What are Sheds?
Sheds (or Men’s Sheds) are similar to garden sheds – a place to pursue practical interests at leisure, to practice skills and enjoy making and mending. The difference is that garden sheds and their activities are often solitary in nature while Sheds are the opposite. They’re about social connections and friendship building, sharing skills and knowledge, and of course a lot of laughter.
Sheds are whatever the members (or Shedders as we call them) want them to be. Although labelled sheds, they often aren’t sheds at all. They can be empty offices, portable cabin’s, warehouses, garages, and in at least one case, a disused mortuary. Some Sheds are purpose built workshops, but they rarely start out that way. Many don’t have premises at all in the beginning and instead form a group that meets regularly for the social connection, company and camaraderie until they can find somewhere to kit out with tools. Many Sheds get involved in community projects too – restoring village features, helping maintain parks and green spaces, and building things for schools, libraries and individuals in need.
Activities in Sheds vary greatly, but you can usually find woodworking, metalworking, repairing and restoring, electronics, model buildings or even car building in a typical Shed. Sheds typically attract older men, but many have younger members and women too. Whatever the activity, the essence of a Shed is not a building, but the connections and relationships between its members.
Cambourne Shed
Cambourne Men’s Shed formed in November 2022 as an Unincorporated Association. Taking inspiration from the activities of the UK Men’s Shed Association, the Shed was formed principally to help combat isolation, loneliness and lack of activities amongst retired men.
In January 2024, the Shed Committee decided to change the name of the group to Cambourne Shed and open membership to anyone aged 18 or over (subsequently altered to aged 21 or over).
The objectives of Cambourne Shed are:
- To promote social inclusion for public benefit through the provision of a facility particularly for, but not exclusively for, men at risk of being socially excluded.
- To prevent social exclusion by promoting the opportunity for friendships, social engagement and skill sharing in a safe and enjoyable environment, in which members can meet and carry out creative projects acceptable to the Shed and of their own choosing, individually, jointly and for the benefit of the wider community.
- To promote good health and wellbeing to its members through active participation and, from time to time, providing opportunities for relevant health organisations to raise awareness of good health strategies for the benefit of the Shed.
- To raise awareness of the Shed in the community (and surrounding area)
Whilst the Shed does not currently have a premises, it is working with Cambourne Town Council, Cambourne Scouts and Cambourne Girl Guides as part of a project to establish a premises in Cambourne.
In the interim, the Shed makes use of Cambridge Shed (CAM Shed), which is based at Madingley Hall. The group usually meets on Thursday’s at CAM Shed between 10am and 12pm.
In addition to meetings at CAM Shed, the Shed has been involved in various community based projects. Details on our activities to date can be viewed on our Activities page.
We also manage Cambourne Repair Cafe.
