A local community group in Abergavenny is celebrating today due to funding awarded to their community shed space from the Asda Foundation.

A total of £1,000 has been awarded to Abergavenny Men’s Shed where people can come together to take part in practical skills and activities. They are designed and run by their members and provide opportunities for people to share tools, resources and skills in order to create, learn and develop social networks.

Despite only being set up after a number of meetings last year, the Abergavenny Men’s Shed is already increasing its ten members by the week. After finding premises the charity has now been able to secure insurance with the funding. The funding will also be put towards fire extinguishers and tools to allow the men to learn and share metal and wood work skills.

Peter Collins from Abergavenny Men’s Shed said: “We were delighted to receive the funding to secure the much needed insurance for our premises. Some of our members are carers for their partners with Alzheimer’s and dementia. The Shed is therefore vital as it gives them a break and time to socialise with others in similar situations. In other cases it’s been the wives phoning to get their husbands out of the house and for them to have some space!”

Jo Phillips, Sheds Project Manager at Royal Voluntary Service said: “Shed activities often involve traditional crafts such as joinery, furniture renovation, metal work and mechanics, but each Shed meets the interests of its members and many now are developing a broader range of activities such as gardening, model making, photography or renovation. We are delighted to be able to set up this Grant Fund to give a helping hand to local communities, including Abergavenny Men’s Shed, enabling more local community based Sheds to get up and running across Abergavenny.”

Older people’s charity Royal Voluntary Service, with funding from the Asda Foundation, established the Sheds Grant Fund to provide small scale funding to Sheds who are looking for help with either set up, or early stage development costs. Grants of between £250 and £1,000 were made available – with applicants encouraged to apply for some of the tools and equipment they need for their activities or ongoing costs such as help with their rent or insurance.

Julie Ward, Senior Manager of the Asda Foundation said: “The Asda Foundation is one of the many ways we can give something back to our local communities. That’s why we lend a hand to a wide range of good causes with which our colleagues are involved with, sharing their passion and helping to make a difference through a variety of projects across the UK. We see the Sheds programme as making a real difference at a grassroots level and are proud to support this initiative.”

The Shed movement follows a blueprint from an Australian project and since the first Men’s Shed opened in the UK 6 years ago, there are now over 300 in the UK with three new Sheds on average opening a week. Sheds are often places for older men to come together and work on either individual or community projects – but are now increasingly seeing younger men and women getting involved and benefitting from the social interaction and skill sharing that are at their heart.

The Fund is being supported by each of the national Sheds Associations across the regions.

Mike Jenn, Chair of UK Men’s Sheds Association, said: “Most Sheds are started by local groups coming together to meet a common need and this funding scheme will be a vital help, particularly to those that have just formed. It is very encouraging for groups to be able to approach a funder that is sympathetic to your planned work when in its earliest stages”.

Rhodri Walters, Project Manager of Men’s Sheds Cymru, said: “One attraction of the Men’s Sheds model is that they are relatively simple and inexpensive to run and our members simply need small amounts of revenue, just like the ‘Sheds Grant Fund’ offers, to enable them to cover some basic running costs such as insurance, peppercorn rents and of course the electricity to boil the kettle!”

To find out more about Royal Voluntary Service and Asda Foundation Sheds Grant Fund please visit: http://www.royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk/sheds and follow @rvssheds on Twitter for regular updates.