Did you know almost 30% of men in East Devon are aged over 65? This is why this week we’re shining the spotlight on the wonderful local group, Beer Men’s Shed.

Beer Men's Shed opened the doors of its first workshop in October 2019 with the aim of providing a safe and welcoming place where men can come to chat and work with other like-minded men.

As a local initiative, Beer Men's Shed needs the support of the local community and so, in June 2022, as successful applicants of our Small Community Grant, we awarded them with £500 to help equip their new shed with chairs, benches, tools and other essential items.

Members of Beer Men's Shed outside the new workshop.

With this equipment, the team have made 18 hedgehog boxes for the local hedgehog sanctuary, Hedgehog Hut, in Colyton. This has enabled 18 rescued hedgehogs to be re-homed safely in the wild.

Hedgehog huts to house rescued hedgehogs.

The members have taken on a variety of projects, all with the collective aim of helping other groups across our local community. Here are some of the highlights:

  • Making a Table Skittles set for the Memory Café in Colyton, which helps ageing people with memory difficulties.
  • Maintaining the Avenue of Remembrance on Beer Head, commemorating the men and women from Beer who served in World War I.
  • Making and installing shelving for the Foodsave initiative in Mariners’ Hall, Beer.
  • Making a trolley to store sewing machines for the local ladies’ sewing club in Beer.
  • Replacing a handrail support at St Michael’s church to make it easier for people to get up the church steps.
  • Making a Memory Box for the grandparents of a new-born child in Beer to store items from the child’s growing years.

These are just a handful of the 150 projects the Beer Men’s Group have been involved in since they opened.

Seaton town bench the members helped to make.

Since the renovations, the group have expanded to over 30 regular members. There’s plenty of sessions to attend, all based in the churchyard of St Michael's Church. There are three 3-hour workshop sessions every week on Monday/Wednesday/Friday afternoons from 2pm to 5pm as well as a Monday evening session from 7pm to 9pm.

The group relies on the support of its local community so if you or someone you know would be interested in finding out more about Beer Men’s Shed, please share this link with them: Beer Men's Shed (beermensshed.uk)