Surprises

The first surprise was precisely 1 minute ago when opening the website to add a post. Up came a summary showing daily visitor numbers to this website for yesterday (Friday). It was 64. This is at least a 10-fold increase on the norm!

Digging deeper, a world map reveals 17 were from UK (even that is 3-fold the usual) and 57 from . . . . . . Germany and 2 from Belgium. 

How that adds to 64 I do not know. Why the huge uptick?  No real explanation other than it must have somehow gone viral because a) the Locomotion was picked up or b) the two words Auf Wiedersehn featured in the title of the last blog. There was no mention, however, of Brussel Sprouts!

Anyone got a clue as to why? Also, why wasn’t China interested or indeed USA?

Maybe one of our viewers from Germany will look at this new blog and explain matters. 

There’s more to write but let’s post at this point and see if we get news nortonmensshed@gmail.com 

So back into writing this new blog of surprises

This morning Norton Green Market was on and the monthly visit was made. A good array and some new stalls including a spread from a small business dealing in metal artefacts. From Darlington.

Then inside was Mike, the “Struggling Potter”. We first met him on the allotment project across the tracks. He came to check out our Shed and came across 3D Paul – of Lucas headlasmp fame. That’s how Mike identified Paul to Graham. Mike does some lovely pottery and one of his lines is vases shaped like ICI cooling towers! Lovely and one will be someones Christmas present (hopefully for yours truly).

Nothing surprising so far until Mike suddenly said he had invested in a 3D printer – intrigued by Paul’s salesmanship. He has taught himself TinkerCad and showed a model car he had designed from scratch. And so the conversation took off and Mike was pleased to learn we had a laser engraver/cutter to get going. Mike is invited to the Shed again and he may become one of our passionate 3D designers. 

Mike is one of us and he has, like us, known what it is like to struggle. With our new IT interest just funded there’s no reason not to be well in touch with him. Community operates in interesting ways.

Something for the train enthusiasts.  Never thought of Dennis being cool!

Walter wrote this 23/7/2023.   Just rediscovered by surprise it and it is worth republishing. He is now 85 by our reckoning! 

“I first heard of the Shed movements and got information from Stockton library. I rang Graham and his enthusiasm was overwhelming, so I went to the Shed the next day. My welcome from the members was great and the first thing I was shown was where the kettle was! I am 83 with some mobility difficulties and have been a builder of model ships and boats for 75 years.

On my first visit they started planning a work space for me and when I returned three days later I found they had fitted me a work bench with a swivel stool right next to the kettle with tea bags and biscuits within arms reach.

I have a wealth of knowledge on ship design and history with a lot of hands on knowledge of model making to pass on to anyone who needs help or advice. May the Shed go from strength to strength!! I would recommend it to anyone who wants to progress a hobby or interest with plenty of friendly chat, to try it.

By the way, I haven’t got much modelmaking done due to the constant chatting and question answering! Regards, Walter”

Walter still has so much to offer and he more often than not the first person there. He is looking forward to some of the new railway craft starting in September.

Something from the more recent past published on our Facebook page and shared to Norton Village just over a month ago

Putting it here because not all Shedders or others use Facebook because of the way it can be used to abuse. However, the death of local newspapers has meant there’s no easy way to talk to the community. By the way, there are 133 Followers of our page and many are very regular “likers”. The vast majority are women. Maybe they are planning ways to get rid of their men for a few hours at some stage! More likely, it is that women appreciate social contact (grow up with it) whereas men are more prone to be heads down to work and less willing to open up to each other. 

[We had a call with a mental health professional operating regionally in the NHS rather than locally we have not dealt with before and she has several men needing the kind of atmosphere Norton Shed offers. We made it clear that we deal on the basis of individuals and that we consider individuals one-by-one to introduce them and absorb them. There are issues of distance involved and practicability. It was pleasing that Paul overheard the conversation in full and we discussed the handling of the requests so Paul learns. We need to engage a few others in this aspect of the Shed if the Shed is to sustainably thrive.]

Here is the posting about digital inclusion.

Want to get involved with a new volunteer-led... - Norton Men's Shed _ Facebook

Here is a link to some Alexa Stories (in American, but translatable in terms of the message!)  Alexa Stories

With the notification this week that our application for start up funding for this was successful (see last blog), Paul and Graham, with Aidan in Whitby) will be getting their heads together. If any Shedder is interested in being a part of the first cohort of learners and tryers, please say.  It has been flagged to the Social Prescribing Link Workers and we will be sharing more with them and others. It can we hope prove to be a good fit with people who are often stuck in the house.

What are the resources we have?

Taylor Woodrow in Graham’s day (but other companies too) had a permanent catch-all agenda item on board meetings. “Team members, our finest asset”. Dennis knows the importance of teams that he tried to move from job to job as he moved. Shedders are our finest asset as people. Nothing to do with skills, but all to do with attitude!

The first resource is people. The Shed began with 6 or 7 (without premises and in winter)

Second is equipment, of course, with materials and they are both important to our “doing”. Trying to reuse materials adds interest and saves money.

The third resource is our premises. We’ve been fortunate to be able to get use of more space that has allowed us to grow in numbers and range of interests. What we have been doing is to maximise the use of space by having it used (in part) 5 days a week and that may grow to some afternoon use as, say, the model railway takes shape. Space is a precious resource not to be wasted or left empty.

The fourth resource is money. We put in our subs to make sure as far as possible we can manage in a crisis should external funding become a problem.  One thing we always have to remember is that what we hold in the bank account as a balance is NOT all ours. We effectively get advance payments and the money only becomes ours once we have used it in accordance to the grant conditions. It’s a bit of a problem because there are sometimes issues of timing and conflicts between projects. we make “promises” and need to endeavour to meet them collectively as a Shed.

Taking offence

Well, many fences.  We have gone into production.

We now look forward to Walter showing us how to age the fences (he has a lot of experience of that). Fences are not pristine, 3D printed white!”

Meet Aileen

Aileen from Hartlepool made contact about a month ago.  She had wood and some equipment that she wanted to donate in order to begin to sort out her late husband’s den. He was an avid woodworker and the garden is full of things made from planters to shelters. His workshop has some beautiful kit, some of which is being inherited by his son.

Dennis and Graham have turned up twice. On the first occasion we received some excellent lengths of timber that found it’s way to the Shed storehouse.

This time we retrieved lots of smaller (craft) pieces of wood that will be useful for the new CraftShed Wednesday activity in the Portacabin. And we received an excellent pyrography set that too will suit Wednesdays but also doubtless Brian (to put smiles on the reindeer). Also two oak offcuts from a kitchen worktop that they had fitted which are destined to be turned into chopping boards promised to Moline Cross.

There is another side of the story because it was clear to Dennis and Graham that what she was doing was also sifting through her memories. Memories of how he used to work in a sunken den that (as Graham knows) has a low lintel. She pointed to a wooden box edged with metal for strength. A lovely piece in terms of what one of the Shedders could do to make a statement piece. Aileen made a comment about it (now forgotten)  but it was clear that again it held memories. “Would you like this back refurbished?”, we said. “Would you?”, Aileen said.

Oh, yes we would.

Unloading the car this morning at the Shed

There are two desks/tables in the picture (in fact 3, one on the very left). Is any Shedder interested?

A couple of Shedders’ photos of Locomotion 1 at Billingham BIFF