March 2024 Newsletter part two

2. A number of Shed members recently attended John Murray’s funeral to pay our respects. After the funeral we attended a wake at the Royal Naval Association in Waterlooville to share our memories with John’s brother Edmund. I forwarded the February’s newsletter to him that contained an article about John’s funeral. I received the following email in reply:-

“Many thanks for this, and also for the help and companionship, which you extended to John over their years and especially in recent months. The chaps down at the Shed really did mean a lot to him.

Thank you for coming to the ceremony and the wake.”

Edmund

3. As I am sure you are aware we are looking at having to replace the roofing on the Shed at some point. Keeping you up to date, we now have, thanks to Hayden Davies obtaining three quotes for the project plus one obtained by Paul Turner. These have to be submitted to the Havant Borough Council for consideration. This has now been done and we now await any decisions that they decide on. Where and who funds this is open to conjecture. You will read further on in this newsletter some of our options. It is early days at the moment but I will keep all members fully informed of any progress towards the roof replacement. This is not to be confused with the lean too roofing which has been self-funded and materials are now on site waiting for the weather to improve.

4. I recently had the privilege of sharing an evening with Portsmouth & District Freemasons Lodge as their guest speaker at the Burns Night dinner. The evening had all the traditional pageantry of piping in the haggis and celebrating the renowned poet Robert Burns. There was the classic combination of haggis, neeps and tatties, reciting of poetry and a dram of what Scotland is famous for, whisky. I have ensured the correct spelling as in the USA and Ireland it is spelled whiskey. At the closure of the evening with the traditional toasts, I was presented with a donation cheque for £100:00 for ‘Waterlooville Men’s Shed’. On behalf of the WMS I thanked all present for the generous donation. Roy Goring then proceeded to give a short presentation, explaining what a Men’s Shed was and what activities we take on and facilities we have to offer. I had a really enjoyable evening and thank you for the invite to give a talk.

5. Hayden Davies, John Skerratt and myself hosted a representative of Havant Borough Council recently to discuss funding for the replacement of the WMS roof, which is in need of repair. Many funding options were discussed including a fund that is administered by the Armed Forces Covenant to provide assistance to retired Armed Forces. You may have received an email from me as the Secretary asking for names of any members who were ex forces or Blue Lamp emergency services. We do have a number of members, which will hopefully increase our chances of obtaining funding. Another suggestion was members joining the Havant Borough Community Lottery and naming Waterlooville Men’s Shed as their supported charity. Tickets cost £1 with 60p going towards local good causes, compared to just 28p in the pound for the National Lottery. The weekly draw has a jackpot of £25,000 for a matching sequence of six numbers, with other prizes including £2,000, £250, £25 or three free tickets. Charities and community groups can benefit from the Havant Community Lottery in two ways. Groups from across the borough are able to register as one of the Community Lottery Good Causes. Good Causes will be provided with their own lottery page, and will receive 50p in every pound spent by players choosing to support them.