The Dusty Shed celebrates receiving National Lottery

The Dusty Shed celebrates after receiving over £16,000 of National Lottery funding to combat loneliness and isolation for older people.

The Dusty Shed, is today celebrating after being awarded £16,389 in National Lottery funding to support its work helping older people combat loneliness and social isolation. The group, based in Ely, Cardiff, will use the money to support community engagement projects, develop its Wellbeing Group as well as provide social activities for its members.

The Dusty Shed has been running since 2015 and now has over 50 members, and some members also make up the board of Trustees. It was founded by Dave King MBE after he saw the need for a project that would help isolated men get together and do something useful in their spare time which would help their mental health.

The group now runs 4 days a week. Three days are for members to access the workshop for woodworking or other craft activities, and the fourth day is the Wellbeing Group, a talking social group who spend time talking about things on their mind. These sessions help older people tackle their feelings of loneliness and social isolation by getting together, sharing skills through craft activities or social activities like playing chess or darts. Or it can be simply having tea or coffee and a biscuit.

These are the things that develop camaraderie amongst shed members. Members can feel they are part of a team, and find that they are no longer so isolated.

The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes and is the largest community funder in the UK, will see the Dusty Shed

Develop its community engagement through building bespoke woodworking commissioned items for community groups, such as planters, bird boxes, etc.
Looking to grow the Wellbeing Group, supporting older men to examine the physical and emotional issues facing men as they get older, and to help them develop strategies to cope with these issues.

Mari Dunphy, Shed member and Trustee says:

“We’re delighted that The National Lottery Community Fund has recognised our work in this way. Now, thanks to National Lottery players we will be able to grow our membership and stop older people feeling lonely and isolated. This is important because social isolation can lead to a lot of physical and mental health problems.

Now that we are open 4 days a week, we have the potential to reach greater numbers of people each week, offering preventative pathways to renewed social confidence, plus purposeful activities that contribute to community wellbeing”

Launch event - a ‘Fish ‘n’ Chips and Film’ social.

To announce the project funding from the National Lottery, The Dusty Shed are launching their activities with a ‘Fish ‘n’ Chips and Film’ social event, which will be the first in a number of social events shed members will be running through the year. Shed members’ Peter (a Lead Shed Volunteer) and Mari (a Trustee), who are organising this event both say that “We thought it would be a really nice way to get us all together and watch a great film!”