Linking Up

Sheds in the UK

The Shed concept was first realised in England by Age Concern Cheshire at Hartford in 2009, about the same time as the first Shed in Ireland. Now there are over 60 Sheds open in the UK, with many others being planned. They vary from full-time projects with paid staff and occupying industrial premises to groups meeting in village halls and community centres for only a few hours a week. Some Sheds are in deeply rural locations, most are in small towns but considering their populations there are relatively few in large cities.

There are Sheds that have been started by their users, by churches, by village development trusts, by large charities, by health authorities and (very soon) even as the result of a County authority tendered contract. Roughly a third have been started by Age UK affiliates. Sheds in Northern Ireland have been greatly helped by the Irish Men's Sheds Association. Aberdeenshire has employed its own Men's Shed development worker.

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