This and That Good News

Good news, as well as bad (!) travels fast.

1. Today we welcomed a film crew and a PR company representative on behalf of The Teesside. Charity who awarded us a grant a few months ago in the Pitch for Purpose event. They interviewed 5 Shedders as part of a short video (with two or three other charities) to illustrate what the charities do for people “in their own words”. It is a way for Norton Shed to say thank you to Teesside Charity, to help promote their work and to spread knowledge of the value of Men’s Sheds in combatting male isolation and lifting their spirit. 
2. In the morning a good news call came from North Yorkshire about funding for the digital inclusion project that we are supporting them with. It is called Being As One and is about hybrid meetings and digital activities (digital doing, as we like to say) that has some meeting face to face and others coming in online. It is a teaching/learning project to include the housebound.Apparently the call for applications was well oversubscribed but the review panel liked the inclusion “innovation” in Whitby Town Shed’s approach. £3000+ has been awarded as requested with physical preparation work already underway. Part of the set-up work is to create a suitable enclosure acting as a studio/demonstration facility, and for which a donation o f kitchen floor units and two long worktops has come from Howden Joinery (Whitby).We are going to do much the same kind of thing at Norton Shed (hence the room being worked on for a similar facility) and we hope to receive good news soon from a submission to The Banks Property Community Fund managed through Point North. It is for a third of the Whitby sum and will have a strong focus on digital learning and digital devices that can help in day to day life.
3. 

   And the ear was the rest for it.

   On a visit last weekend to High Wycombe, the place Graham and Joan raised their family and where Graham managed “The HUB” for 7 years – a church facility shared with many local organisations.
   That weekend, amongst other people, Graham met two GPs (like him a little older than when they last met).
   They were interested to learn about the Shed and it’s particular ethos of helping people to help themselves by simply working shoulder to shoulder.
   They were also interested in our digital activities and intended work for the housebound.
   Graham hopes he and Paul (with possibly a couple of other Shedders) can provide insight (i.e. share knowledge of) our vision.

4. Smaller, but equally important, good news is that we are moving forward with renovation of the digital room that will also house Gordon the Guru (!). Ply ordered for new external window shutters, a new back door and new lock, floor paint and long-handled roller for concrete floors, roof insulation and a new LED ceiling light. Some plasterboard has been added to replace missing areas on walls and ceiling. New toilet brushes (!) and Paul has been busy 3D printing toilet roll holders for the toilet cubicles.
5. Locomotion 1 is set to depart our premises during the first week of August. It’s been a marathon task but soon it will be displayed to the world of Billingham and the international set of Folk Dancers. There is probably not one of the Shedders that has not been involved at some point to keep it all on track (pun intended). 
6. 3D printing can be very creative. Transforming thoughts into tangible reality.  How do we understand the Shed? More importantly how do we coney its skeleton to others. Below is a bit of 3D sculpture that is intended to be an illustration for others of the the Shed cogs that function together for our good. 

A piece of 3D sculpture to complement the toilet roll holders made. Art is in the eye of the creator.

The essence of the Shed . . . .

Doing is the underlying platform which provides creative distraction from day to day concerns.
   Being is coming alive and out of almost a deep sleep of inertia to have a bit of renewed purpose and a seed of self worth to grow.
       Belonging is what is often quickly found by most Shedders who come with some kind of a loss and social disconnection.
            Becoming arises gradually from the other three and is what only each individual Shedder can do, for themselves. To find new orientation and gradual adaptation to changed circumstances that may or may not be under personal control. A hopeful direction though that the Shed can perhaps help foster.

7. Dennis & Graham shifting wood out and in. St Joseph’s School was very appreciative of the Hobbit House. The next day we collected a very healthy donation of timber from Karen in Hartlepool whose late husband had a brilliant shed. We are returning in a week or two to collect more. Both she and we benefitted. 

Installed the first Hobbit House at St. Joseph’s Academy, Norton

Friday we collected a donation of wood from a lady in Hartlepool.

8. Dunster House drop in. Dunster House manufacture and distribute timber structures, including log cabins. It was announced in the local press that they were  moving into a part of the former Jewson site on Junction Road neat Tesco. We sent a greeting to them welcoming them to the Shed Community in Norton! We believed it was a warehousing and distribution centre.

They are now there but not quite operational (mid August). So Graham shopped at Tesco and then called in, receiving a friendly welcome. They will have a manufacturing stream for some shed/office/cabin models. Handed over our postcard and made known to the manager what we do.

They minimise waste in their production. One thing they will have is sawdust, however we are also a manufacturer of that! 

9. Birdhouse/Reindeer Brian is shown the door! It was good news though. He and Paul made a solid start on fitting it to replace the aged door at the back of the Stables. Work to be completed next Tuesday. Meanwhile the IT/meeting room is being cleaned (first pass) and we hope to be painting the floor and walls after the ceiling is plasterboard and insulated. The room will be a home for
Gordon (our blind IT guru).  He has posted a Facebook message saying he has joined the Shed IT project – how does he do it? That is what we hope to be finding out on a Wednesday.

10. Goodbye Locomotion 1. Mixed news really because it has been a very rewarding project, but size really does matter. We need to reclaim the space! Jacko dis one of the last tasks which was to paint the last couple of rails and sleepers – sort of rust coloured!

The date for Locomotion to move to Billingham is Wednesday 6th August. Very little to be done now. Puff, puff.

11. On the subject of trains as we seem to have been quite a bit, we noticed the opportunity to bid to train operator LNER (East Coast Line) for community funding. The reckoning is that with our background and intent, the doing side of it would be covered but applications are more about the why, how, for whom and the planning (including budgeting). The application guidelines are in the .pdf below and the application needs to be completed in the next couple of weeks. Eventual outcome known next Spring.  Shedders interested in this please say. The printed form is in the Shed also. It will centre on doing OO gauge and O gauge (the garden sized stuff that Walter and Paul have played with. Lots of stuff to bring in a wide range of skills. We already have someone intent on setting up a test board to try ideas on.