Registered Charity Number 1212037Over the past few weeks Dodgy Dave has been quite unwell and hospitalised more than once. Cavalry Kevin has been a regular visitor but last Thursday Graham visited Dave late afternoon. Dave was snoring like a baby as was the patient in the next bed. Synchronised snoring…
Registered Charity Number 1212037The last week (July into August) has at last delivered some sunny and even warm days. Days when it is a joy to be able to work outside at the Shed as well as within. Not only are a couple of bikes propped up against the football…
Registered Charity Number 1212037New is not always best. We love Pre-Loved. Needing a “new” band saw we did the obvious and searched online. Many remarkably similar machines that were simply different brandings of equipment made en masse in China! However, we were fortunate to be offered a second hand considerably…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Diversity The WWII cannon takes shape. Ray’s beauty (not him but the bowl) Plus today he, DaveL and Dennis moved the large dust collector out of the machine room into the main room for Paul and Graham to do a strip down (of the machine) On track…
Registered Charity Number 1212037There’s a lot firing us up at Norton Shed. Let’s run through some of it. This is a model just made by Shedder Kevin of a World War II cannon. And here is the 2/3…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Pallet wood can be a valuable resource. First it has to be mined – meaning it needs to be dismantled and de-nailed. That’s easier said than done with some pallets. Wheelchair Steve took to making pallet wood artefacts at home, influenced by what he saw going on…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Within a week, all 10 hedgehog nesting boxes have been placed . Eight have been sold as fundraising for Stockton Hedgehog Shed project. The Stockton Hedgehog Shed (From Norton Village Facebook page) “Well how lovely. Need to give a big shout out to the Norton Men’s Shed…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Variety is the spice of life at Norton Shed. We’ve done several favours in the past couple of months. Half a dozen planters for Norton Sports Charity for their forest school centre, 20 bird box kits for 1st Ayton Scouts for a craft evening and 10 hedgehog…
Registered Charity Number 1212037On this occasion it is a good forecast! No dust clouds on the horizon either. Sanding activities are amongst the worst culprits for creating fine sawdust. We’ve been looking to solve the problem (well make a worthwhile dent in it. We had installed a ducted system two…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Tuesday 26th March 24 has been a cutting edge day. By Shedders new to the lathe and the first cut of 10 hedgehog houses. There was…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Moving into the new annex (the Stables) has given us room to do some mass production. The first order was for 5 planters for Norton Sports Charity. These are needed for the perimeter of a a woodland classroom across the railway tracks! Mick took it on with…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Brian’s Bird Boxes & Bug Hotels much appreciated by the Crem, the Council and us! Article courtesy of Stockton Borough Council BIG THANKS TO NORTON MEN’S SHED Residents being helped to “get back on their feet” through the art of woodwork have been thanked after a…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Yes, the pun is all about the lathes! Chris has pushed on in his woodturning exploits from eggs to now a platter under the guidance of tutor mentor Dennis. It’s a win win as Chris learns (joined today by Ray going to work on his egg) and…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Thank you . . . The first bit of miscellanea is a thank you from St. Mary’s Church on the Green for work done to add to the number of shop window displays for the Christmas walk through Norton and for the Shed “Christmas Tree” that went…
Registered Charity Number 1212037The washing up bowl was frozen . . that’s how cold! But the Shed the did warm up under the radiant heaters and we had a few cuppas to warm us from the inside. A varied morning as these photos show. …
Registered Charity Number 1212037The turn of the year is traditionally a time for reflection. Rob Shilson in Whitby Town Shed has penned his reflection on attending the Shed the first time 4 years ago and how it still works for him. As I approach my fourth year at Whitby Town…
Registered Charity Number 1212037In our lifetimes, indeed in the past 30 years, our ability to communicate cheaply the world over in sound and vision has been transformed. Skype, WhatsApp, Zoom, Teams . . . . or whatever allow us to be virtually in the next room. Thus Graham has been…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Being away from home in Oz means that I can only nag at a distance! There are a couple of small time windows for communication with Shedders directly so largely guys you are on your own. A genuine encouragement was to discover via our bank account that…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Stratford-on-Avon. But in Victoria, Australia Where Graham’s other son lives with family. Aussies are great copycats of place names from the home country. The River Avon in this region has two fast changing faces! One is a gentle trickle and the other is a raging flood over…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Message from Rachel Meadows of UK Men’s Shed Association [When people ask “What do we get for our membership fee to UK MSA?” Rachel is a noted part of that. Always a willing horse who helps us and who appreciates any help (and publicity) from us.] Hi…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Not Troy and no one hiding inside. It;s the wooden horse of Norton made for the Remembrance Service at Norton Sports Charity scheduled for lat weekend but cancelled due to weather and ground conditions However a display has been created of several items and there are both…
Registered Charity Number 1212037The Tree of Shed Life is being completed. That’s the title given to the artwork (!?!) to be displayed in St. Mary’s, Norton. For the rest of the year we might rent it out as a dog kennel or a holiday home for hedgehogs! There should be…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Connection, Community, Camaraderie These were the three words accompanying the Aussie 30 year badge mentioned at the end of the previous blog. Maybe we could add Contact to the list. Contact is a precursor to connection and contact is the experience met on crossing the Shed threshold…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Anthony’s Man Cave is pretty much there, despite the rain today Glazed and adjusted French windows. Completed front. Dry inside. There is some internal finishings being done this Friday, but it is a pleasing sight with an informal opening celebration at Halloween. We have a pre-loved display…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Lifts change where we are Remember “Are You Being Served” where a lift was a central feature of the setting for entrances and exits of the characters. A lift into and out of a sitcom. On a Monday Steve has a lift in his wheelchair from Ground…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Thursday is not a usual Shed day. Nor 4pm on an afternoon. That means today was unusual! This afternoon Judy of ‘Through Film’ arrived to, well, film the Shed. She was there on behalf of Catalyst (the Stockton voluntary sector oversight organisation). Through Film is a not-for-profit…
Registered Charity Number 1212037A while ago (earlier 2023) we picked up a copy of the Community Strategy for Stockton in booklet form. We started Norton Shed at the beginning of 2021, just half way through the strategy implementation period. It would nice to say that Norton Shed followed the Strategy…
Registered Charity Number 1212037At the moment Shed life is full of . . . . life. Many things that are aimed at meeting new or wider needs for people in our communities. This is an image repeated from Staithes’ Shed and is worth a thousand words. It represents dogged determination…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Festival of Thrift proved to be a busy 9 – 5 at Billingham It certainly had the atmosphere of the old Festival at Kirkleatham. However it was truncated to a one day event because of the weather forecast for Sunday. From a Sheds awareness promotion perspective it…
Registered Charity Number 1212037In Norton Shed we look to the future. Looking forward with hope is part of life’s wellbeing protection. Not fearing but looking forward. This will be the theme of things to be explained as this blog develops through the coming week. For a start, here is a…
Registered Charity Number 1212037The Festival of Thrift in Billingham takes place in two weeks time. UKMSA is sending a vertical banner to be a main focal point. On the table we plan to have items of interest and leaflets on the wellbeing, health and fun aspects of Men’s Sheds and…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Tesco In-Store Vote Update! We are delighted to let you know that your application to the Tesco Stronger Starts has been successful and your project will be put forward to a customer vote in Tesco stores. Voting will commence in store from the first week of October…
Registered Charity Number 1212037First up, some good news on funding! We have just received the good news that Norton Men’s Shed has been successful with a funding bid for £1000 to the Lottery under the Reducing Inequalities Support Fund. This allows us to implement several strands of support on the…
Registered Charity Number 1212037The Garden is flattened. Added the concrete slab apron to the decking so to all intents its finished as regards the required flatness. A few more decking screws to go in but they can be done with the Man Cave. Anthony is a very pleased customer and…
Registered Charity Number 1212037We are looking into ways that voluntary groups like Norton [Men’s]Shed can help with hospital patient support. Writing this because Sheds are a flat structure internally and it is difficult to talk to everyone about these matters. It is a variant of the Social Prescriber Primary Care…
Registered Charity Number 1212037This competition is not open to women to enter unless they are Shedders! It’s a joke, but far from a joking matter really. We, Stockton Men’s Shed (new one!) and Hartlepool Shed all received a very useful £1000 each from the Ballinger Trust. They were impressed by…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Today Graham visited RSPB Saltholme. Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It’s an interesting place that’s not just for the birds! On the way out there was a display aimed at recruiting membership staffed by a lady from Newcastle. It was a very interesting conversation because,…
Registered Charity Number 1212037Very often thinking about doing something challenging is worse than just getting on with it. We’ve talked a lot, planned a lot, asked favours a lot (but not necessarily successfully) but finally we’ve jumped into the water to find it was not that cold! Today has been…
Registered Charity Number 1212037It’s the time of year when groups sometimes hang up their work aprons and take to the deck chair. Not Norton Shed. Summer means longer days and a chance to move on with bigger jobs. We have at least two. Anthony’s Garden and the Portakabin roof. An…
Registered Charity Number 1212037 ABCD is Asset Based Community Development In Shed terms, you are an asset. You might not feel it, but you are worth something. The beauty of the Shed model is that it is nothing without the people. The Portakabin is an asset – we’d be a…
