Newtownabbey Men's Shed Charity Number 107160 Annual Trustees Re ort Period Apr 23- Mar 24 Address - Unit Ic, The Ferguson Centre, Manse Road, Glengormley, BT36 6RW l. These accounts and reports are presented following the Charity Regulations. A5 the Charity has less than a £250k annual turnover the accounts have been prepared on a receipts and expenditure basis. They have been independently examined and both the accounts and examiners report are attached. 2. Public Benefit Newtownabbey Mens Shed (the shed) was first started in Mid 2015 with 6-7 men getting together and agreeing that such a venture would be worth while explorin8. In early 2016 the then Newtownabbey Borough Council INBC} a8reed to support the group with some funding. This allowed them to obtain premises in Merville G3rden Village. After a few years, the shed grew which required them to seek out larger premises. This was achieved by securing premises in the Abbey Centre Retail Park {ACRP}. In 2020 following discussions with the ARCP letting agent it wa5 agreed that these premises were no longer suitable which led to a search for new premises. The shed was fortunate enough to secure premises in the Ferguson Centre, Glengormley and these still are our current premises. Premises Our premises consist of a large workshop, two large craft rooms, kitchen, tearoom, office and two toilets. We have expanded our usable space to incorporate a mezzanlne level within our workshop to allow us to expand the activities we can offer. All our members and visitors agree that the premises are a fantastic resource for use by the shed. It allows us to offer many varying activities which in turn 311ow5 US to offer a much greater service to the community. There is no doubt that the premises are a vital constituent part of the character and attraction of the shed. Activities We try to offer as varied and relevant set of activities as possible. These include woodturning - 4 lathes, woodworkin8 inc table saw, planer, jointer, crosscut saw, drill press, router table and multiple power and hand tools. We are grateful to have been able to add CNC Machine and laser equipment thi5 year and have aspirations to
continue development with the addition and a Spray Booth to our portfolio. We also offer pyrography tuition and equipment, copper work, and many forms of art. A very popular activity is 3d printing and engraving. We also operate a successful community garden from a local allotment. Purpose Whilst we offer an exciting and diverse range of activities these are not the purpose of the shed. Instead, we see these as the conduits by which we can help our community improve their mental health. It is well known and supported by research that men become lonelier as they get older. When retirement is added to this picture and men lose their identlty and sense of purpose it all points to a mental health crisis among older men. We experience this on an almost daily basis with members and those interested recanting stories of how they have become lonely and depressed and find themselves sitting in the house watching television. In many of these instances it is interestin8 that it is often wivesi partners and families that encourage the men to come along to the men shed. In addition, we get lots of men with addiction problems, serious mental health problems,105s of partners and various degree5 of disability. We try to tailor programmes to suit all these needs being mindful of health and safety and safeguarding etc. Our evaluation5 of our programmes and servlces have shown that our members appreciate these services and have come to rely upon them. Many of these have stated in these surveys that they cannot imagine how they would cope without the support of the shed. Through our health and wellbeing programme we offer all forms of support as required by the membership. These can be accessed on an individual basis by request. We also offer seminars on mental and physical health issues inc depression and stress, anger, men's health etc. The local mental health providers, eg Northern Trust, Cedar. etc are in contact with us almost daily to introduce their clients to the benifits of our shed. This is a real and significant contribution to our community. An integral element of our cohesion planning and creating relationships is our trips and social programme. The membership makes suggestion5 as to the destinations and events these should include, and this year has included BBQS, Christmas Dinner and a fishing trip. Our membership is highly active in supporting the local community and charities. These i ncl ude the Nl children's hospice, local prima ry Schools, and va rious Others, including local old peoples homes and other charity partners in our community.
In August 2022, 3 Ladies Shed was created. Initially this operated as a subsidiary to the Mens Shed. However, with a quickly growing membership it is expected that the Ladies will develop their own structures and purposes etc. We consider this to be an exciting development and will significantly add to the public benefit of the shed. This has continued to thrive this tear and membership has grown to around 40 ladies. The ladies have set up their own committee allowing them to experience the benefits of being a peer lead group, with the ladies learning new Skills as they develop into these roles. With membership of the Men's and Ladies shed standing at over one hundred and the fact that we meet 5 days per week lead to the shed being able to affect and influence many people who would otherwise be lost. Added to the number of visitors and those affected by our work with other community organisations we would assess this to be conservatively in advance of five hundred of our community. We have been able to extend our opening hours this year due to support from the ARN foundation which we are most grateful of. We also were able to deliver a programme to some of the refugees who had moved into our community and again we are grateful to Clanmill Housing for supporting this initiative. We also were able to extend and develop both our copper work and pyrography this year due to the generous support from Carhhill Community Fund and this enabled our members to develop new skills and grow in confidence as a result which had very positive i m pacts on their wel Ibeing. This year also saw a development in our kitchen facilities and we are grateful of the support of the CO OP community fund and HubHub in this very exciting development. We are now able to offer our community healthy nutritious meals as part of their experience at the Shed. As well as the nutritional benefit of this we have seen an extension of the time members spend in the shed leading to greater social interactions and all of the benefits to health associated with this. In February this year we were able to employ a Project Support Worker, whose part time salary is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund. This welcome addition to the resources of the Shed has made a positive impact on the day to day running of the administrative aspect of the organisation and we hope will continue to be helpful as we seek further development opportunities.
We are grateful tor the ongoing and substantial support we receive from The National Lottery Community fund and also Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council together with those other funders mentioned in this report without whose support the Shed could not function. 3. Planning Following the creation of our strategic plan we continue to monitor and assess all of our operations and to enable us to change and progress to ensure we are meeting the ever changing and growing needs of our community. In January 2023, the shed developed its first comprehensive 3-year strategic plan. We believe that this will bring a better focus to pla n5 i nc funding applications etc, Highlights of this plan i nclude, Expansion of the premises to attract and help greater community engagement. Creation of a community kitchen Support to local schoo15 in making planters and library boxes, maintaining school gardens. Continuous improvement of the experiences of our members and local community Bui Iding resilient tea ms Developing and improving skills across the board (trustees, management, leadership, specialist skills etc). Development of a working relationship with the Ladies Shed. Review of the current constitution and redevelopment in light of current requirements. Secure funding to ensure continuous and secure operations. Consideration of staffing requirements. We currently have no staff on the payroll.# We have been working through this plan this tear and have had various training session for our trusteed and committee members, and a5 can be seen from our report positive outcomes are being achieved. 4. Flnances The account5 are attached to this report. Following the Charity Commission Nl requirements these have been reviewed by an independent examiner. The support of our funders is vital to our continued operations. Whilst we charge members a subscription of £15 per month (Men) and £5 per month (Ladies) these do not corne close to meeting our commitments. The rent for running a prernises that can accommodate a large workshop is expensive. Added to this the cost of new equipment, maintenance, materials {wood etc) and energy all add to requiring an operational
budget of between £50-60k per annum. The shed does not operate a reserve5 policy, but one will be considered by the trustee5 in 24125. The year opened with balance of £57K and closed with a balance of £31K, We are in the fortunate position of having ongoing support from both the National Lottery and Antrim and Newtownabbey Council which will cover our expenses for the next financial year, however we are in the process of working through funding application5 to ensure the longer term financial stability of the shed after this period. Trustees Statement on Public Benefit In setting our objectives and planning our activities for the year the trustees have considered the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland's guidance on public benefit to ensure that the activities have helped to achieve the charity's purposes and provide a beneflt to the beneficiaries. Signed- Gordon N irperson Trustee Q)
Trustees 23 24 David Donley, Chairperson Gordon Neale Vice Chair (Acting Chairl William Dunlop John Gibson Snr lan Gardner