Wokingham Men’s Shed - Trustees Annual Report 2024
2024 has been a relatively quiet year for the Wokingham Men’s Shed, but we have still managed to add a few more members to our group, and have managed to help a few local charities as well as schools and the local council with some woodwork projects throughout the year.
We have had some turnover in our membership this year, and an overall reduction in 2024 due to people moving away from the borough or finding that they have emerging medical difficulties preventing them from being an active Shed member. As a late ‘press’ change to our report I am happy to say that a January 2025 leap in new members means that our current membership stands at around 38 members.
The Trustees of the Shed have remained stable, with a total of 5 Trustees, as has the number of available Duty Managers , which is 7. The Shed is still currently open 3 days per week, and we have no plans to open on other days unless and until we can encourage more Duty Managers.
Through this year, we have only had 2 active officers of WMS, namely me as chairman, and Barry L. as treasurer. Despite some efforts to encourage other able members to consider stepping up to help we have so far been unsuccessful. The search and active encouragement to find additional and alternative officers will continue in earnest throughout the next 12 months.
The financial situation of the Shed continues to be stable, helped by the fact that the Shed continues to operate with low outgoings. We also continue to operate as simply and straightforwardly as possible, so as to minimize the workload on the trustees and DMs who together form the management team of the Shed. Towards the end of the year, we received a generous donation from a local golf club, which had nominated us as their annual charity.
We again had our summer picnic at the Shed, and had our Christmas lunch at a local pub. Both events were subsidised by the Shed in line with our duty to support our members.
On the project side, we made a large noticeboard for the local horticultural group, a set of 3 flower stands, and 9 heavy duty candle holders for one of the local churches. We also had a clock making competition so that Shedders could try different woodworking techniques.
It has been a year of good company and productive fun for our Shed, and I think we can look forward to another positive year for our Shedders and the greater Wokingham community
Ron Baillie Chairman – Wokingham Men’s Shed
Wokingham Men’s Shed – Accounts for Year 2024
WMS had a positive year financially in 2024, helped by a significant donation from the local golf club who had named WMS as their chosen charity for the year. This donation, together with continued ability to run the Shed with relatively low overheads has enabled us to purchase some new power tools as well as keep up with regular tool and consumables replacement. Our accounts remain sufficiently healthy for us to continue our activities.
Barry Lowis Treasurer – Wokingham Men’s Shed