Alton Men’s Shed
Trustees’ Annual Report
April 2023
Registered Charity No. 1174510
Email: info@altonmensshed.org
The trustees are pleased to report that it has been a busy and exciting year for Alton Men’s Shed. The last year has seen an increase in our membership as more men and women have discovered our range of activities. We have also recently received the keys to the former St John Ambulance centre situated at Anstey Park.
Of particular note has been the popularity of activities such as our monthly Shedders’ gatherings with a breakfast in a local café and a coffee morning in the parish church hall. Local walks have proved a useful form of exercise and our Christmas lunch and a summer’s day outing to the Amberley Heritage museum proved very popular. This is an important aspect of our charitable aims and we look forward to planning more activities to promote inclusion, friendship and wellbeing for those feeling isolated.
Practical activities have kept members busy in our local shed, with mornings proving so popular that the shed has become overcrowded. Help for the local community has seen us undertake a diverse range of practical projects such as:
30 memory boxes made, one for each resident of a local care home; town centre notice boards refurbished and hundreds of numbered plaques for allotment plots; numerous planters and compost bins for local gardening initiatives; bird, bat and hedgehog boxes; heavy duty planters constructed to screen a school playground from a busy road; many repairs to garden furniture and ‘odd jobs’ as well as the personal projects of our members. A new venture has seen us running fun woodwork activities with local Beavers and Cub Scouts to build bird boxes, bug hotels, picture frames and planters. A craft session is also held fortnightly for residents in supported housing.
As we come to the end of this year we are pleased to announce the most encouraging development in our history as we begin to move into Edgar Hall with local charity Dementia Friendly Alton. DFA is a local voluntary group running activities to provide support to local people and their families affected by dementia. We thank Alton Town Council and the trustees of DFA for facilitating our shared tenancy of Edgar Hall. This former St John Ambulance centre not only provides us with ample garage space to replace our cramped shed, but also the scope to expand our social activities with comfortable rooms, kitchen and toilet facilities. The last few weeks has seen our members busy as we begin to decorate the rooms with DFA and move our tools and benches to create a new workshop.
Alton Men’s Shed faces many practical and financial challenges as we start our new year in Edgar Hall. Our trustees and members look forward to working in partnership with DFA as we commence a new era in supporting the local community.
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