WHAT WE'VE MADE

BOAT REFURBISHMENT:

One of our supporters, a gentleman named Marek Mozolowski got in touch with Glen and asked if we would like a longer term project. Glen went to see it and it was a bit of a shock to see a boat!

It's a 1961 GP14 Class sailing dinghy. Fully complete with a new alloy mast and new towing/launch trailer, plus extra sets of sails. Marek loved the idea of what Mens Shed does and offered us the boat for free!

The Shedders were asked, at last Christmas dinner by displaying a photo of the craft if they would be interested. That's when Shedder Billy Doyle became Captain Billy. He wanted to lead the project, being a coachbuilder by trade.

We then bought the sanding equipment, paint and varnish to complete it and now only need to buy a few small items before we set sail at the Fife based Fife Sailability. A sailing group that gets disabled out sailing by using adapted boats etc. The boat insurance is very expensive so after a few sailings we aim to sell it to add funds to the Shed.

3d printing:

Initially our Shed was just a Classroom in the High School so not easy to get practical projects started. We had an idea that a 3D printer might get the Men involved more. So, we had funding in the bank to cover IT/Start up equipment, so we bought it. At only £183 we couldn't go wrong.
The Only thing was, by the time it arrived, we had been given our new premises!

Poppy Scotland:

One of our supporters is local Community Councillor, Lynne McKay, who is also the local rep for Poppy Scotland. She got in touch asking if we could help with this years extra efforts as it was the 100th anniversary of the end of The Great War. Lots of things on this year were being thought up. She thought that Giant Wooden Poppies might look good at the War Memorial as well as sell them to the public for their own gardens/tubs, to generate funds. We took on the project, especially as some Shedders were military Veterans. The wooden blanks were cut out and donated by East Neuk Campervans, which one of our Shedders is an employee and the paint was donated by local business, Spotless Oven Clean and the poppy stakes timber was donated by B&Q Dunfermline. Around 9 of the Shedders worked on them over 6 months.

Glass making:

One Shedder, Sandy, joined and mentioned he repaired Stained Glass windows! Glen asked if he might do a wee demo for the guys. We found quite a few wanted a go so we now have a permanent work station to make more and have asked for funding to add 3 more stations and stock.

Bird Houses:

A Shedder, Alan T. has his own workshop and really good computer aided designer (CAD) and already created the designs for small birds boxes, in accordance with the RSPB. Using timber from our stocks he made another 12 for our Shed to sell for funds. He also made his own oil and wax to weather proof them. They all sold easily.

Stone Masons:

Forth Valley Shed were approached by The Engine Shed,Stirling https://www.engineshed.scot/ to offer to run a Stonemasons day course for free. They arrange for Historic Environment Scotland to run the Course.
The FV Chairman had extra spaces so offered them to mens shed. Six of us went along and enjoyed it. We made contact with The Engine Shed rep and arranged a course at our Shed for next year. https://www.historicenvironment.scot/

Santas Sleigh:

The local Rotary Club inherited the Sleigh from the old Kinross Round Table. It was long overdue for a refurb. We have a Rotarian in our Membership, Phil Teale, who asked us if we could give the Sleigh a good safety check, fix broken lights and give a new coat of paint.
As the Rotary have been a great source of previous funding, we said yes with time drawing near for its use. We have agreed to carry out major work on it for next year.