February Newsletter 2026 Part One

1.. Welcome to February’s newsletter. I begin this newsletter with the sad news that after a long fight with cancer, Haydn Davies, our former treasure passed away 11th January in Bedhampton Nursing Home. He leaves his wife, Audrey, their son Graham and his grandchildren. Haydn was one of the founder members of WMS, working alongside Chris Davage back in the early days of ‘our Shed’. Both had a vision of a place where elder menfolk could meet and share skills and friendship. A Men’s Shed fitted the bill, perfectly. Haydn looked after the financial side of the Shed’s organisation as treasurer for most of the first ten years and always gave sound advice on when and how we could use our financial assets, In, 2023 he pioneered our registration for Gift Aid, which has continued to benefit us greatly. When he became less able to continue, he still insisted on ensuring he could pass over the accounts to our current treasurer, Mark Taylor, conscientiously ensuring Mark had the best handover he could give. A testament to Haydn at the last AGM was that he was mentioned as ‘a gentleman’ and I am sure we all would agree with that.

“We wrote your name in the wind, but the wind blew it away.

We wrote your name in the sand, but the waves washed it away.

We wrote your name in our hearts and forever it will stay”.

Rest in Peace Haydn, you are one of life’s gentleman and will be sorely missed by all.

2. Jaquie at ASDA has one of her yearly collections again. If you have empty plastic chocolate tubs bring them into the Shed and I will take them down to ASDA. The money raised will go towards MACMILLAN CANCER SUPPORT. With some of our members affected by cancer this must be a worthy cause. Thanks in advance.

3. We have been offered free workshops and courses tailored for groups like ours by Hampshire County Council. They receive funding from ‘Hampshire Achieves’ which is part of HBC. Most of the provision is delivered from local libraries, with Waterlooville being our nearest station. Some of the courses available include:

Emergency First Aid

Cooking on a Budget

Digital Skills

Safeguarding

Mental Health First Aid

To run a workshop or course, they require a minimum of 6 participants. Depending on interest and topics, they may be able to offer more than one session suitable for our group. Each session can accommodate up to 12 learners, and if we have more than 12 people interested, they can arrange additional dates.

4. Work continues at a pace with the new container workshop with the wood storage racks in place and a work bench now in situ. New flooring was delivered in January, so good progress is being made. It is falling to the usual stalwarts who are really working hard to make it an additional workshop for us. We will all benefit from this extension so if you have a couple of hours spare, please come in and help.

5. We have another project for Denmead Infants School to erect some shelving in their playground sheds. Dave Sy and Dave Allport visited the school to take measurements and assess what was required. We will get back to them with the costs and when we are able to return. Dave Sy will be out of action for a while as he recovers from his operation later this month. Am sure on behalf of all of us we wish him well with his recovery and look forward to him returning to WMS.

If any member is interested in attending any of these courses, please let the Secretary know and I can pursue further. A minimum of six is needed to make the course viable but that would include other groups who could be interested.