any source so we applied for various grants. We were lucky to be offered £5000 from Wates the building company but only to be used on renting or buying a building. We applied for a grant from East Hampshire District Council and this is still ongoing, but whatever we apply for from that direction they automatically half it. We’ve been offered a piece of land a mile away by the owner of a defunct golf course who wants to try to lease some of this out, and has offered us a nice piece of about 1/2 an acre with water and sewerage but no building. There are other local councillor grants of £1000 that can be applied for, and I will chase those up.

We created a ‘club’ with a chairman, treasurer and secretary (me!) and meet monthly to discuss progress and come up with ideas. Everyone is still enthusiastic though I can’t see why when all they want to do is create stuff in wood. But I’m glad they are. I’m also applying for charitable status so we can claim gift aid, and hope we can find other sources of income form somewhere, anywhere. The problem of loneliness is all pervading to some people and we have helped some of our members in a big way to come to terms with mental health problems. Often all they need to do is talk and we are good listeners and solution offerers. We are NOT however trained in any mental health aspect and can’t be carers to anyone with a mental or physical disability. This is where we may have come unstuck in some of our applications. With the best will in the world, we can’t accept someone in a wheelchair for example, if they want to use any power tools because we are not set up for that kind of thing, and to have some where separate for such disability would cost a lot of money and would probably only be used intermittently. This is not discrimination, it’s practicalities that determine whether we can or cannot accept disabilities. Similarly, anyone with severe mental illness, for example: vascular dementia or autism, would be difficult to accommodate because we have neither the skill or training to help these sort of people. I’m sorry if that sounds discriminatory but it’s not meant to be; we try our best to accommodate anyone we can.

So, back to the problem in hand, we had some publicity in the local paper and I’m hoping to get more from other sources but its always difficult. I f anyone reads this and wants to help please contact me by leaving a comment and I will get back to you. I wouldn’t say we are the solution to the worlds problems but given a place to work and a bit of luck we may to be able to help a great many people in the local area.

There are buildings that have been empty for years but every enquiry has been met with ‘oh, we’re looking to let that commercially’. Some of those buildings: Lloyds Bank, The Garrison Church, the RAF club, the old Fire Station have been empty for up to five years. There doesn’t seem to be a rush to occupy those recently, although the old HSBC bank in the town centre is being turned into ‘another’ fast food joint, as if Bordon hasn’t got enough. When the army left the town, we were promised an ‘Eco’ town, then a environmentally aware town, and finally a climate aware town or whatever. There are slated to be 3300 house being built in the area and yet where are the infrastructures? The secondary school opened two years has to be extended because it isn’t big enough, despite demolishing the old school and swimming pool which was very popular with the local residents. The medical facilities are being lumped together in a ‘Health Hub’ which will include a hospital of sorts, when there is a perfectly serviceable and not that old hospital which had been run down so that there are hardly any facilities there and people have to travel miles to get help. I don’t know how much the health hub is costing but can it be money well spent when there is already a similar facility in existence? Morrisons have promised to build a supermarket on reclaimed army land on which even more houses are to be built. It doesn’t auger well does it?

Anyway off my rant horse, with all this housing being built, the facilities needed to entertain and feed and provide health care for the occupants should be given priority, and the men’s shed would be there to help lonely and displaced who need a helping hand.