Men’s Shed look to lease new home
Application to take over hall
East Kilbride Men’s Shed has expressed an interest in leasing a local hall for 15 years.
The group have submitted a community asset transfer request to South Lanarkshire Council to rent St Leonard’s Community Hall for £1 per year for the period.
The purpose of the Men’s Shed is to provide recreational facilities and advance the social needs, health and wellbeing of individuals of all backgrounds, 18 years of age or over living in East Kilbride and surrounding areas.
In the supporting statement for the asset transfer, the group said they wish to lease the premises due to expanding numbers.
They wrote: “Our aim is to create, develop and maintain a facility, namely a Men’s Shed.
“This is primarily a social space and workshop where people, particularly men, can engage in activities in the company of others that fulfil their need for social contact and creativity.
“This is proven to reduce the feeling of social isolation and improve physical and mental health. Although most sheds in
Scotland exclusively welcome men, from the outset East Kilbride decided that we would welcome people of any gender to our shed and this is supported by the constitution.
“The shed currently opens Monday to Friday from noon to 4pm and presently lists 62 in membership.
“This is many more than our previous home was able to cater for and we are pleased to report that 33 members have joined since the move to St Leonard’s.
“Providing responsible supervision and security, we can open to suit ourselves and the trustees believe that the membership will increase as more learn about us and like what we do.
“In addition to the large workshop facility, the new premises have allowed us to expand to include computing and laser engraving.
“Social facilities are always active and in 2023 we organised a day trip to Irvine Maritime Museum and a presentation about the Clyde steamers and it is planned to increase these types of activity in line with member requests.”
The deadline for determining the application is May 19, 2024.