Speaker Allan Clark from Men's Sheds Association

Men’s Shed Association

Allan after a very varied career became a teacher. He is a member of the Lions and in modern parlance decided he should be described as trans-slender – he is large on the outside but thinks of himself as thin on the inside.

When he retired from teaching, he went as part time activity chair of a care home group in Burnley. He decided that one of the homes needed a cinema room, but money was tight, so he built one on the cheap for £450. This led to him being made full time. One of the activities that he did was to make Christmas decorations for residents to paint and he still does them in the Keighley shed.

After he retired from this job, he was walking through Keighley and met old friend from Lions who persuaded him to re-join the Keighley branch. When he did, he found that the club was failing because the members were all getting old, and they weren’t getting new members. With the President he started looking at other local organisations and went to view a “pop up shed” in Oakworth 

Here he found that there were both men and women attending. The men talking but doing nothing whilst the women were knitting and talking. So, he got the men interested in doing some craft wood working. Soon the women became interested in that, and it was agreed to try an experiment and the women swapped to woodwork while the men did the sewing. But only Alan stuck at it

A man from Community First Yorkshire asked the Lions to set up a Men's Shed. They needed a workshop and applied to Public Health for funds to improve men’s’ mental health. With a grant of £14,000 they bought 2 off 20 feet containers, fit them out with the necessary tools and installed them at Cliffe Castle. Alan's own workshop had flooded so he donated his tools to the project, and they also get lots of tools donated from Rotary 

After they had been going 6 months, they were commissioned to do a war diorama outside Keighley church. Since then, they have done lots of community work. Recently they refurbished 15 council benches. In March 2020 they received a service community award and won £300 vouchers from the Aagrah 

During the pandemic Community First Yorkshire gave them £500. With these they bought Airfix models and gave them to members to make and paint at home.

The group is now a mixed gender and mixed-race membership, so they call themselves the "Lions Den" rather than a Men’s Shed although they are still affiliated to the national organisation. They have recently started a new shed at Bracken Bank as they had outgrown their Cliffe Castle base. They are now doing a music, glassworks, printing, singing, laser etching and horticulture at their Bracken Bank site whilst the Cliffe Castle site concentrates on wood and craft items. They even refurbish bicycles that have been donated and sell them for their charitable funds. They also do a spoon carving course of 5 weeks at 2.5 hours per week for £100 including tools and refreshments. The tools are a basic 3-piece kit for carving. They currently have 45 members of whom there are 35 core "doers". It costs £7k to £10k p.a. to run the 2 locations in Keighley some of which is met by member subscriptions and some by sale proceeds of items and courses, as well as grants received.

The Lions Den Facebook page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057055676322 

The Men's Sheds Association website (https://menssheds.org.uk/) says that: -

"Men’s Sheds are kitted out community spaces where men can enjoy practical hobbies. They’re about making friends, learning and sharing skills. Many guys come just for the tea and banter, everyone’s welcome."

There is also a Shipley shed which started in September 2021 and meets at: -

The Cellar Trust behind the Ring O' Bells, Farfield Road, Shipley on Tuesday's from 10am to noon

Contact James Howgego Telephone: 07946 155347  Email: james.hoegego@haleproject.org.uk