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This note comes after a regional meeting of the Men’s Sheds at the Musselburgh Shed which Jim and I attended. There is also a report from Hugh on plans for what he calls the ‘non-tools’ group. It’s good to see Martin and Hugh being proactive on this and Lyall has been in touch with me regarding the other activities this group may have. Lyall has requested that a plan be made, by them, and costed for the Trustees to consider so bear this in mind when reading what he has put in based on last weeks attendance. Also a word of caution here, remember please that the notes were made to try and keep both attending and non-attending members in touch during and after Covid and I can only put into them what I glean from being around or by what I’m told so I don’t pretend to cover any, or all, of what goes on from week to week in the shed!! Anyone can write the notes and it is only by default that it falls to me each week having started it up as a means of keeping in touch over the COVID period. Thanks Iain for doing it last week! Remember also we have a members area on the website for discussion, projects and plans. I’ve asked Iain to put the what’s app message on there so ideas can be discussed with all members, not just those at the shed at any one time. Please read it and make comment when it appears.
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The men’s shed meeting in Musselburgh was attended by Musselburgh, Penicuik, MacMerry, East Linton and Dunbar and an excellent exchange of reports and views were made. I think I can summarise our position as being stable – all are doing well given the constraints we all have but some are having real problems with Location, costs and third party agreements on premises and facilities. Penicuik have moved three times and had signed a memorandum agreement with the YMCA for a ‘final’ location only to be informed the next day that the buildings were to be sold off as the YM was closing. They have had a few offers from the community so are not going to be homeless for long hopefully. Also lots of discussion on tool hire (to non members) and all I’ll say on that is that if we ever went down that road it would have to be with a dedicated person in control, with all the necessary qualifications for assessing the capability of the hirer, dealing with insurance and breakages of the tools etc. etc. Sharing of premises and ‘community’ rather than Men’s Sheds was also discussed, we are fortunate that the facility provided by the scouts allows us to mix informally with other groups which is not so easy elsewhere.
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Last Monday, Alistair, Jan and Alex were at the British Heart Foundation shop at Dalry to assemble furniture. I think it all went well, hope they got a cup of tea. At the shed on Monday we had yet another clear up and started to make places for different materials as well as making a few more bags of firewood ready.
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I mentioned at the start that the notes were to keep members in touch. I had a call from Bill Coleman just before I went up north asking if we could help with his garage door which had a wire snapped and it had Jammed. Bill has a frozen shoulder and could not do anything on his own with regard to repairing it and a contractor would come but at considerable price. Bill was not looking for a freebie, just a sensible review of what was required. I said to Bill I’d come and have a look but it would be after I had come back from up north and he was happy with that. I saw Bill on Monday afternoon and we got the door straightened and secured. He’s going to get a repair kit from screwfix and myself and hopefully a.n. other will go and fully fix it in due course. Bill has not been at the shed since before COVID due to various issues but he still keeps in touch via the notes and website and was up to date with our goings on at the shed! I note his lathe was set up on a bench so he does not need the one we are using!! He is happy to make a donation to the shed for helping him to sort this out.
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Hugh has texted me the whats app message so I’ll include it here. also. Following a brilliant week 1 where 12 people attended Martin’s Raspberry Pi demonstration and fed ideas into Hugh’s discussion re potential outings (wet, dry, and both!)
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Tomorrow we will have enough equipment to break into small groups and get hands on with Turing Tumble, marble computer, emulators of TT on iPads, Raspberry Pi, and Pico. This hands on session should engage with everyone and over a few weeks we can plan projects. The TT emulator is free online and if you have a tablet or pc you will be able to practice at home. There are about 40 tutorials and I’m getting to my “pen pusher” limits at about 23. Group work will definately be required.
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I have a couple of iPads that can be borrowed by arrangement
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We will ensure we have physical breaks and opportunities to swap tasks. Hope to see you there
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As I was not there I can offer no more. I know Lyall has talked to Hugh so I hope they see it through to an ongoing plan.
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On Friday I will be sorting out some display boards for the Meeting in Juniper Green Community Hub on Monday where the shed will have an input aloing with many others. Allister, Ron, Stewart and myself have signed up to go (so far).
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Finally I hope that we can welcome Scott back on Friday, even for a short time, we miss you Scott so hopefully your health has improved enough to come and see us again.
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