The Poole Men's Shed started life in October 2014 using premises kindly provided by Poole Maritime Volunteer Service.
In January 2015 we secured our current premises at Limelights, Canford Heath, Poole. It needed some tidying.
Garage tidied, floor painted & workbench built by Franco. By the end of February 2015 the garage looked like this.
In March 2015 we started with simple things, hard at work with paper mache! (We have no tools yet!)
Thanks to John Knowlton, we now (April 8th 2015) have cupboard units above the workbench.
And now (April 29th 2015) we have a huge vice bolted to the workbench.
On the 6th May 2015 we were generously donated an assortment of tools by Mark Snare.
May 13th 2015 more tools! Purchased by Keith Hawkins from an anonymous friend and donated to us.
Getting to grips with our new mitre saw. Under close supervision by Dave.
April 2017. Our new workbench area with some of our new toys - sorry I mean tools!
November 17th 2016 Poole Men's Shed became a charity.
(A Charitable Incorporated Organisation)
Click the button to view our Registration Certificate 👉
In December 2017 Poole Men's Shed was awarded a grant from the Borough of Poole CIL fund to enable us to build a new shed.
April 2018. Planning permission was granted for our new shed.
Before any work can start on-site, a new lease for the land needs to be prepared by and agreed with Borough of Poole.
May 2018 - No lease yet.
June 2018 - No lease yet.
July 2018 - Still no lease.
August 2018 - No lease.
September 2018 - Still waiting.
October 2018 - No Progress.
November 2018 - No lease yet.
December 2018 - We have now had our grant for 1 year but have nothing to spend it on!
January 2019 - At last! We are informed that our request for the lease has now been cleared by all the necessary committees and has now been passed to the Legal Department.
January 23rd 2019 - Letter recieved stating that we now have a "Tenancy at Will". This allows us to start preparatory work on-site. BUT still no lease!
January 24th 2019 - Work starts on our site. Installing soakaways.
February 7th 2019 - Work prior to fitting drainage channels.
February 20th 2019 - Drainage channels and soakaways all fitted. Job done!
February 20th 2019 - And then our esteemed Chairman arrives to put his stamp of approval on the job and ends up putting his foot in it!
April 8th 2019 - At last! CIL grant money is in our bank! Only took 17 months! Time to order our new shed.
June 2019. Electrics to garage installed and connected. Now just awaiting delivery of new shed building.
June 15th 2019 - Door from garage into compound area fitted.
July 9th 2019 - our new shed arrives! See our blog for photos 👉
October 9th 2019. Shed fitting out progress. See photos on our blog 👉
January 8th 2020. Tidying the site, which included removing a dead tree stump. Many members helped in its removal and Dave turned up just in time to take some credit!
March 24th 2020. Pandemic LOCKDOWN! (Although some Shed fitting out work by a small team was able to continue).
July 19th 2021. Freedom Day! Removal of most restrictions.
August 11th 2021. Getting back to normal.
December 11th 2021. Poole Men's Shed Christmas Dinner at The Bridge House restaurant, Poole. Alan Hawkins, our Secretary, was presented with a Lifetime Membership Award for all his unstinting work since our inception in 2014. See "Our Blog" for photos 👉
January 12th 2022. Final installation of dust extraction system in workshop.
December 31st 2022. Our membership reaches 55 members.
April 12th 2023. Poole Men's Shed AGM. Alan Hawkins (Secretary) and Eric Tripp (Membership Secretary) resigned after many years service to be replaced by Peter Dryden (Secretary) and Michael Paul (Membership Secretary).
June 2023. Brian Stapely starts Wood turning tuition for members.
