Help us establish our Men's Shed

Would you like to help us establish a Men's Shed?

For a while now Age UK Worcester and District have been looking at establishing a Men's Shed in the local area. The time has come where we are starting to put together a steering group so we can begin to organise the shed.

So what is a Men's Shed?

A place where men and women come together to connect, converse and create. It is a great way to pursue practical interests, practical skills, building and creating. We hope that with social connections the group can build friendships through sharing skills, knowledge and just having a laugh at our shed. Activities in sheds can vary greatly and in short a shed can be whatever you (or the group) want it to be. Often you will find woodworking, metalwork, model building, electronics, repairing/restoring etc in a typical shed.

Why is it important to have a shed?

Loneliness can have a bad impact on a person's health and wellbeing. Typical research has shown that men find it harder than women to build social connections and also find it harder to share personal concerns about their health and worries. Not the case for all men, but as retirement hits it can feel like a sense of purpose or identity is lost. Men's Shed can change all of that.

Sheds are about meeting like-minded people and having someone to share your worries with. They are about having fun, sharing skills and knowledge with like-minded people and gaining a renewed sense of purpose and belonging. They reduce isolation and feelings of loneliness, they allow men and women to deal with mental health challenges more easily and remain independent. They also rebuild communities and in many cases, they save lives.

Would you like to help us?

Currently we are in the process of setting up our very own shed in partnership with Worcester Community Action (WCA). We are looking for people to either volunteer as part of the initial steering group or register to be part of the Shed itself (you can do both). Being a member of the steering group will mean that you can help give our shed it's identity and make sure that it runs as intended. Typically we would hope that the steering group can present ideas on what activities they think the shed should have, help gather members for the shed and be involved throughout to keep those who attend happy.

Download our Men's Shed poster