Men’s Shed Guernsey
Men’s Sheds encourage men to socialise, make and do things together to enhance their sense of purpose and wellbeing.
The Guernsey Men’s Shed is a traditional vinery packing shed that we’re bringing back to health. Once finished, the Shed will provide any man in Guernsey a space to go and work on any project in a welcoming and well equipped workshop.
Shed activities might involve making or mending in woodwork, metalwork, growing, bike repair, electronics, tool renovation, boat building, model engineering and maintenance.
2016
It started with Patrick Abrahams from the Frome Shed in Somerset speaking at a conference which inspired a few people to set up a Shed in Guernsey. There were meetings and excited dreams being shared then… picture a shed with decades of detritus piled up everywhere, windows smashed out and 'unauthorised openings' in the roof letting the outside grow inside!
2017
We started by sorting the junk and dumping more than 40 tonnes of it! It was an extremely hard and demoralising process.
The stripping back eventually slowed and we started adding to the building — most notably a roof!
Most notably we hosted a wonderful 'sharing' event with many other agencies and organisations who we thought would be interested to know what we were up to. Our aim: to leave them thinking about how their patrons, services users and clients would benefit from the Men's Shed and Maker-space.
2018
Toilets got demolished. Toilets got built. Toilets got plumbed.
It was a massive leap forward in terms of 'comfort' and the general usability of the shed.
All the while, our merry band grew stronger and closer week by week. We were "Shedding"!
2019
The kitchen got finished so we moved our 'catering' facilites from the north shed to the south. Goodbye BBQ! ;(
Instead of just plastering the internal wall, Michael agreed to workshop the process. Over a few weeks more than a dozen guys and gals — aged 12 to 90yrs — had a go a not making too much of a mess on the floor.
Along the way we had a huge boost from the Retro Festival which included Marcel jumping the harbour wearing a shed and a bunch of shedders making go-karts for the weekend.
We finally opened to the public in November. There was still lots to do but it was time to spread the love!
