The Dusty Shed project was started in 2015 mainly due to the efforts of our founder David King MBE, who is best known for his work with another group he founded – the Cardiff Rivers Group. When Dusty Forge was a pub, there was a betting shop that was run from an outbuilding on the same premises. This building had not been used for many years and was in a poor state and was in need of a major overhaul. Asbestos was found in the floor tiles, while walls, ceiling, insulation, and lighting all had to be gutted and replaced or renewed. New windows and doors were also installed. Most of the refurbishment work was undertaken by the construction firm Wilmot Dixon and their sub-contractors. All this refurbishment work took well over a year to complete, and the workshop opened to the public in November 2016, with a few benches and tools and machinery donated by well-wishers.
The start – February 2015
Photos below show what the workshop looked like when refurbishment work began.
Refurbishment gets under way
Since 2017, the workshop has been improved continuously, initially by volunteers as shown below, and later by our members. We have had several generous grants from a number of funding organizations to improve and run our charity.
Launch day November 2016
The workshop was finally ready for use by our members in November 2016. Here we see tools and machinery that were donated to us, and volunteers from the local fire service who did the painting and decorating work.
views of workshop – early 2020
These are photos of our workshop, showing some of the tools and machinery that are now available for use by our members.
Shedders at work
Our members, known to us as ‘shedders’, undertake all kinds of projects. They are mostly things they want to make for themselves but the photo in the middle of that group shows a volunteer who helped to make planter boxes out of reclaimed pallet wood, which were later sold at a table-top sale. The third phorto in the group shows our oldest and perhaps our keenest member Cliff, who is 90+ years young.
Project work – Play castle for RHS show
We have also undertaken larger project work that involved a number of our members working together. This example is a play castle we built for Cardiff’s annual RHS show in 2018.
