Men’s shed user numbers increase during first year

A MEN’s shed in Peppard has signed up more than 40 members in its first year.

Shedquarters, which is based in two portable cabins behind the war memorial hall in Gallowstree Road, has signed up
43 members since it was soft launched at the end of 2024.

Sheila Maughan, who lives in Sonning Common, set up the sheds to create a social activity for retired men in the village.

She formed a charity which raised £60,000 to fund the cabins and to kit them out with help from trustees and volunteers.

It was officially launched with an opening last June, and has an annual membership scheme which costs £90 and weekly craft sessions.

Mrs Maughan said that the space, which re-opened on Monday after the Christmas break, gives men at retirement age a place to socialise.

“A big part of our operation is for loneliness, isolation and mental health wellbeing,” she said. “There is quite a nice atmosphere in there, they seem to get on together. It’s companionship.”

Richard Feast, who lives in Caversham, is the shed’s newest member. He said he has been visiting up to three times a week since joining in October.

“I retired five years ago,” he said. “Suddenly work stops, which was like my hobby, and suddenly you think, ‘Well, what am I going to do now?’

“I did struggle for the first year but now I’m glad because there is always something to do. I’m always gardening and doing stuff at home. It’s nice to come and see the guys here.

“It’s friendly, it’s somewhere to come and enjoy a chat really and cups of tea, you can do anything you want.

“You look forward to getting out and about and it’s good, really good.”

At the shed, men have access to woodworking machinery and tools, most of which have been donated by villagers who no longer had a use for them.

Old furniture is also donated to the shed, which can be recycled into new creations. These are sometimes sold on to raise money for the shed.

Phil Williamson, 86, has been involved in the project since 2024 and helped to construct many of the benches used for woodworking in the shed.

He said many of the members have joined with little prior experience with handiwork and have picked up skills from more experienced members.

He said: “One thing we found this year, because we’ve been open since January, is the number of people who come along who don’t particularly have any skills, or less than you would expect.

“You’d think a man about the house would come in with some knowledge but we’re finding people don’t have that skill, so they come and you either give lessons and teach them, or you do the job and they help you and they learn from working with you.”

Mr Williamson said the shed has given him the opportunity to keep himself occupied with projects after running out of work to do for family.

He said: “I like working with projects. My interest in woodwork was when I retired, which was a long time ago now, and I bought some Rolls-Royce-type machinery. I was making furniture for the family and I had always done DIY but I was able to elevate it using very accurate machines.

“I was getting to an age where I felt they were too powerful for me to be able to use and I sold them.

“Here, it has given me more to go at and all of these things that I have made here, it has been an interesting thing to do.

“I have just made a headboard for a woman in the village who was recently widowed.

“She had donated some of her husband’s tools to the shed and when we collected them, she said ‘would you be able to make a headboard?’ and I made it out of re-used oak from a wardrobe that somebody donated.”

Peter Rickards, 89, of Green Lane, Sonning Common, joined the shed last May.

He said that sharing advice from his 35-year woodturning hobby has given him an opportunity to socialise which he had found difficult in other settings.

He said: “I am an only child and both of my parents worked. I was left too much on my own and so I’m used to doing things on my own rather than mixing.

“Going somewhere like the shed, I’ve got some skills to talk about that people want to know and that helps me a lot.

“I’ve always found it easier to do things with my hands to what it is to try to make friends and talk with people.

“I get a lot out of it because I meet people and it pushes my skills in different directions as well, which is something that can’t be that bad.”