Recent Projects

This year marked our fourth Christmas dinner together, held at Mickleham Village Hall as our new premises don’t yet have the space or facilities to host a large gathering. A total of 47 members came together to enjoy a delicious two-course Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, lovingly cooked by Shed members themselves. As always, it was a thoroughly enjoyable occasion filled with good food, good company, and plenty of festive spirit. In keeping with the true meaning of Ch

Dorking Men’s Shed were delighted to be asked by Dorking Halls to create something special to help promote Peter Pan , this year’s Christmas pantomime. After a couple of collaborative meetings with the Dorking Halls team, we settled on a fun and eye-catching idea: a pirate boat complete with a plank, designed as a photo opportunity for children visiting the venue. The boat proved to be a real hit, with lots of young pirates and Lost Boys stopping to have their photo taken bef

Dorking Men’s Shed were pleased to be asked by Hello Dorking  to create some festive items for this year’s annual Christmas Festival. Together, we came up with the idea of handcrafted mini sleighs and gingerbread men, which were displayed in independent shops around Dorking as part of the town’s Christmas trail. The Shed got to work and delivered in style - producing 22 gingerbread men and 24 mini sleighs, all made in time for the celebrations. It was great to see our work sh

As part of our support to the Manda Slater Memorial fund, Dorking Men's Shed were asked to create 60 nesting boxes for the swifts that visit Dorking each summer. Manda was passionate about Dorking’s swifts and co-founded Dorking Swift Conservation with her friend and neighbour, Julia Hemsley.   For these boxes we created two different designs, which were then branded with the Manda logo. The boxes have since been put up on people’s homes in and around Dorking, and we are now

To commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower to America, Dorking Men’s Shed were tasked with building six boat shaped planters for Dorking. Shed members collaborated on the design and build of these planters, and then painted in NHS blue in recognition for all the tremendous efforts of the NHS staff during Covid. ​ The six boats were named after the six Dorking residents who travelled on the Mayflower; William, Alice, Priscilla, Joseph, Robert, and Pet

One of our earlier projects was to produce a scaled cross section through the hull of the Mayflower Ship for Dorking Museum. Several Shed members spent many hours planning and producing an excellent model complete with sound and lighting. Everything was made in house from recycled materials, from its superstructure to the rigging, and even the figure of William Mullins and the seagull in the Crows Nest! This was a huge team effort from our members and it was fantastic to see

One of our first projects that was recognised throughout Dorking High Street was producing six Santa Sleighs which we designed, built and painted as Christmas planters for the town. These sleighs have been hugely popular in the local community and sited around the town for the last five years (and still going strong)! ​ Due to the popularity of these sleighs, our members then produced a number of small sleighs for doorstep decorations, which were sold on the run up to Christm