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Are you sitting comfortably? Bordon Men’s Shed gives Kingsley Centre a helping hand

By Paul Ferguson  |   Chief reporter   |

Tuesday 19th May 2026 11:00 am

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Kingsley Centre members try out the planter-seat construction made by Bordon Mens Shed member, Ted Wood.(Clive Handy)

A benchmark has been set as a relationship is blossoming between a group of Bordon handymen and volunteers at a nearby community centre.

A Bordon Mens Shed (BMS) member has made a blooming wonderful gesture as he’s rustled up some planters and a seat for the Kingsley Centre.

After receiving the request Ted Wood built the features out of reclaimed pallet wood.

He also bought some materials for the project with the centre providing paint and preservative to match the arch already in place.

“The Kingsley Centre were thrilled with the result and thanked the men’s shed, and especially Ted, for the hard work put into the construction,” said BMS secretary, Clive Handy. For more details about the group visit www.bordonmensshed.com

Today the Bordon Mens Shed delivered planters and seat to Kingsley Community Centre after they requested one to be built by us.

Consequently one of our members, Ted Wood, built the two planters and adjoining seat out of reclaimed pallet wood and some bought materials. Kingsley provided paint and preservative to match the arch already in place.

This is what it looked like before delivery:

Kingsley Community Centre were thrilled with the result, and thanked Bordon Men’s Shed, especially Ted for the hard work put in to the construction.

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The Bordon Men’s Shed was invited to Here’s Headley by Jo Smith, thanks Jo, and so we set up on the field next to the pavilion, which was being officially opened by the local MP Gregg Stafford, to celebrate the multi-thousand-pound refurbishment of the pavilion.

We were directed to our allotted position on the field, amongst some 40 stands of various clubs and merchandise stalls. We displayed our wares on tables and waited for the punters to come and buy our stuff.

Several of the members of the Bordon Men’s Shed turned up to man the stall, including: Jim, ted, John, Theo, Ted, Reg and Clive. We sold over £100 of wooden objects all hand made by the above, including boot pullers, truggs, chopping boards, trivetts, carrying bg handles and other bits and pieces. All together a very succesful operation.

The local MP Gregg Stafford with our stall.

The Bordon Men’s Shed is open most days and is situated behind the Phoenix Theatre in Station Road. We gave out applications for membership at the show and are ready to accept new members.

Now that we have full power available, we are in a position to accept new members. We are open 5 1/2 days a week, from about 10 until 5.00pm and 10 until 1.00pm Saturdays. We are situated behind the Phoenix Theatre in Barbados Road/Station Road Bordon GU35 0LR. Please come and see what we can offer. We have a full range of hand and power tools to use, with a wide selection of various types of wood and fastenings, glues etc.

You can join us for an annual fee, and this gives you access, after suitable training and assessment, to all our facilities. We are involved locally with many schools and other institutions and have recently been given a task for Bird World, which will last several months. You can also do your own personal projects, and can converse with other members about the best way of doing things, as well as have conversations around a cup of tea (or coffee). Men’s Sheds are spread around the country and are growing. We are members of the UK Men’s Shed Association and a registered charity. Please contact us using the contact details elsewhere on this site.

Hooray, we now have full power (thanks to Simon Sharpe of SE Electrical), and can accept new members more easily. We shall be advertising around the usual socials and local press. Now we can start in earnest!

In the next couple of weeks, we should have full power in our workshop. The digger is making a cut across from the Phoenix on 21st March, and our electrician Simon will connect us up. We will have full power! Then be ready to invite others to join us.

We are also refurbishing a picnic bench which used to belong to the Bordon Working Men’s Club and will become our sunny meeting spot, when the weather is kind! PIctures will follow.

Two projects were delivered today from the Men’s Shed. The first one was to Selborne C of E Primary School and is a play cooker to go with the mud kitchen delivered last year (pictured). The first picture shows Charlotte Brown, a teaching assistant at the school. All members of the Men’s Shed were involved with the construction.

The second was a work bench for Bordon Garrison Pre-school and Creche for use as a workbench for all sorts of projects. The second picture shows Hannah from the Garrison school, who requested the bench be made, and Reg Bettles of the Men’s Shed, who did the main construction, aided by other members.

The schools were delighted with the projects and thanked Bordon Men’s Shed.

The Bordon Mens Shed is situated behind the Phoenix Theatre, and although we do take on some projects, we are not yet fully open, because we have not yet got full power supplies. We are hoping to get full power shortly and will be actively seeking new members after that. In the meantime, please follow us on our webpage bordonmensshed.com and the Facebook page Bordon Men’s Shed. We are also mentioned occasionally in the Bordon Herald.

Today 22nd January, the Leader of EHDC visited the Men’s Shed and was most impressed by the progress we have made. He was accompanied by local Town Councillor Andy Tree who promised to help us any way he can. EHDC granted Bordon Men’s Shed a grant totalling £25000 last year, and he could see where that money has gone and where future spending will be.

Leader of EHDC Richard Millard, BMS Chairman Jim Bryant and Andy Tree Deputy Leader EHDC

A Happy Christmas and Peaceful New Year to all our readers and members. See you fresh in 2026 and hopefully ready for action.

Thanks to Jim, our Chairman for making these for a customer.

The Phoenix Theatre engaged the help of the Bordon Men’s Shed to construct scenery for their production of Screw-ged, a naughty version of the old panto. They asked to make some headstones for the graveyard and New York-style skyscrapers for the background. Over the last few weeks, we have been busy working in our new workshop to produce these items, which were then used on the stage in the production.

The first night was on 10th December, and it continues until 13th December at 8.00pm. The show was based on Dickens’ Scrooge story and is played by 5 very good actors/singers. It was nice to be involved with the theatre again. And we have a credit on the back of the programme!