Tuesday 18th Dec 2018

Tuesday at SMMiS: 

Chris was covering up the wood outside and beginning work on making the trestles for the lathe. Meanwhile.....

Rick working on repairing a chair that a local woman brought in; 

Eugen (welder) and Ken (lathe expert)

Hopefully  both coming in the New Year to teach of some basic skills in welding and operating the lathe

Devon & the Mig welding equipment kindly donated by Eugene; 

Boulders and wood arrives

Boulders and wood arrives at Merseybank 

9 large Scottish granite boulders arrived at the corner of the parade of shop on Merseybank Ave. Now we can move on to the next stage of greenifying this rather desolate corner with some raised beds

Today, the wood we had ordered from Emerge arrived. As you can see it was a very tight fit for the lorry to get down the alleyway

It got there eventually (well done lorry driver)

The heaviest parts were two large wooden platforms which we hope to use as a base for doing the bike repairs on, under the rain shelter we plan to build in the back yard

A bit of a squeeze getting the platform under the gate

It required 4 people to carry each platform (we had two)

Irritatingly we couldn't find the key to the lock on the gate of our back fence. So we had to stack up the wood outside until we eventually unscrewed the bolt on the gate

Here is Roger stacking the wood inside our yard

These 3"x4" lengths of old joists (in great condition) will provide the posts for the rain shelter (2 x 2.6m & 2x2.4m)

Doll's house looking good

Dolls House and Bike Repairs

Jim & Sal fixing a bike brought in by a local cyclist. The tools we have ordered have now arrived, so hopefully by next Friday the Bike Project will be up and running from then and every Friday (11-3pm) from the New Year

Chris at work putting in a new mortice lock on an old front door frame

James's renovation of the old dolls house Hywell had brought in is now nearly finished. I'm sure his 3 young daughters will love it

Visit to Touchwood

I went down with Bob & Steve to Touchwood which is part of the community recyling organisation based an the New Smithfield market on Ashton Old Road. They recycle waste timber and it is a place to behold. I didn't know other people who love old bits of wood like I do, but Bob & Steve looked as if they had died and gone to heaven.

Michelle  (see above with Bob & Steve showed us round and was incredibly helpful. I had rung her earlier in the day and she said they had some wood in from Siemens which might be really helpful provide a base for the bike rain shelter, so we scooted round the same day. 

 Bob & Steve inspecting the timber





We bought a load of wood (at a very good price) and we were also offered a flat bed lorry full of timber from Siemens as support for out project. It will contain all sorts of wood of different sorts but of good quality, but will require sorting an denailing. There will be lots of it so we will need as many people to turn up when it is delivered, which will be next Wednesday 12th Dec between 11am and 2pm or so to help move the wood to the backyard and (temporarily) to the community garden until we can sort it

As a final gesture we were given a piece of the old Velodrome track whihc was torn up and replaced a few months ago. It was made of Siberian Spruce and of course was raced on during the rise in British cycling and many world records were made on it.

Here is a picture of me holding the piece of track which we can put up on the wall  to inspire the Bike Project we are about to launch

A very wet day at the Shed

Wet Wednesday at Merseybank

Felt like the wettest day of the year as in never stopped tippling it down. With the heating on it felt much cosier and there was plenty of time to have a cup of tea & a chat

Steve sitting beside one of the veg racks we have built for Quids In 

'Quids In' is a food club, run by volunteers, is aimed at the many households in south Manchester struggling to feed their families each week. ‘Quids In’ offers £15 worth of food for just £2 weekly membership – a sum that goes to charity Fareshare.  Unlike food banks, Quids In is an on-going membership offering fresh and chilled items that can be difficult to find and expensive to buy locally.

We then had a visit from Richard Dudley the local Neighbourhood Officer (Chorlton Park & Fallowfield) from the City Council together with some contractors from Dalys

 
They were looking at the best place to put boulders as a feature to complement sthe raised beds we would make. John was there (looking at his watch), so here he is with some boulders in the area of ground at the end of Merseybank parade (an artists impression!)

Meanwhile back in the shop 

WInter warmer bag of goodies

Bernard & Terry discuss the contents of one of Southway's housing's bag of goodies to help tackle the cold in the coming winter

Yesterday (27-11-18) some of us went over from the Men In Sheds(MiS) on Merseybank parade to take a look at the Barlow Moor Community Association (BMCA) "WinterWarner" event for older people on the estate. As it felt freezing in MiS at the time (coldest day yet)  it was great to get warm and have a hot bowl of soup. 

Also Southways Housing were giving out bags of goodies to "vulnerable" older people (I think any older person would benefit from the kit). In them were a range of things to help people to keep warm as the weather gets colder, In this interview Bernard interviews Terry as we look at the items in the bag and give our commentary on them

Terry talks about how coming to Men in Sheds has helped to overcome social isolation and we encourage other older people to come along and get involved

Bike stands and a cold, wet day 27-11-18

The Sheffield Bike stands (3 of them) arrived today, so Rick and John were out at the front, trying to work out where was best to put them. There were 11 of us there today for either a short or long time, 9 men plus Claire, a community care navigator based at WIthington Hospital and June who was here to learn about working with her jigsaw

This board isn't really big enough for storing tools, but I like the Christmas touches  (the red rings)

Yuseff came in today. There's his mobility scooter outside which he renovated himself. We hope he will become fully involved in the Shed as he has many skills

Farewell to Hywel

Farewell to Hywel

Sadly (for us) this week was Hywel's last one at the Men in Sheds on Merseybank Avenue. He is moving back to South Wales where his family comes from. Hywel helped found the South Manchester Men in Sheds and has been an important member ever since. We shall miss him and wish him well. 

Hywel is also a teacher of Aikido, a form of Japanese martial arts. In fact, that is how we met as his Chorlton Aikido class took place next to the Chorlton Good Neighbours office. As a result of our meeting we decided to try and set up a Chorlton based Men in Sheds

Here are some photos from Tues 20th Nov. Rick is pictured helping finish off some stacking shelves for the Charity shop 3 doors down, and Bob & Chrsi are seen giving some training to June in using an electric drill to prepare a tool board & using rawlplugs to put it on the wall

Work has already started on mending bikes in some lovely Autumn sunshine

 Meanwhile, Bob & Chris model the lastest  in shorts for older men

Support Men in Sheds via the Co-op Local Community Fund

Please support South Manchester Men in Sheds project in Chorlton . As a Co-op member you can opt to back us and 1% of what you spend on Co-op branded products and services will go to our project membership.coop.co.uk/causes/20009

Dolls House and Bike Repairs

Jim has taken on mending and painting the doll's house that Hywel had brought in. I am sure his young children will enjoy playing with the finished product 

Meanwhile, we had a visit from Ilyas who lives round the corner in Rylestone Avenue. Bob went round to his house to see how he could help fix a problem with an internal door and then Ilyas brought round a bike which Sal helped him to repair. As a recent immigrant Ilyas's English is not very good, Sal was able to translated for him

Ilyas & Bob

Sal helping to Fix Ilyas's bike, with Terry preparing 

puncture patches in the backgrouns