One year old today: Leighton Buzzard Men's Shed celebrates its first anniversary
On the 5th of September 2024 Leighton Linslade Town Council organised a meeting in one of the town's coffee shops to gauge interest in forming a Men's Shed. Sixteen local men attended that meeting and a team of six agreed to take the idea forward and investigate the possibilities. One year later, the Leighton Buzzard & District Men's Shed is a registered charity with two operating bases and approaching 30 members.
"It's certainly been quite a journey," comments Shed Chairman Ian Bickers. We began with precisely nothing except for the goodwill and support of the Town Council and assistance from our local Men's Shed Ambassador Martin Young. We were fortunate to secure some grants early on which enabled us to promote the idea of a Shed to the wider public while we scoured the town for suitable premises – and finding a home has most certainly our biggest challenge to date.
"But I'm pleased to say a solution was found and we are incredibly grateful to the Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway, who stepped into the breach by generously allowing us to use their Community Room in Pages Park for our meetings and their workshops at the Stonehenge end of the line for our woodworking and craft activities. That means that we are now possibly unique among the UK's 1,100 Men's Sheds in that we have not one but two bases for our members to enjoy!
"Consequently, the Shed is thriving – we have regular Tuesday afternoon 'drop-in' sessions at the Community Room where all are welcome to join us for a chat and a cuppa, or attend one of our guest speaker events.At Stonehenge, all manner of work is now being undertaken from personal woodworking projects to building Cinderella's coach for the Leighton Buzzard Drama Group's panto next January.
"As always, we are keen for new members to join us and I would ask anyone interested to either come to one of our Tuesday drop-in sessions in the Pages Park Community Room or call our membership hotline 07734 10 50 60 – or email us at [email protected]"
To celebrate the Shed's first anniversary, four founding members were asked to share their Shed experiences over the past year:
David Beasley, an experienced and skilled woodworker who is leading the Shed's project to build Cinderella's coach said, "The Shed is a great place for people to meet, explore ideas, learn new skills and share their own knowledge. We all have something unique to contribute, even if it's only a smile and a cup of tea! It's great to get together and talk about our lives and experiences and help each other."
Keen shedders Mick Jones, John Woodward and Trustee David Clarke wholeheartedly agreed with David's comments: "Leighton Buzzard Men's Shed has made me feel human and important again, with friendships and purpose which I thought I'd lost," said Mick, while John added, "That's exactly right – for me the Shed has rekindled the kind of camaraderie I felt when I was at work as well as giving me the chance to meet new people and learn new skills." Said David, "I feel just the same; it's a really positive organisation that brings people together. As well as being involved as a Trustee the Shed has given me the friendship back that I miss from work."
The Leighton Buzzard & District Men’s Shed
The purpose of Leighton Buzzard & District Men’s Shed is to promote the preservation and protection of men's good health for the public benefit. Membership of the Shed is open to, but not limited to, those who are retired, unemployed or have health issues. The Shed seeks to achieve its objectives through the provision of facilities for hobbies, recreation or other leisure time occupations, including practical interests, skills sharing, the learning of new skills, and helping with other community-based projects.
The Leighton Buzzard Railway is an Accredited Museum with a history linked with the sand quarrying industry around the town. In addition to equipment from the quarrying era of the local area, the railway has built up a significant collection of Great War vintage narrow gauge equipment. The National Railway Museum has placed its ‘protected’ type Simplex No. 3098 (MR1377/1918) on loan to the railway, and LBR is the base for the Greensand Railway Museum Trust’s Baldwin 4-6-0T WDLR No. 778.
The Leighton Buzzard Railway is based at Page’s Park, Leighton Buzzard, and the line runs to Stonehenge Works and Munday’s Hill, adjacent to the sand quarries which the original industrial railway was built to serve.