About Us
Our Story So Far
We started thinking about a Shed for Wickham Market in 2020 and after a few false starts an ideal venue came on our radar when Wickham Market Area Archive decided the time was right to downsize and relocate. The Archive Centre now has a new home in a brand-new log cabin in the rear garden of the Resource Centre which means the Shed has been able to occupy the two portacabins and a wooden shed behind the Village Hall/Football Club, along with some much-valued outside space.
We have been very lucky to receive donations of machine and hand tools, a table and some work benches. These have enabled us to do the work we have done so far and promise the potential of many creative projects for the future.
If you would like to donate tools or equipment to our Shed you can get in contact here..
What has been happening on the Wickham Market Shed?
At the moment our members are working alongside each other to improve the space, create a safe and workable workshop and make repairs. We’ll aim to have an invitation meeting for the community in the Spring with an Ambassador for the UK Men’s Shed Association but in the meantime anyone is welcome to come along and find out more. See our current opening times above.
With a donation of materials from B&Q, members have re-felted a leaky shed roof for the Parish Council
Team work repairing the roof – Kim, Keith and Roger
They have also renovated two community benches: one for the Church and one for the Parish Council.
Here you can see the two porta cabins, one of the sheds and the initial reveal of one of our areas of hard standing. And below you can see a little of the rubbish we’ve pulled from the site and another hardstanding emerging.
Here you can see a little of the rubbish we’ve pulled from the site and another hardstanding emerging.
We have also done a lot of ground clearing, pruning and even a bit of planting. In our clearing we have discovered three areas of useful hardstanding.
Our Shed activities are about working alongside each other, our Shed is a space for friendship, mutual support, skill sharing and importantly fun. We also take time to sit and chat, have cup of tea, catch up and swap stories, and current regulars will know that this is often accompanied by slices of Cath’s superb homemade cake.
Wickham Market Shed is open to everyone over the age of 18, we need you all! Whether you’re skills are in woodwork, cake making, telling a good story, listening to a good story, holding the ladder, sending out emails, we have space and time for you and the Shed won’t be quite the same if you aren’t here!
What’s Next?
What the Shed does is up to its members, but we’d like to be a place to share tools and resources, to work on projects of our own choosing at our own pace, in a safe, friendly and inclusive venue. A place for skill-sharing and informal learning, of individual pursuits and community projects, of purpose, achievement and social interaction. A place of leisure where people come together to work.
The significance of the Shed is not the building, but the network of relationships between the members.
At the moment we are putting in place the right documentation to formalise our Shed. That is, applying for bank accounts, sorting out insurance, agreeing a constitution and so forth, getting these things in place will give us a sound basis going forward and enable us to do things such as apply for grants. We have a steering committee working on this and would welcome more input if this is something you think you could contribute too. The steering committee is currently meeting every six weeks or so for a couple of hours – and there’s still cups of tea and homemade cake as part of the deal! If you want to become part of our steering group or just find out more you can contact us here.