2016 Xmas Party

On Thursday 15th December we descended on the Dog & Crook pub in Brambridge for our first Xmas dinner as a shed. 9 members and their partners attended, and an excellent evening was had by all. We were all impressed by the standard of the food which was provided at a very reasonable price.

Colden Common Craft Fair

We attended the Xmas & Craft Fair on the 20th November at the Colden Common Community Centre. The most popular items were the breadboards, while the larger items didn't sell. However, we still made a modest profit.

Visit to Bovington Tank Museum

On Tuesday 25th October 10 shedders visited the Tank Museum for their 'live firing' show. In the arena we saw some reconnaissance vehicles, a troop carrier and a centurion tank and a simulated skirmish with an invading force.. A couple of load bags, but no real firing!The museum itself was quite extensive and very interesting, with examples of tanks from the earlist onwards covering all the major countries.We could have spent more time there as there is a lot to see.

Visit to Mini Plant Mon 25th July

David Snoswell organised a trip to the Mini Plant in Oxford for a tour through the body shop and assembly lines. 14 shedders went on the trip, which proved to be extremely interesting and informative. Stopped at the Crown & Horns pub in East IIsley on the way back for a bite to eat.

The body being assembled

Mini Museum

Assembly Line

Fitting the wheels

CIO Status achieved

On the 21st July, we were informed that we had been granted CIO status by the Charity Commission:

Registered Charity Number  1168361 THE COLDEN COMMON SHED 
We are pleased to tell you that we are satisfied  THE COLDEN COMMON SHED is established for charitable purposes for the public benefit. It has therefore been entered onto the Register ofCharities with the Registered Charity Number 1168361.

We are now a step nearer to the new shed that we are planning.

Charitable Status

As it looks like we will have to plan to build a new shed, we have applied for CIO status. This will help us when applying for grants and other funding to support this new project.
We have also been given a 25.5 year lease on land behind the Terrapin building on the Church Rooms land in Colden Common, which is the planned location of the new shed.
Once the CIO status has been obtained, we will be applying for planning permission for the new shed.

New Shed Project

Nominated our project to build a new shed for The Colden Common Shed with the Jewson's Building Better Communities initiative. Hopefully we will be shortlisted so that we can move onto the next stage, which will require our local community to vote for our project.

More Hedgehog Boxes

Due to the success of the first batch of hedgehog boxes we delivered to the charity, we have been commissioned to build another 12, and work has commenced.

Small jigsaw

A small jigsaw was donated to the shed that had been dropped and thus suffered some damage, in particular, the castings attaching the saw table to the saw had been broken. So we decided to build the saw into one of the benches so that the benchtop could support the aluminium saw table. After straightening some other part and fettling the interlock switch and blade guides, we now have an operational saw.

New Equipment

By combining a grant from Winchester City Council and Hampshire County Council, we have been able to purchase the following equipment for the workshop:
Cordless Drill & Impact Driver, Jigsaw, Nail Gun, Belt & Disc Sander and a Planer/Thicknesser.
We are still assembling the planer/thicknesser, so it's picture will follow in a later blog once it is operational.

Metal Lathe

With some difficulty John, Adrian, Chris & Peter transported the Raglan Little John lathe, donated by John, to the shed. Harry is in the process of reassembling and adjusting it so that it can be used.

Coloured Glass Workshop

On Thursday 17th March, Peter, Steve, Graham and Chris attended a practical session at the workshop run by Rob Veck on creating items using coloured glass. We thought we would start simply by making feathers, but it took some time to get the hang of cutting the necessary curves in the glass. The picture shows the end results from our mornings work.

We hope to organise a further workshop session where we plan to construct small terrariums.

Clean for the Queen

On Saturday 5th March, Steve, John, Chris, Adrian and Harry joined the Colden Common work party for the 'Clean for the Queen' project. Their allocated area was New Road, including the area around the garages behind the Rec.
Here we have Chris, Adrian and Harry ready to go.

Commission for Hedgehog Homes

The shed was commissioned to construct some Hedgehog homes by a local Hedgehog charity. The first order for 5 have been completed to the specifications supplied, and are ready for sale.

Support from Hampshire County Council

Hampshire County Council's Adult Services Well-Being team are promoting Men's Sheds as an additional means of supporting men. After a meeting with the team a few weeks ago, we heard on Thursday that they have awarded us a grant for the purchase of some more equipment for the shed. The equipment to be purchased includes a planer/thicknesser and a belt & disc sander.
Many thanks to HCC for their generous support.

Inaugural meeting of Southern Men's Shed Network

On the 12th January the inaugural meeting of the Southern Men's Shed Network was held at the premises of the Copnor Men's Shed in Portsmouth. It was attended by members from 17 local sheds:

Alton Men's Shed
Andover Men's Shed
The Colden Common Shed
Copnor Men's Shed
Eastleigh Men's Shed
Gosport Men's Shed
Hamesh
Havant Men's Shed
Men's Shed Poole
Newport Garden Shed
Old Portsmouth Men's Shed
Reading - The Silvers Workshop
Romsey Men's Shed
Southbourne Men's Shed
Ventnor Shed
Waterlooville Men's Shed

Working groups will be formed to look into and report back on various areas such as promotions, insurance, grants, website, documents and joint functions. Quarterly meetings will be held to disseminate the output of the working groups, with the next meeting being at the Havant Shed on the 19th April 2016.