Halstead Community Shed

"Somewhere to go. Something to do. Someone to talk to."

Registered Charity Number 1198208

What is a Community Shed, Men's Shed Or Shed?

Halstead Community Shed Trust has been setup with the aim of setting up a Community Shed in Halstead

Community Shed, Men’s Sheds (or 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 Men’s Sheds are the opposite. They’re about social connections and friendship building, sharing skills and knowledge, and of course a lot of laughter.

Activities in Sheds vary greatly, but you can usually find woodworking, metalworking, repairing and restoring, electronics, or model buildings 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. 

Sheds are about meeting like-minded people and having someone to share your worries with. They are about having fun, sharing skills and knowledge with like-minded people and gaining a renewed sense of purpose and belonging. As a by-product of all of that they reduce isolation and feelings of loneliness, they allow men to deal with mental health challenges more easily and remain independent, they rebuild communities and in many cases, they save men’s lives.

"Somewhere to go. Something to do. Someone to talk to."

Halstead Community Shed

Halstead Community Shed activities

Activities

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.

Research

For a long time research has shown the negative impact of loneliness and isolation on a person’s health and wellbeing. Recently we have seen more evidence come to light that shows loneliness and isolation can be as hazardous to our health as obesity and excessive smoking. Surveys from mental health charities are finding that millions of people report feeling lonely on a daily basis.
Halstead Community Shed Research
Men's Health

Who is affected

Men typically find it more difficult to build social connections than women, and unlike women of a similar age, less older men have networks of friends and rarely share personal concerns about health and personal worries. It is not the case for all men, but for some, when retirement comes, it can feel like personal identity and purpose is lost. Men’s Sheds can change all of that.

Health by Stealth

Sheds are about meeting like-minded people and having someone to share your worries with. They are about having fun, sharing skills and knowledge with like-minded people and gaining a renewed sense of purpose and belonging. As a by-product of all of that they reduce isolation and feelings of loneliness, they allow men to deal with mental health challenges more easily and remain independent, they rebuild communities and in many cases, they save men’s lives.
Health by Stealth

"Somewhere to go. Something to do. Someone to talk to."

Our Story

The Halstead Community Shed Trust was formed in February 2022 to promote social inclusion for the public benefit by preventing people (particularly but not exclusively older men ), within Halstead and the surrounding area, from becoming socially excluded, relieving the needs of those people who are socially excluded and assisting them to integrate into society through the provision of facilities in which they can meet to undertake, jointly or individually, creative, physical or recreational activities, learn or pass on skills and knowledge and support each other socially. For the purpose of this clause ‘socially excluded’ means being excluded from society, or parts of society, as a result of one or more of the following factors: unemployment; financial hardship; bereavement or old age; ill health (physical or mental).