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Last updated 01-08-2020
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.
29-12-2020
Unfortunately as we have now entered tier (tear) 4 the trustees have decided that, because of the current situation the Shed will have to remain closed until the situation eases, hopefully that won't be too long. As such the booking system has now been suspended. If there is a requirement to re-instate for a while later we shall do so.
29-12-2020
After the success of the last on-line quiz Tony has kindly agreed to hold another one - we know that it is short notice but it is going to take place after the regular Wednesday session tomorrow (30-12-2020).
Because of the current lockdown regulations we have decided to pay for our Zoom sessions from January 1st so that they will be able to extend beyond the 40 minutes. So for all of you quiz nuts the next one will be on 6th January starting at 11:45. We shall shorten the normal meeting so that you can all get a cup of tea and a biscuit before setting the old grey matter in gear again.
23-12-2020
A return to a (sort of) normality
Due to popular demand, our resident Quizmaster, Tony Crane was back in the Chair yet again for a fun Christmas Quiz held in the Titchfield Festival Theatre, Acorn Theatre on Tuesday 22nd December.
Considering the current situation there was an excellent turn-out of 13 members. It was really good to see some of the old faces again. There were biscuits, mince pies and various other Christmassy comestibles along with a lot of grins, banter and good humour. Won by Richard and the only prize was a round of applause.
We can but hope that 2021 will start to see a resumption of normal life and that we shall be able to get back into the old way of life.
14-12-2020
Our Christmas appeal is really touching our member's generosity and goodwill. We finally raised a round £500! What a fantastic response and such a nice thought that we have managed to help a few people who are down on their luck to have a happier Christmas.
Dear Milton
We would like to send a huge thank you to the members of Fareham men’s shed. Your money has helped us to help 81 families with a Christmas hampers. As you are aware this was a daunting task but with your support we were able to raise over £3000. In these unprecedented times that is a wonderful achievement.
We would like to wish all your members a happy Christmas and a peaceful new year.
Thank you and best wishes
Your sincerely
On behalf of St Vincent de Paul St Margaret Mary, Park Gate.
04-12-2020
Fiddling (8 images)
Do you remember those halcyon days of yesteryear when you were faced with that mound of lumpy mashed potatoe for school dinner, picking away at it with those overcooked peas and the teacher saying: "STOP FIDDLING and eat it up", then in the back row of the cinema with that special girl and the heavily whispered "STOP FIDDLING", and now today, you're quite happy working away in your shed and what happens, in a dulcet scream you hear - "STOP FIDDLING, dinner's ready."
Well just to confound all of those times, the Shed were asked to manufacture some FIDDLE BOARDS for an autism organisation in Portsmouth so now we can confound our history and START FIDDLING. Well done guys.
14-12-2020
Cash from Trash. (5 images)
It's hard to find many good things to say about 2020, but looking back at sales during the year there are some bright spots. We raised well over £1000 during the year, lower than usual because there haven't been many garage clearances, but still well worthwhile.
The biggest item was an Elektra Beckum wood-turning lathe in nice condition which went for £210. There was a lot of interest in it, and it's always fun to watch the bidding frenzy during the last few minutes of an auction.
Nothing else has come close to that price, but a lot of small items do mount up. Planes always sell well, and we have shifted quite a few this year. The more common ones like the Stanley No 4 tend to go for £20 to £40, but rarer models will attract much more, and it is surprising how many of them have gone to buyers in Europe, mainly France and the Netherlands.
One thing we have learned from the internet is that no matter how peculiar your tastes may be, you are not alone. And sometimes those tastes are quite respectable. Who could object to a passion for collecting oil cans? There's probably a word for it. There's certainly a Facebook page.
In one of our garage clearances we acquired two vintage oilers – see pictures below. They were both well-used, and not in great condition, but I thought they might appeal to somebody.
The conical one was so crudely made that I thought it must have been an apprentice's exercise, but under the magnifying glass I could just see the very worn remains of a Marples shamrock trademark. This design was known as the "walnut whip", for obvious reasons, and it fetched £10.
The one with the long spout, made by Braime of Leeds, had a manufacturer's logo with a nice period feel, and seems to be regarded as a classic of the genre. I was surprised to see how much interest it generated and the final bid was a very rewarding £35. But perhaps I let it go too cheaply. There's a similar one on an American site this week with an asking price of £300.
Vintage tools are often sought after by collectors. We had a couple of unusual US made adjustable wrenches from the Ridgid Tool company. I looked them up and found the firm was well-known for its workshop calendars, with scantily clad models extolling the benefits of a Ridgid Tool. Aren't you glad we've grown out of that sort of thing?
Some sales have come from our own members' donations. Thank you to Chris H for some fishing and sailing items and to everyone else who donated. Turning out my own loft, I found some of my school fountain pens that haven't been touched for over fifty years. These were old enough to be considered collectable, and sold very easily for £24. I'm sure everyone has a few items like that, gathering dust, so if you'd like them to raise money for a good cause, you know where to bring them.
During the coming year, keep an eye on our Facebook page for snippets of news about some of our more surprising sales.
Richard Bunce
14-10-2020
Macmillan Coffee Morning - Can we achieve the target? (5 images)
Thank you to everyone that took part in our Macmillan Coffee Morning raffle. We are pleased to advise that we exceeded our target with the final amount reaching
We would also like to extend a special thank you to the following who all donated the prizes:-
| Asda Newgate Lane | Titchfield Primary School | Colin Bab |
| Mick Foster | Alan Pearton | Barry Groce |
| Chris Hodgson | Tony Crane | Richard Bunce |
| Rod Parker | Rod Underwood | Fareham Man's Shed |
| Prize | Winner's name | Prize | Winner's name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bottle of whisky | Marilyn Giles | Bottle of Gin | Neville Wheeler |
| Bottle of Merlot wine | John Watham | Accurist Wrist Watch | Tony Crane |
| Garden picture Jigsaw | Richard Bunce | Yew wood Bon bon-bon bowl | Carol McBride |
| M&S Milk Chocoate Biscuits | Neville Wheeler | M&S Plain chocolate Biscuits | Richard Bunce |
| Asda gift set | Gordon Henniker | Yew wood Fruit bowl | John Camfield |
| Wooden needle case and nut bowl | Frank Wood | Box of Chocolates | Richard Bunce |
| Nostalgia signs Jigsaw | Thommo | Gardening set | Frank Wood |
| Handyman's mug | Peter Keepence | Wooden single rose vase | Cliff Jones |
| Bottle of red wine & wooden coaster | Thommo | Bottle of rum | Mike Martin |
| Wooden single rose vase | John Camfield | 2 wooden Nick Nack bowls | Peter Raven |
| Maxwell Williams coffee mug | Alan Pearton |
Just for the chuckle here is a video taken during the draw, not very professional but it's the first time that we have tried doing this from Zoom.
19-09-2020
And another major success (9 images)
Titchfield Primary School approached the Shed to create some play area activities for them. It caused one or two problems in storing the raw materials during the construction phase but thanks must go to the Theatre for allowing us to expand our floor space for the duration of the project. Let us hope that the children gain as much pleasure as the guys that made the hills, planter and shop fronts.
15-09-2020
Macmillan Cancer Coffee Morning
As the summer draws to a close we once again find the Macmillan Coffee morning is fast approaching. Sadly like just about everything else at the moment due to the pandemic this year's event must follow a different format.
Earlier in the year we managed to raise a fantastic £600 to supply material for the lady scrubbers making the scrub clothes. As this was so successful we are going to adopt a similar fundraising event.
For each £5 you pledge you will be allocated a raffle ticket. When the appeal closes on the 1st October a draw will be made for the raffle prizes that we have managed to collect. We already have a bottle of whisky and a watch donated as prizes so please look around and see what you could donate or scrounge for a prize.
In the meantime please send your pledge to Chris Hodgson at treasurer@farehammenssed.org.uk. Please ask friends and family if they would like to join in, we will just need their name and a telephone number.
Macmillan Cancer Support do a fantastic service. The £900 we raised last year covered the cost of ONE NURSE FOR ONE WEEK! So let us dig deep and see what we can do this year!We will circulate the prize list as it grows to encourage you to qualify for “another raffle ticket”!
THANK YOU.
10-09-2020
Remember those face coverings?
I know that it seems an awfully long time ago now but do you remember that a young lady (isn't it nice that at the age that most of us have reached we can call so many ladies young and get away with it or is that being ageist?) very kindly made us a bag full of face coverings, there are a few still left in the spotty bag near the sink. Well I spoke with Sarah at Moonstones the other day and she very kindly made a bouquet to present to her in thanks, so I made a quick card and dropped them round to her this morning.
I received this e-mail in return:
Hi
WOW! Beautiful bouquet, thank you all. Such a lovely gesture. Hope all is going well with the Shed in these strange times.
Very appreciative of the lovely flowers.
Regards, Vivian
Thank you Sarah from Moonstones Florist, we really are grateful for your support.
03-09-2020
Fair exchange is no robbery (4 images)
Somebody in Titchfield had an old walnut tree that was in a dangerous condition so it was cut down and the resulting raw material was offered to the Shed. Alan P and Chris H collected the spoil (I am not sure quite where it has been put) and Alan ,as a thank you for such a nice offer, very carefully cut a hole in one of the pieces and created these two beautiful little bowls from it. You must admit that walnut really does have a beautiful grain.
14-08-2020
And now that lockdown is finished these will be the last of Thomo's pictures (2 images)
That's it folks, we hope you have enjoyed watching our lockdown!
25-07-2020
Social get together
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.
08-07-2020
Thomo's been at it again (7 images)
19-05-2020
Every Shed must have one (7 images)
And Thomo is ours.
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.
Talking of holes - do you remember this one?
She could certainly have done with a bit more hair to get that bonnet to fit though.
Keep well, be careful of putting weight on and I am sure that we will all be able to meet up again in the not too distant future.
29-05-2020
A little help for the NHS frontline (4 images)
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.".
16-04-2020
Happy Easter (3 images)
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.
14-04-2020
Virtually
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.
A Total Shock
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.
All in all a very successful evening
iPad Training
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:
Remember the little girl at Stubbington Fayre?
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:
Let us hope that her hip operation has succeeded and she is now plonking away with the best of them.
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
Could the plinky-plonk orchestra become a reality
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.
Annual General Meeting (2 images)
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.
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Southern Men's Shed Network Meeting (5 images) |
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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.
Visit to Britten-Norman
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.
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Fareham Men's Shed is a charity, registered with the Charity Commision as Charity Number 1178126
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