We were really lucky to bump into Treasurer Jim Smith and Chairman, Archie Peebles who gave us an amazing warm welcome and a brilliant tour of the Inverurie and District Mens Shed. They have been very busy and have created an amazing space for themselves, jam packed with a fantastic array of tools for any kind of project you could imagine. We hope to be able to work together over the next part of the project and the guys were keen to help when they heard that Inverurie Hospital was our focus for improved community activity over the next 18 months or so. Graeme and I have both offered our services with Graeme providing classes for the guys in video editing and Mike acting as in-house graphic design department and a wee bit of training here also.
Jim told us “ A craft room and clean area have been created and the rest of of the building has been converted into a workshop to house woodworking and metalworking equipment and a smithy area. The conversion included the installation of electrics, water, heating, dust extraction as well as painting the floor and walls. All the conversion work was done by our own members. The wood working equipment includes lathes, saws, a planer, drills and small tools while the metalworking area is equipped with a lathe, drill, metal bending facility and the requisite accessories. In addition, there is a fully operational forge and welding facilities. A shed to house dust extractors has been built at the rear of the building and a metal container has also been installed there to provide a wood store.”
The Men’s Shed movement started in Australia and spread like wildfire. The movement grew fast as a social and workshop environment for men of all ages from 18-90+ who found themselves retired, out of work, and/or with disabilities or just plain bored. They had time on their hands and the Men’s Shed movement was born.
Grampian Hospital Art Trust 