Despite the name, ‘Men’s Sheds’ are not primarily concerned with buildings – the Shed is the people! Therefore, the building of a shed is all about getting a group of people together, understanding and deploying their skills, firing their imagination and creativity and developing a sense of shared ownership of – ‘our shed’! But a building is certainly a vital part of the journey!
Every Men’s Shed evolves in its own way because no two sheds will ever have the same mix of skills, interests, characters and local conditions. However, there are several stages along the road that are common to the development of most sheds, although the order in which they happen can vary! The Main Areas of focus in Building a Men’s Sheds and should be considered are as follows:
- Raising Awareness.
- Forming ‘The Action Group’
- Adopting a constitution.
- Choosing The Officers.
- Setting Up Essential Organizational Structures.
- Finding Premises.
- Reaching Out & Engaging with the Community.
- Setting up the building.