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