Recent past events

Recent past events

Recent past events at which the shed club had a presence include:

Community Wellbeing on 13th September, and on 4th October, a  the barn dance for the Namutumba Operating Theatre in Uganda.

On Saturday, July 12, 2025, the Pear Tree Church in Southampton hosted a Summer Fete on Pear Tree Green. It was a very successful day for the shed club, as was Trifest 2025, which was the following weekend, on 19th July: https://trifest.uk/ . 

The Bitterne Library Craft Fair took place on 10th May 2025,

and Sholing Valleys Spring Fayre was on 17th May 2025.

Both Bitterne and Sholing were very successful for the shed club, because we were able to sell quite a lot of what we had made. It is good to know that what we make is wanted.

We were also invited to the Open Day at the Police Training Centre in Hamble Lane, where the benches we had restored were very much in evidence (Michael here also inveighing against scams):

We visited Milestones, Basingstoke, on 5th September 2025, and Screwfix Annual Exhibition on Friday 26th September.

There was an outing to the Duxford Summer Air Show, on June 21-22, and some members attended the Eastbourne Air Show in August 2025.

One of our members, Rob, has recently been sky-diving, organised by Saints Foundation. He raised £875: https://www.southamptonfc.com/en/saints-foundation-big-saints-skydive  

Erection of Spitfire Makers plaque at Deepdene

We recently erected a Spitfire Makers plaque at Deepdene. The photos are fairly self-explanatory, but after the Supermarine factory in Woolston was bombed by the Luftwaffe in 1940, it was decided to disperse production of Spitfires to other sites in Southampton and elsewhere. The plaques are intended to commemorate the dispersed production, in this case at Deepdene, as the plaque states. Here are some pictures of the event.

Bug house kits for completion by children

We have been to several events where we take partly-completed bug house kits (often made by Tony Kingston), to be completed by children at the event. The first of these events was Bitterne library: 'Marvellous Makers', towards the end of 2024, but more recently we were at a very successful event at Peartree. We were also at  Bitterne Library Craft Fair on 10th May.

Here is a selection of photographs from these events.

Health and Wellbeing day (Chamberlayne)

Keith and Corne (chairman and vice-chairman) at Chamberlayne (Weston, 2024), where we had a stall to display our wares, and indeed sell some of them. We returned to this event in 2025.

There is also a social side to the club, including recent trips:

Screwfix Live

The annual Screwfix Live event is usually well-attended by shed club members, who can pick up bargains for themselves and for the club. Here in 2024 (left to right) are Keith Marsh (our chairman), Mike Nolan (organises the main shed - very important function), Graham Bullock (long-standing member), Corne (vice-chairman), Keith Brand (long-standing member), Den (project manager), Michael Clowes (in charge of health and safety):

We visited again, this year, on 26th September 2025.

Amberley Museum and Heritage Centre (chalk pits).

Some of us visited Amberley at the end of 2024, which is a few miles north of Arundel. It is a very full industrial museum, and also craft centre. Though the museum is mostly static, there is plenty of information provided, and it provides inspiration for things to look up in more detail on the Internet later.

Keith, our chairman and shedder for the year in 2025, took a number of pictures of the event, which are set out here. The attractions include histories of printing, of communications, and of electrical devices.

Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum

After an abortive visit in November 2024, because of a power failure at the museum, we finally went on a very interesting trip in February 2025. Here are some photos of the day.

Southwick Revival

A number of us visited Southwick Revival -  D-Day to VE-Day - on 5th March 2025, a very interesting event. Here is a photo of the actual map used to plan the D-Day operations on 6th June 1944.