18 Jun Outdoor Library Coming Soon By Heatons’ Men In Sheds
Heatons’ Men in Sheds (HMIS) is delighted to have been asked by Jonathan Alcock & Sons to build and install a library box outside their premise in Cheadle, Stockport.
The concept is “Take a book. Leave a book. When you have read it return it and take another.”
It is hoped that this library will include several books that will be helpful to those bereaved particularly some especially selected for children.
HMIS is a voluntary group that aims to tackle social isolation in older members of the community. Our Shed provides a setting where people can socialise, work together, learn new skills and share their own skills. We were founded in 2018 and from the outset have enjoyed the hospitality of St Pauls, Heaton Moor, where we have converted the church under croft into a well-equipped, safe and productive workshop.
Our formal meeting times are Mondays 1pm to 2pm in the Church Hall, 2pm to 6pm in the workshop and Wednesdays 5pm to 9pm in the workshop. However, we have several keyholders who open the shed most days and notice of opening is spread through our closed WhatsApp group.
We have members from all over Stockport and Greater Manchester, with a wide variety of skills, included amongst our number are engineers both mechanical and chemical, a firefighter, a welder, several computer programmers, telecom experts, a driver trainer, a college lecturer, and a Jaffa Cake maker. All enjoy working together having a chat and enjoying the general banter. And of course, drinking tea.
Our first project was the black and white signs on Heaton Chapel Station. Since then, we have been commissioned by numerous organisations to carry out a wide variety of projects we have repaired, restored and built from scratch, notice boards, planters, benches, window boxes, gates, bird boxes, fairground games, cut-outs of Christmas trees, easter eggs, clouds and many other items. Organisations commissioning projects from us include Lyme Park, South Manchester Swifts and many different schools, churches and libraries.
We also collaborate with Sustainable Living in the Heatons and St Pauls Church, on two joint projects. We help run the Heatons Repair Café once a month and we have developed a short course “DIY for Beginners” a four-session course covering hammers & nails, screws & screwdrivers, jobs in the garden, making a bird or bat box, assembling flat pack furniture and erecting a shelf on different wall types.
Social events also feature on our calendar and include days out on canal boats, visits to museums like the Avro Heritage Museum, snooker afternoons and festive lunches.