About Us
Our Progress
We are an independent organisation run by a group of fifteen Trustees who are all volunteers.
We have an agreed constitution that defines the purpose of the organisation and how it is governed and administered. We produced a Development Plan that defines the objectives of the organisation and what we need to do to meet those objectives, both practically and financially. We gained Charity Status on the 24th of August 2016 and our Charity Number is SC046805.
We have a list of over 130 interested citizens, many of whom helped convert the premises that the Council leased to us. We meet, socialise, carry out a variety of activities, enjoy the process of working together and doing some good for the community. Our Shed has been split into two main parts, one part for machinery & tools and the other for social activity. Not long after our Shed was up and running we had a Board meeting where we started the process of being able to rent the social part, at very low rates, to bona fide local groups when the Shed members are not using it.
We hold regular meetings to talk about things like community projects, members’ individual projects and any ideas that each of us may have for the Shed – it feels like we’ve always been together, such is the camaraderie.
Our beginnings…..
In April 2016, 45 men (and two ladies) attended a ‘show-n-tell’, led by Jason Schroeder of the AVA, on Men’s Sheds. This initial meeting was organised by the Rotary Club of Stonehaven. Jason was clearly talking to the right group of people as very soon afterwards a Trustees Committee was formed and activity took off to make the Stonehaven Men’s Shed a reality.
By November 2018, we had generated our constitution document, gained Charity Status, created a business plan and raised over £30,000 to partially fund the refurbishment of our premises.
The majority of funding (£38,209) came from LEADER ( a French acronym for ‘Liaison Entre Actions de Développement de l’Économie Rurale’) which was secured through the South Aberdeenshire Local Action Group (SALAG) to whom we are very grateful. LEADER is a community-led local development (CLLD) funding approach, and is a European Union initiative to support development projects primarily in rural, but also in coastal and urban areas of EU member countries at the local scale by involving relevant local actors, including local organizations and associations, as well as individual citizens.
Members of the Trustees Committee visited Westhill, Inverurie, Portlethen and Montrose Men’s Sheds to gain insight into their start-up processes and any pitfalls experienced along the way. Their advice and help was greatly appreciated as it aided us during our preparations and planning.
Emergency First Aid Training Course
First Aid skills are always useful to have but for the Shedders from the Stonehaven and District Men’s Shed it is a requirement for safe operations in our superb premises in the Beach Pavilion, Beach Road, Stonehaven. We need First Aid skills for our Safety Supervisors in order to meet the requirements of the Shed’s Health & Safety Policy.
Emergency First Aid trainer Dorothy Clark led the training which had an effective blend of practical activities and theory, resulting in all the candidates passing the course.
All the Shedders are now happily working together in our permanent home in the Beach Pavilion, supporting each other as well as the local community.
Find out more about “Men’s Sheds“, where they began, who they are for and how they help men and the wider community?
We also have our own Facebook page. Join us there to be kept up to date with what is happening in the Shed.