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Last updated 01-08-2020
Disclaimer
It is regretted that The Fareham Men's Shed must decline requests for assistance from the general public. This is because shed members would not be insured when working outside of the shed environs, and any coverage for accidents both to shed members and a third party would be nullified.
01-08-2020
Workshop booking forms for use during the COVID-19 crisis
Select the relevant link to reserve your space in the SHED.
Please put your proper name (the one that we know you as) on the reservation form so that we know who is coming without having to do the detective work.
Could this be the end of the beginning, or should it be the beginning of the end. My brain is all messed up over things like this BUT in an effort to restart activities an initial social meeting has been arranged at the Old Barn in Mill Lane, Titchfield. Subjects to be discussed will include CV19 rules that will need to be implemented and quite how we can actually get back into a more normal way of life.
This meeting is in addition, not in place of, the Wednesday Zoom. If you would like to join the Zoomers but have misplaced, lost or just plain forgotten the details drop an e-mail to conference@farehammensshed.org.uk and we shall respond as quickly as possible.
A selection of the latest friends that he has obviously made.
He has been amusing residents by posing a skeleton around the estate - I knew he had one but obviously in these times he must have been getting lonely so he must have moved in with a friend. I just hope that they weren't playing golf before lockdown began to be lifted this month.
I thought that all adjustments had been made and that the figures ended up with Chris Lane's ladies receiving £199 and John Wathen's ladies £372 making a total of £571 GREAT RESULT -
I WAS WRONG, Chris H gave the TRUE final figures at the ZOOM meeting earlier and it was £600 total,
£200 to Chris's Fareham Scrub Hub and
£400 to John's Portsmouth and Southampton Team Scrubbers
John W. has become involved with some local Scrubbers.
Quote from John W.
"My wife Judy is very happy that she can use her skills to help protect people working on the frontline of the NHS. She says she’s a happy scrubber and will have completed 30 sets of scrubs within the next few days.".
The scrubs enable the NHS staff to wash and change their working outfit protecting themselves and patients. Many staff do not usually wear uniforms and normal channels of distribution in the NHS cannot cope with the demand for scrubs protective uniforms.
At a recent Zoom meeting we discussed whether there was a way that we could help such a worthy cause and the decision was made to make a donation of £100 to them. Unfortunately we could not make such a donation from Shed funds as it would be illegal so we asked our members to contribute via the Shed to this cause by making pledges now and passing the money to Chris H when we can get back together. In the meantime £100 which was paid by one of the Trustees on our behalf. That's only about £2 each and each set of these RE-USEABLE scrubs cost about £8.00. In the end our pledges added up to that fantastic figure at the start of this article!
The leader of the Scrubbers, Lin Gell, is coordinating over 200 volunteer seamstresses in Portsmouth and Southampton. So far the Team Scrubbers have made over 4000 sets of scrubs. These have been distributed to UHS, QA Hospital, Hospices, Gosport War Memorial Hospital, Community Carers i.e. mental health staff and Doctors Surgeries.
Local industry such as sail makers are helping where they can, for example by allowing the Scrubbers to use their tables to cut the material.
The money needed to pay for the materials such as fabric, thread, labels and tape has been donated by Individuals and community groups such as Gosportarians, Rotarians and many more and now including our Shed.
John Camfield - "So over a few days before Easter I have been giving a number (30) of Easter bunny designs away. As I live next to a large green, children and dog walkers are seeing them and have been taking them either for themselves or for other children (hopefully), When I first put them out I am glad to say that the green had been empty all day, we are all obeying the rules and staying in. stay safe all"
What a nice thought John, it's just a shame that I wasn't allowed out to get a couple for my grandchildren - hopefully they brought a smile to some other children's faces.
Well we had our second Zoom virtual meeting on the 8th of April (I didn't dare try to do anything for the first meeting on the 1st of April). It went extremely well although for the next one we will have to force some etiquette rules, it's hard to learn to only allow one person to speak at a time but I think that we might have cracked that one - we'll try it on the 15th.
Pleased to report that everybody that logged on seemed to be in fine fettle and managing to cope with the lockdown rules. Let us hope that we can soon get back to normal and meet face to face again.
Came as a bit of a shock the other morning - Rod suddenly turned round and asked "You doing anything this evening 'cause the Crofton W.I. have asked if we could fill in for a speaker who has gone AWOL?" How could we say no. So Rod and I turned up at 8 o'clock and went into our spiel. Problems with the projector (always seem to happen when you are rushing doesn't it?)so Rod filled in while the situation was resolved by their techie.
After that all went well and I think that about 50 ladies were quite enthralled . Tea, cake, a very appreciative audience (I think), £30 for the funds and a couple of requests for objets d’utilisation.
Hampshire Libraries will be running a two session training course for iPad users. If you think that you could do with brushing up on some of your skills or if you are thinking of buying an iPad then this may help you to decide whether or not it would be a wise investment
If you do not currently own an iPad you should be able to borrow one from the tutor—Numbers will have to be given as soon as possible.
By the end of the course you should be able to:
Demonstrate the basic connections and controls
Setup your tablet with an Apple ID and iCloud account
Recognise common symbols and terms associated with iPads
Select, organise, open and close apps from the home screen
Adjust basic settings including connecting to wi-fi
Find and install music, films, etc form the iTunes Store
Use common gestures to operate your tablet
Find and install apps in the App Store
Use the camera and video recorder
Dates for the course were set for 1st and 8th April - each day consisting of a 2½ hour session from a 10:30 to 13:00. but as man proposes and god disposes that has obviously proved impossible. New dates will hopefully be arranged when we have finished with lockdown assuming that we still have an active library service.
If this is a success then they have offered to run a similar course for the Android operating system, the one that powers most non-iPhones and non-iPads. I know that I am in need of such a course and it would prove a very good comparison of the different device's abilities.
I have been in touch with the mother of the little girl that bought a plinky-plonk at Stubbington Fayre. Chris H told us about this lass and how she wasn't interested in one of Oliver's football rattles but really took a shine to a plinky-plonk. Well her mother has now written me a few short words, It really puts the usefulness of these little things in perspective:
I got my daughter a ping tin (her name for it) at our local summer fate.
My daughter is 7 yrs old and has PVL with secondary cerebral palsy affecting her right side. She's has limited use of her right hand and poor concentration with toys, only playing with something for a very short time before wanting something else.
When we got the ping tin she played with it all afternoon and into the evening, she asked for it the following day and again played for long periods.
She recently went into hospital for major hip surgery and the first thing I packed was her ping tin knowing it would keep her occupied for some of the long days ahead.
It's a fantastic invention and we wouldn't be without it now
Let us hope that her hip operation has succeeded and she is now plonking away with the best of them.
Oliver's plinky-plonks have always been an item of interest and comment wherever we have exhibited them but now they have gone beyond that. Oliver gave one to 1Community for sale, the manager from the Adults' Health and Care Centre spotted it and thought that it might be of use to some of her clients who suffer from autism so with Oliver's approval she gave it to her - the guess proved correct and Oliver has been busy creating new ones ever since. Perhaps one day we may be entertained by a plinky-plonk orchestra. She also has one of his hand crafted football rattles (takes all sorts).
"Just to let you know that the instruments have been very popular with people, especially when they are showing off about their football team winning a match. They have been kept in my office in between music sessions for safe keeping and lots of different service users like to visit me each day and they sit and play me a tune on the other instrument (I don’t know what it is called) it has such a lovely, well-tuned sound.
Can you please pass on our many thanks"
Day Opportunities Manager, Adults’ Health and Care, Fareham Community Link
ps. The 'other' instrument is an African one which pre-dates western instruments such as the harpsichord, cornamuse and virginal by a few thousand years yet they are still in everyday use in the continent. Originally made from wood and bamboo, with the advent of metal they turned primarily to wood sound boxes with metal tines.
Oliver has started to manufacture westernised versions of these instruments which changed their title to Kalimba in the 1950s, using such ‘junk’ materials as old cycle spokes, concrete reinforcing rods, tobacco tins and hacksaw blades but basically they are the same instrument.
Well the AGM went off spiffingly well. Heidi from Asda appeared with offerings of biscuits and other commestibles but unfortunately couldn't stay for the meeting. Jenny from Community First arrived as our guest of honour. Just as we were about to settle down for the business somebody did something and set the fire alarm off. Thank goodness the weather was at least partially kind to us - cold but no rain, and of course like every other fire alarm I have come across it was neither real nor a test. Still it all added to the fun.
A presentation from Peter R, chair and Chris H, money. Then Kevin from TFT gave us a short presentation on where the Theatre is at the moment as far as future developments are concerned which after all of the rumours that have been circulating lately put many members minds at rest I think. And that was just about that. Three trustees resigned as per the rules and were duly re-elected in the most part. We have two new trustees, Barry Groce and Frank Masters. Neville has very gently passed the job of membership secretary to Frank.
Other than that everything remains as before. The so-an-so's finally managed to get me into one of the pictures kindly taken by Jenny - we're not inviting her again.
Well it was an EXCELLENT event, 29 visitors from, I think, 12 different sheds. At the start there was concern that we would not have enough food, then when it was all laid out it was thought that there was far too much. In the end it ALL went. Thanks guys (and partners maybe) for the excellent offerings.
I think that our visitors were reasonably well impressed. Certainly a fair few of them remarked about the opulence of the venue. Visits were made to the Shed itself and luckily nobody tripped over anything on their way.
Graham opened the event with a welcome to which Peter R responded by telling everybody how to escape and where to go if the old bladder started to worry anybody. Rod P then gave an excellent early history of the Shed followed by Chris N bringing everybody up to date. Graham from the SMS Network gave a chat on how important Health and Safety was to every member and it was good to hear that from the 500+ sheds nationwide, as far as he knew there had NEVER been a personal injury claim. Then off to sample the amazing range of comestibles.
Once that was over Rod's guide to stripping (wire) was followed by Chris N's story of the plinky-plonks, Tony C's suggestion that we co-operate with other sheds on visits, Chris H's guide to where and how to obtain cash and Richard B's description of his work on E-bay finishing with questions and an invite to all to visit the Isle of Wight's Shed fest this year.
Once again thanks to all Shed members who got involved. It was well worth the effort and we can hold our heads high after a such a great turnout. Let's just hope that all of our visitors who parked at the Hotel remembered to book in. Also we must mention Scott from the Theatre staff who stayed and looked after the sound for us - Thanks Scott.
Planning is in early stages for a visit to the Britten-Norman facility at Daedalus. Britten-Norman are the designers and manufacturers of the well-known Islander and Defender aircraft.
The current position of this event is that they have asked for what sort of numbers would be involved in the visit. If you are interested could you please let Chris Nixon or Tony Crane know, we do not know what the limit will be we shall run this one purely on a first come first served basis.
