Ellon & District Men's Shed welcomes MSP

Gillian Martin MSP with Ellon & District Men’s Shed Chairman Andy Leonard (far left)and Shed members.

Ms Martin was invited to the tour after she had lodged a parliamentary motion in the Scottish Parliament to congratulate Ellon & District Men’s Shed on being awarded £5,000 through the Just Transition Participatory Budgeting Fund.

Established in 2021, The Just Transition Fund (JTF) is a £500 million ten-year commitment from Scottish Government to support projects in the North East and Moray which contribute towards the region’s transition to net zero.

Of the many projects that applied for participatory budget funding, Ellon & District Men’s Shed received the third highest number of votes at a sizeable 1,552.

Ellon & District Men’s Shed have used their £5,000 reward to add a new garden shed to their site, which has involved preparing the ground and installing the roomy shed purchased from a local small business.

The new garden shed, along with an existing steel container, are used for storage of bicycles and garden furniture which the Shed work together on restoring.

Restoration of bicycles and garden furniture has become a major activity for the Shed in recent years. Some of their other main activities include growing and selling plants, for which they utilize the site’s polytunnel, and working with a CNC machine for woodworking applications.

Gillian Martin MSP said: “I was delighted to submit a parliamentary motion to congratulate Ellon & District Men’s Shed for their award of Just Transition Fund Participatory Budgetin, and even more excited to come along to hear about what they’ve been up to.

"The Shed’s members are always working side by side on restoring bicycles and garden furniture for people in our community, so much so that they needed extra storage.

“During my visit to the Shed, I was glad to speak to Ellon & District Men’s Shed Chairman, Andy Leonard about how they can expand and attract more men to come along - to enjoy the facilities and friendships of the Shed.”

Ellon & District Men’s Shed is free to join. Find out more at www.ellonmensshed.o rg