Our
Projects
Members are encouraged to bring their own projects along to work on during workshop hours. We prioritise projects that will benefit other organisations and charities in the local community for a donation towards materials.
If you have a project in mind that you'd like our help with, send us an enquiry through the 'contact us' form and we will get back to you.
Mayflower Planters for Dorking Town
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 Peter.
The planters were placed around the town contributed towards Dorking being Awarded the Gold Medal for ‘Dorking in Bloom’. Having only set out to create planters for one season, all six of the Mayflower boats returned for two consecutive years, and have since been gifted to local schools to see out their final days.
Mayflower Cross-section for Dorking Museum
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 so many different skillsets working in together.
The replica model is now proudly on display as the centrepiece of the Mayflower exhibition in the Dorking Museum for all to see.
Christmas Sleighs for Dorking Town
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 Christmas to raise funds for The Shed.
Swift Boxes for Manda Slater's Memorial
As part of our support to the Manda Slater Memorial fund, we created 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 looking forward to enjoying greater swift colonies on our doorstep!
