16-10-2023

The Shed is now
OFFICIALLY OPEN

Click the image to step through the pictures.

There is absolutely NO excuse for not attending now because with much fanfare, ado and hullabaloo, we invited Fred Birkett - our mayor; Councillor Sarah Pankhurst - one of our local councillors for both FBC and HCC; Graham Gowman - the local representative from head office and of course the indomitable Heidi bearing a fantastic cheque for £682.00 from Asda, that big shop in Newgate Lane Heidijp, you will always be welcomed with open arms.

We had a really good turnout of members that have been heavily involved with the move although some did the honourable thing and left after a fairly short while because of the number there. Thank you very much for showing your faces and thank you even more for beating a quiet retreat, it really was appreciated by all.

Much effort went on immediately before the ceremony, social room carpets cleaned, kitchen area polished, workshop tidied and dusted although we had to stop John P from polishing the tools as we thought that might be a bit OTT and people wouldn't believe that they were being used as much as they are. I am quite surprised that somebody didn't accuse us of press-ganging our wives for cleaning duties but it shows that we can do it when we need to. After a pleasnt half an hour or so of chat upstairs, panic set in because we needed to add the ribbon to the workshop door but couldn't find a way to do it as all of the staple guns seemed to be empty. Luckily Johns P and C dug around and found one (come on Gordon, we need those tool location charts) and just in time Chris H managed to come up with a pair of scissors, so we all trooped downstairs and Fred wielded the cutter so now The Shed is OFFICIALLY OPEN

John C had bought a couple of the angels wings that he has laser cut for Titchfield Church and I just couldn't resist that picture and Sarah just looked so angelic. Bit of luck that John P is as short as he is 'cause he held the wings for the pictures. Then after Chris L had explained what was happening in the workshop, about Thommo's horses and showed Heidi the new router lift which their last gift paid for and what is for, it was back upstairs for a few refreshments.

To finish the morning we made a couple of gifts of our own. The Halloween advent calendar was given to Cllr. Birkett as he believes that he knows of a worthy cause that would appreciate it and our Sarah from Moonstones Florist in Fareham Park Road did us proud as usual, by creating a fantastic floral bucket bouquet for Cllr. Pankhurst.

So if you haven't shown your face since last year now is the time to indulge in a bit of camaraderie, get on with those little (or big) jobs that heve been waiting for the tools that are now available, a light social atmosphere for cards, cribbage, Scrabble and our latest card game, Skip Bo and of course a cup of tea and a custard cream.

Author: Chris Nixon