The thread on 'enclosures' for projects has developed into a 'Men In Sheds theme', which I think is worthy of a topic in its own right, rather than to take the original thread further off topic. 'Men in Sheds' is particularly relevant to forum members who don't have a well equipped workshops with such equipment as bandsaws. As well as making equipment enclosures, there's the repair and refurbishment of 'woodie' cabinets which might be relevant to 'Men in Sheds'.
I hope the thread is sufficiently relevant to the forum, but I'll respect the judgement of the moderators in that regard.
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Originally Posted by Dave Moll
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Originally Posted by paulsherwin
I get the impression that the Men's Shed Association isn't as well established in the UK as it is in Australia. There isn't a branch in Oxford, for example, a city of around 150,000 people. There does seem to be one about 10 miles to the south though, south of Abingdon in the middle of nowhere.
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There used to be a "Men in Sheds" workshop in Cockermouth, run by Age UK. Unfortunately, it has now closed down. |
There's a 'Men In Sheds' about 1/4 mile from me on the outskirts of my village to the west of Hull. They're open on Tuesdays and Thursdays 1000 till 1600. I have no involvement in it, but I believe it's quite well equipped and well supported. I’ve no doubt that any ‘Men In Sheds’ group will have the equipment to enable wooden boxes for projects to be made, (bandsaws, planer/thicknessers etc), albeit the local group seems to focus mainly on making ‘planters’ and other garden equipment, probably because there’s an ongoing demand for such things.
I can understand why many areas are devoid of 'Men in Sheds' groups.
Apart from finding suitable premises and kitting it out with equipment at a sensible cost, there's the ongoing costs of premises rental, heat, light, power, insurance etc. - to some extent, possibly offset by income from members subs and sales of manufactured items. The main hurdle with all such organisations is that there are often lots of people who want to join them, but there's a dearth of people who are willing and competent to run them in this litigious age.
The first requirement is a committee of competent people to deal with all statutory aspects, especially where workshop equipment is concerned. Notably health and safety issues, PAT testing, risk assessments, accident procedure/First Aid, a written health and safety policy, asset register, insurance, data protection, safeguarding and supervision of vulnerable adults, disabled access, finance and so forth. In many respects, similar requirements to those of an employer.
The smaller the membership, the harder it is to form a committee who are willing and competent to take on such responsibilities. As we live longer, there’s an increasing need for such organisations as ‘Men In Sheds’ but given the onerous responsibilities, not so many with the drive and desire to set them up and run them, which is rather a shame, though understandable.
I'm secretary of a Woodturning Society with 50 members and know all too well just how involved this has become.
As an example, it's a condition of our public liability insurance that anyone such as a visiting demonstrator must have their own public liability insurance. We send potential demonstrators a letter asking them to confirm this in writing. Recently, a demonstrator responded to say he didn’t have any cover and that he’d demonstrated at other clubs who hadn’t asked him for it, so he assumed that they covered him. (They use the same insurance scheme that our Club and most other GB Clubs do, so he wasn't covered).
If the demonstrator caused an accident or sustained one, if negligence is found, the liability for any claim would be declined by the Club's insurer, so would be directed against the committee members of that club ‘jointly and severally’. Thus if one committee member lived in a rented house and had no assets, but another lived in a £500k house and had £250k in the bank, the latter would end up homeless and penniless, but the former would be unaffected. A competent committee is aware of such risks, and reads the small print of their insurance policy requirements and complies with them, but clearly, not all do.
I'm not whinging about this - as a member of a competent committee of a well-run hobby club we see to it that we do meet all requirements, and that's as it should be.
It would be interesting to hear from anyone who is involved with a Men in Sheds Group in the UK.