A principal hurdle to WMS expansion in our present location at the Old Courthouse has been a restriction of use to one day per week, however the new premises will be available potentially 24/7. Whilst we hope to maximise the facility’s use by WMS, we recognise that most shed members also have other interests or commitments and thus WMS’s occupation is probably not feasible above 3 or 4 days per week.
In order to maximise the use of the new facility, it is our intention to offer ‘spare capacity’ to other local groups such as U3A, W.I. etc., who may struggle for places to meet once their own numbers increase.
One other such group is the Burley-in-Wharfedale Men’s Shed (BMS) with whom we have already worked together, successfully, in hosting a ‘Health Awareness’ presentation in October ‘24 and we anticipate that a closer relationship with BMS will be beneficial to both groups. BMS has a thriving wellbeing and social based membership, meeting twice a month for talks and outings each month etc., but they also have a number of members, and others in their local community, who would like to have access to workshop facilities. Given that the two sheds are less than 3 miles apart, it was logical for WMS to ask BMS if they could use any ‘spare’ days in the new premises, and after informal discussions with BMS we now have an agreement in principle that the new Grove Hill premises can be used for their members’ workshop projects at least 1 day per week.