It’s time for Norton Shedders to reflect on 2024. A few have been with the project for the past nearly three years but this year has seen a real uptick in numbers because the Shed has been expanded.
- Expanded in numbers (we often have 15 – 20 people at a session, twice the number at the start of 2024).
- Expanded our space from the Portacabin to include two other work areas. Probably a three fold increase in usable working space.
- Expanded sessions from the original two mornings to 4 a week.
- Expanded the target group by adding two specialist sessions, one for those preferring more chat than do (Monday) and one for men with a cancer diagnosis (Thursday).
- Expanded the range of activities offered to include 3D printing & laser engraving and soon starting a model railway.
We’ve also expanded the physical size of projects tackled with this year a WW1 tank to half scale. Part of our community support working alongside Norton Sports Charity for Remembrance.
Early next year we will be submitting the application for Charity registration. The paperwork is nearly done.
And we continue to have strong connections with Whitby Sheds and the UK Men’s Sheds Association.
It all happened because people grew together . . . . .
So, what about some views from individual Shedders. Some by name and others anonymous (but still real Shedders in Norton).
Graham opens up – the start of 2024 was not an easy time for me personally. A range of factors, one being working too hard on Sheds in Whitby district and Norton in 2023 and another being absent for two months in Oz! Sheds are not easily started, nor to build up sustainability in running and financing. They require a lot of blind faith – step by step. There is a lot of beneath the surface work to be done, away from the Shed’s apparent working hours. Not least to keep funders and supporters (including families) in touch.
I really thank other Shedders who could see I wasn’t me. I needed the Shed but at the same time it was a struggle to be there. Shedders gave me space and treated me as normally as they could. Yet they knew what was going on because the Shed is a place where other Shedders have experienced the same feelings. A very understanding place.
One of the matters that had troubled me (and troubles other Sheds) is Health and Safety. It is not easy to grapple with appropriately. Original Shedder Dave Priestley was a great help with the subject from his work experience and a little later BayThorpe Shedder Lance who was tackling the same issue. A problem shared is a problem halved.
Things really started to change for me in early Spring. How? Seeds of change.
One example is the arrival of woodturner tutor, Dennis. There’s a whole story behind that but basically Dennis turned woodturning around to the benefit of probably over a dozen Shedders. It was a minor miracle – but a miracle no less. From 2 lathes half used to 4 lathes fully used some mornings.
Another is Paul who introduced 3D printing. Paul was a guy I found it difficult to figure out! He has many skills but not a big head. Like Dennis he wants to help people find a new outlet for interest. I can now make things at home without a lot of waste on the floor.
Kevin and Mick brought to reality the big gun. Brian and Pat the snowmen! Walter is a permanent fixture.
The big thing that tipped me into positiveness again was what I saw going on in other Shedders’ lives. I saw the Shed lift people’s spirits. Everybody played a part in that. And everybody is learning on the job that overarching what we do is hope.
Hope that we each can have purpose and a positive reason for getting out of bed and meeting with whoever each morning at the Shed. The word family is a word with a lot of meaning to most Shedders.
The Social Prescribing Link Workers were inspirational and made such a difference. They and others were appreciative clients and that makes a big difference. They watered the dry ground a bit to enable some flowers to spring up. Each flower still had to do the work though!
Truly, the Shed has been built on the many contributions of many Shedders. Who made it a good year? We all did.
What do you say Shedders?
The 1000 Faces of Sheds book has many stories about Shedders across UK.
So this little slot is a chance for Norton Shedders to write something about their experience of the Shed, the difference it may have made to them and theirs, and possibly what they have observed. Please write something (or dictate it to someone for them to write).
Contributions will appear on a new “sticky” blog called “The Shed and I”. Sticky so that they can be submitted and read over time – including from new Shedders in 2025.
Doors
Some very good news.
Howdens Joinery are donating new external doors for the “Stable” block. It will make the premises more secure and less draughty.
Howdens have donated before, both from Stockton and Whitby branches.
We are very grateful for such useful gifts-in-kind. Installing will be for 2025 though!
We have also been busy installing new doors and uprights to the wheelchair lift opening. They are new, but were paint damaged in manufacture so were replaced on Graham’s garage door.
Normally, they are mounted horizontally but, hey presto, we have mounted them vertically using gate hinges. There is a rain canopy to be installed over the doors.
The hinges are bolted on. There are 3D printed covers for the bolt heads.
Looking forward to cladding the building, thanks to funding from North East Ladies Day.
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Dennis could not afford a Tree so he volunteered. Spruced up.
All lit up
Dennis is a very private person and does not like drawing attention to himself.
Therefore, we are doing it for him, in the best tradition of Sheds!
“I’m nearly 80 and there’s a void in my life that hobbies can’t fill”
It’s about facing the freedom you have now, not as an overwhelming burden but as an opportunity.
The question: I am nearing 80 and am overwhelmed by what I think is called existential boredom. The truth is I’ve been struggling with it for what seems like aeons… I have achieved all my ambitions – and loads more – but I’m now at a loss as to what do next. I am constantly told to get a hobby or join a choir, by people who have no idea of what deep boredom is. I envy them! What do you suggest I do?
Philippa’s answer [Guardian newspaper] That existential boredom you describe, it’s not just any boredom, is it? It’s not the kind that can be swept away with a new hobby or a trivial distraction. No wonder you feel frustrated when people tell you to “keep busy”, as though filling time could address what’s really going on inside you.
This phase of life isn’t about what you “do” next, but who you become next. And perhaps the most important step is to recognise that you still have that power. What happens next may not be about achieving external goals but about turning inward, toward the depths of who you are, and finding the next stage of your own becoming. It’s not an easy journey, and I don’t mean to minimise how isolating it can feel. But in that struggle, there is also the potential for profound discovery.
You’ve achieved your ambitions, reached goals you once set for yourself, and now you find yourself at a loss. What next, after all the striving and attaining? That place you’re in is what existential philosophers call “the existential vacuum”, where the old meanings have dried up, and the activities that once filled your life no longer sustain you. This is not an uncommon experience, especially for those who have truly lived, achieved, and accomplished. You have faced life’s challenges, but now, without those goals, a deeper question is emerging: What is left?
I imagine that at nearly 80, you are facing not only boredom but a deeper existential crisis, because this isn’t about boredom in the everyday sense but a confrontation with what the existential psychotherapist Rollo May called “being and non-being”. You are, perhaps, more aware than ever of your own finitude, of time itself slipping through your fingers, and this awareness can leave you feeling hollow. Yet, it’s this awareness that holds the potential for something more profound.
Your boredom is a call to find a new, deeper, form of engagement with life, one that transcends the goals and achievements that used to motivate you. I don’t think that the real issue is boredom – it is the search for meaning in this stage of your life. It’s about facing the freedom you have now, not as an overwhelming burden but as an opportunity.
That might sound daunting, but this is where Rollo May’s idea of creativity comes in. He didn’t mean creativity in the sense of painting or writing (though it could be that), but in the broader sense of how we relate to life. You may no longer be building a career or chasing after the ambitions of your youth or middle age, but that doesn’t mean the creative process stops. It just shifts.
What new ways of living, new relationships, or ways of engaging with the world might still spark something in you? What might you contribute, even if only quietly, to those around you or to the world at large? This could be something altruistic like listening to schoolchildren read, or something of mutual benefit like good conversation.
It’s not about being “busy”, or filling your days with distractions, it’s about asking: What still matters to me? It’s about reclaiming the freedom you have now, even if it feels uncomfortable, even if it means confronting uncertainty. What parts of yourself have yet to be explored? Are there conversations you’ve never had, people you’ve never truly connected with?
I wonder if, in some way, you’re being called to confront your own authenticity. What is most authentic to you now? You’ve been through so much of life already; you’ve seen beyond the illusions of constant success and striving. So now, what calls to you at this deeper level? What kind of being do you want to embody, now that your life’s work is, in many ways, complete?
And of course, there is also the shadow of “non-being” that hangs in the background. Rollo May would suggest that embracing this, rather than denying it, can bring a sharper sense of meaning to the present. It’s not about despairing at the end but, rather, seeing that the fact that life is finite is what gives it urgency and meaning. The awareness of death is what can make life, in the here and now, all the richer.
You are not alone in this. So many of us face that void, that sense of “what now?” But what you are going through isn’t a failure of imagination, it’s the human condition, and it’s an opportunity to reshape your own meaning, even now.
A lot there of sense in that piece. Mmmm, how about a Men’s Shed for him? This leads on to a visit Matt Baker and his Dad paid to Robin Hoods Bay a year ago (2023), for the Victorian evening but also to visit some projects including BayThorpe Shed.
Elaine Marsh from the Bay forwarded it tonight and it seems to fit in our theme perfectly. Matt’s Dad, like a few of us, is getting a bit forgetful and Matt adjusted his priorities to go places with his Dad (and a camera crew!)
Christmas Visit to Whitby Town Shed
Rob Shilson loves games. family games. Here’s one he made at the Shed based on an old pub game. It involves trying to hook a ring competitively. He roped in Ray to demonstrate.
The peg moves left or right depending on who nets the ring. Rather like tug-of-war.
The CNC router is in regular use.
Steve did a THIRTY FOUR for Martyn.
And finally a Happy Christmas from some there this morning.
Not sure that they sounded that happy, but it was unrehearsed!
We are not healthcare professionals . . .
but understanding a bit about their principles can be valuable to read. The piece below just popped up on LinkedIn.
Alexa LandsmanA note to mental health professionals-in-training:
When I was a graduate student, I initially had the goal of saving people from themselves. My desire was to eliminate mental suffering. As a student therapist, I quickly learned my efforts were counterproductive. You certainly cannot save anyone from themselves no matter how much you convey you’d like to wave a magic wand and eliminate their suffering.
Over time, I learned that people need a chance to sit in their feelings. Having someone bear witness can help them be their own sounding board. People process better when they can verbalize and problem solve aloud.
You, therapist, are here to help walk alongside your clients – not in front. Let your client take the lead. It takes practice to be comfortable bearing witness to someone’s feelings. It can lead us therapists to becoming uncomfortable. I encourage you to bring up these topics in your supervision group. This is great discussion for your supervisor and therapy peers.
“Meet me at the fork in the road where lost souls get indecisive –
Meet me at the crossroads so I can have someone to walk into the light with.”
– Sage Francis (he is a US Rapper!)
This was pointed out to Graham on Saturday morning
Reflections of Norton!
On Christmas Eve the Shed was still at work . . .
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