News - June 2018

June brings tulips, lilies, roses

fills the children's hands with posies

Tulips in June! Really?

Bob Mackinnon Saves The Day

It seems like ages since the Greystone's House summer fete! Men's Shed were tasked with erecting (3) small marquees but on the day found one was broken! Bob saved the day with a replacement marquee from home. Firman Sam would have been impressed! Thanks to Bob, Nick Mowll, Jerry Russell and Chris Waddilove who came along to help.

New Workbench / Workshop layout / tools

Barry Atkinson and Chris Waddilove completed the installation of the new workbench. The plan is to make the work bench across the far wall the "metal working" bench and the metal working vice is currently in the process of being moved.

The coat rack has been moved and two DeWalt charging points are now wall mounted to save bench space.

There is a "clamp rack" on the wall over the new bench and the cupboard unit is now wall mounted - thanks Chris and Jerry!

Peter Barnes has started working on a high stool for the workshop

The bench polisher is finally restored with a polishing wheel and a wire wheel - Chris and Nick

We have two new blades for the band saw - maybe someone who knows what they are doing could fit a blade and set the machine up ready to use

And finally, we have a new fine tooth panel saw purchased with the accumulated unclaimed change from Mudeford Club lunches

Rapier 500 Bench Plane

These planes were produced in Gateshead by the Anglo-Scottish Corporation. The Rapier 500 was a recent donation and is equivalent to a Stanley / Record No. 5. The blade just needed a little work to restore the edge and the plane is ready to be used.

Was I disapointed when Peter Barnes elected to use the Black & Decker power plane.. The Rapier is a lot quieter and does not produce dust!

Visit to Sammy Miller Museum

This was "A Grand Day Out" to quote Wallace & Gromit. The tour of the museum was interesting but the best bit was the tour of the workshop by the great Sammy Miller himself. Sammy chided us for retiring far too early as in his words, the world needs people who can make things and not just push buttons!

We also got to see the art exhibition with (3) paintings by our very own Bob Mackinnon!

Mystery Padlock

Bob Wood tracked down the "key" to the mystery key-less padlock he brought in earlier. If you didn't see it, the "key" is just a flat strip of metal which fits into the recess on the outside of the padlock. The hasp is then released as if by magic! The key does not appear to be magnetic so I am still not sure how the thing works - perhaps it is magic!

Mystery Clock Face

The clock face divided into 300 increments remains a puzzle. We have determined that a clock mechanism running at 18,000 beats divided by 60 = 300 which can be sub divided into 60 increments of 5 equal to the 60 minute marks on a standard clock face. The question remains, was this simply a decorative feature or was there a practical use? Les has contacted the UK horological society so maybe he will have an answer for us soon..........

John Blakeman - Birthday boy

John was ## last week - can't reveal his age but he might qualify as our youngest member. He brought a chocolate & orange cake to Greystone's which went down a treat with our mid morning cuppa. Beats one biscuit any day!

Mudeford Club Lunches

Our monthly lunches continue to be a popular event - the dates for the next 6-months are as follows:

• July Friday 20th

• August Friday 24th

• September Friday 21st

• October Friday 19th

• November Friday 23rd

• December Friday 21st (To be confirmed)

Search for a new Men's Shed Workshop

Following on from a positive response by our members, the committee is actively pursuing the potential new "shed" at Somerford. The trustees of the existing facility are understood to be in favour of our outline plan for the building. Our next step is to set up a meeting to discuss and document a formal agreement between the two parties.

New Members

Welcome to all of our new members. Jeff Girard, John Shears and Christopher Nicholls came along to either our Room 11 meetings or dropped into the workshop. John Blakeman who has been waiting to join for some time has finally made it to his new house in Highcliffe

Who Wants to be on Television?

Raise The Roof Productions have contacted us regarding the 2018 Kirstie Allsopp Christmas series for Channel 4 looking for "the UK's most talented makers" to feature in the show. I have attached a "flyer" with more details! No need to be modest - just let me know if you think you have TV star potential.

Next Meeting

Our next room 11 meeting at Greystone's house will be on Tuesday 3rd July starting at the usual time of 2.00 pm

Hope to see you all soon,

John Pegram