In March this year Beer Men's Shed was awarded our £5,000 Jeanette Gill Bronze Special Award towards the building and equipping of a new workshop.
With winter well and truly here, it is fortunate for the East Devon area that Beer Men's Shed has just opened one of the best-equipped workshops thanks to help and support from organisations across the country including Barchester's Charitable Foundation. After 20 months of fundraising, including keeping open and operational as a Support Group throughout the COVID pandemic, Beer now has a facility that can welcome twice as many men to join in its regular weekly workshop sessions.
From its beginnings in a driveway in March 2019 to having its first workshop built in October 2019, Beer Men's Shed has set its primary target as helping more and more men in Beer and the surrounding towns and villages around East Devon to deal better with any sense of loneliness, isolation or social exclusion that they may have.
Many of their members have retired from work, some have lost their partners and live on their own, and some have moved to the area from far away and do not necessarily have local friends or family.
The new workshop has created a workspace that the members feel belongs more to them than before. Being part of a team helps to improve their overall perception of themselves. Members are also able to use the new workshop whenever they wish - even outside or formal workshop sessions. "I don't know what I'd do without the Shed to go to" is something that one of the oldest members has said, partly because of the friendship that it helps to provide him, but also because he can come to the Shed whenever he feels bored.
We're really pleased that this Jeanette Gill Bronze Special Award has made a real difference to the members of Beer Men's Shed. Louise O'Sullivan from nearby Barchester Home Raleigh Manor in Exmouth represented Barchester's Charitable Foundation at the grand opening back in September.
These special awards were made possible thanks to a very generous legacy in 2019 left by Jeanette Gill, who was a resident at Marriott House Care Home in Chichester. We will launch the next and final round of our Jeanette Gill Special Awards early in the new year.