News - August 2018

August brings the sheaves of corn

Then the harvest home is borne

Tools acquisition

Thanks to everyone who came along to help move the tools and equipment from the workshop in Wildown Road. They are presently stored variously at Greystone's House, Les Mercer's garage and the new "shed" at Somerford. We are now the proud owners of a cracking wood working lathe, large drill press, floor standing band saw, scroll saw, small band saw, several routers, tables and cutters, a radial arm saw, dust extraction system, belt sander and many other smaller items. We still have to tackle the two remaining machines, a universal woodworking machine and the floor standing circular saw!

Social lunch & new Shed preview

Our next Mudeford club lunch is on Friday 24th August starting at the usual time of 12.00 noon. All members are invited to meet up prior to that at the Somerford Road "shed" at 11.00 am to take a look inside. The building is opposite the Somerford Youth Club in Bingham Road, Post Code: BH23 3AH

General meeting

Our next general meeting at Greystone's House will be on Tuesday 4th September starting at the usual time of 2.00 pm when we would like to hear your ideas for how the Somerford building could be re-purposed as a Men's Shed workshop and to determine what facilities we want to have before going ahead to obtain quotes and apply for grants.

This will be your chance to influence the direction the Christchurch Men's Shed takes over the next few years so don't miss out! Come along with your ideas and give us your input. It is a big project with great potential and for everyone to get involved. Items for discussion so far include:

• woodworking area
• metalworking area
• small projects area
• social meeting area
• storage for materials and equipment
• storage for work in progress
• toilets / sinks / kitchen
• new roof / solar panels / insulation
• addition of a mezzanine floor
• new front elevation to the building / access doors / fire escapes
• disabled access / stair lift

Materials available

Knight Brown have offered us a large quantity of weathered wooden posts approximately 150 mm diameter x 1000 mm long. They could be used for garden projects and I had an idea they could be used for wood turning practice (if they are not full of nails). The posts are free for us to collect but they need to be picked up in the next couple of weeks. If anyone can make use of them either for personal or community projects, let me know.

That's it for August - summer holidays are nearly over so it’s time to start thinking about those autumn projects.

See you all soon,

John Pegram