Men's Shed forged with Narrow Gauge Railway in Leighton Buzzard

Leighton Buzzard Men’s Shed and the town’s narrow-gauge Railway have forged a unique partnership.

The Leighton Buzzard & District Men’s Shed and the town’s narrow-gauge railway have entered into a cooperation agreement which will see the Shed based at the Railway’s premises. In fact, the Shed will not have one base but two, as the agreement includes use of both the Railway’s workshops at the Stonehenge Works end of the line and the Community Room adjacent to the Page’s Park station. As such, it is believed the Leighton Shed is the only one of the UK’s 1,100 Men’s Shed to have dual operating centres.

Commenting on the agreement, Shed Chairman Ian Bickers says,

“First and foremost I have to thank the Railway’s team, and in particular Chairman David Wood and Operations Manager Terry Bendall, for the help, advice and guidance they have given to form this partnership. In terms of shared interests and the activities each undertakes, the Railway and the Shed have so much in common that collaborating in this way is entirely natural and logical. For the Shed, it gives us a home, and for the Railway it brings in new members as the Shed is now an Associate Member of the Railway, which means all our members – currently 60 and rising – are now members of the Railway too. We’re all really looking forward to working together.

“I must also say a big thank you to our local Men’s Shed Association Ambassador Martin Young for his support and Leighton-Linslade Town Council – creating a Shed was their idea in the first place and the assistance we have received from the Council’s team has been invaluable.

“While some of our members have joked about the classic Monty Python Arthur “Two Sheds” Jackson sketch, we could not be more delighted to have twin bases as it means we can do wood and metal work at one centre and activities such as model making, arts and crafts at the other. In fact, as soon as we announced we now have access to the Community Room two members stepped forward and formed groups for Photography and Family History.

“At the other end of the line we are now working with Terry and his team to ensure our members are safely inducted into the Railway’s working practices and trained to use the extensive range of wood and metalworking tools in the Stonehenge workshop – it’s an immensely exciting time for the Shed and I’d encourage anyone reading this to visit our website, www.lbshed.org or our Facebook page and get involved. Alternatively, we will now be holding fortnightly Tuesday coffee mornings from 10:00-12:00 at the Community Room within Page’s Park Station, starting on 25 March.

“Our membership hotline – 07734 10 50 60 – and email address – hello@lbshed.org – are now both open, so there’s lots of ways to get in touch We look forward to welcoming many new members over the weeks and months to come.”

Photograph
Terry Bendall, (left), Operations Manager, Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway, welcomes Shed Chairman Ian Bickers to the Railway’s Stonehenge site.