Men in Sheds Lancing and Sompting

10/10/2026

A Look Back At September 2026 !!

09/10/2026

🛠️ Weekly Update: Lancing & Sompting Men in Sheds 🪵

The weather is certainly letting us know the season is changing. Between the early morning nip in the air, the sea mist rolling in, sudden bursts of sunshine tempting us down to t-shirts, and the grey showers rolling back over... it’s a gentle reminder of the winter jobs on the list! The roof sheet fix? Not done yet. The guttering repair? Not done yet. The final garden pruning before winter? Not completed fully yet! But in true Shed style, we take it calmly—we know we’ll be out there getting it done very soon. 😊

The weeks are flying by, and as a rule at the Shed: once we start discussing our Christmas meal venue, it’s time to get cracking on Christmas projects! 🎅🎄

🎁 Birthday Cake, Biscuits & Santa’s Helpers!

• 🎂 Double Elevenses Special: A massive thank you to local resident Marie for refilling our biscuit tin and bringing in a lovely cake! Plus, a big happy belated birthday to Shedder Jock, who brought in another delicious cake after his birthday weekend! Elevenses was top-tier this week. ☕🍰

• 📦 Loft Boxes Coming Down: Following our Monday meeting, the Christmas boxes are coming down from the loft to be sorted as we go into full "Santa's Helpers" mode. We are gearing up for both the Village Christmas Fayre Lancing Parish Council and supporting the Care for Veterans Christmas Fayre—though we can confirm no Shedders are in full Santa outfits just yet... it is only October, after all! 😂

🎖️ Silent Soldiers, Halloween & Community Projects

• 🎖️ Silent Soldiers Update: We’ve had a lot of queries about how to obtain a Silent Soldier and how many we’re making. While the first two were built for a specific reason, we will be making a few more squeezed in between our other projects. Keep an eye on our weekly updates for details as they’re completed!

• 👻 Halloween Spookies Ready: A small batch of wooden Halloween figures—including ghouls and witches—are now freshly painted and completed looking for new homes! 🎃

• 🏫 Community Builds Complete: The requested Spitfire whirligigs are officially finished and ready, as is the panto display house for Seaside School!

• 🕊️ Seagull Whirligig in Paint: Our new Seagull whirligig prototype is making great progress and is currently getting its paint job.

🌷 Winter Garden Ready & Ongoing Gratitude

• 🪴 Winter Bedding Installed: Out in the garden, the summer bedding has now been fully replaced with winter bedders, kindly donated by Tinia , Lancing & Sompting Lions , and Ferring Nurseries. Thank you so much! Without your ongoing kindness, our garden wouldn't be the sanctuary it is—we’ve spent so many lovely hours out there this summer enjoying a brew, a chat, and the flowers and fully intend to continue to do so throughout the rest of the year as well ( jumpers and hats are at the ready) . 🌸☕

As always, a huge thank you for all your comments, likes, shares, and ongoing support. Have a fantastic, warm weekend! ☀️

04/10/2026

The Human Fruit Machine we made in action.

02/10/2026

🛠️ Weekly Update: Lancing & Sompting Men in Sheds 🪵

Before we jump into this week’s workshop builds and community updates, we wanted to share a brief thought from behind the scenes.
On Thursday, while reviewing a new vocal script prepared by our Chairman for our upcoming update to our website, it really got us thinking: When you take away the admin, the funding bids, the overheads, and the endless search for materials… what is a Men’s Shed actually about?
Simply put, it’s about community, connection, and wellbeing. It’s seeing someone arrive at the workshop feeling a bit off, quiet, distracted, or isolated, and watching them completely transform within minutes after a warm greeting (and a bit of friendly, unprovoked workshop banter!).
Nationally, demand for Shed places is higher than ever, with many groups including ours running waiting lists. We don't necessarily believe Sheds need to grow bigger/extend to accommodate more—we believe there needs to be more Shed groups in more communities. We’ve already helped set up three other local Shed groups, sharing advice, tools, and plans along the way. Check out the UK Men's Sheds Association website which has a wealth of information regarding how to set up a shed group in your area if you feel one is needed.

☕ Elevenses, Cake & Generous Gifts!
• 🍰 Elevenses Surprise: A massive thank you to a local resident who dropped off a slice of delicious homemade cake right in time for elevenses! It went down an absolute treat.

• 🌸 Autumn Garden Refresh: Summer bedding plants were just about holding on, but thanks to a wonderful, large donation of autumn plants from Tinia, Lancing & Sompting Lions, and Ferring Nurseries, our garden is set to stay vibrant right through the autumn!

• 🎖️ Silent Soldier Templates: Big thanks to Wendy Keep Lancing Lovely for sketching the outline of the Silent Soldier they have. Shedder Frank has wanted to make a template for a while, and thanks to Wendy's help, we now have a full working template and two completed Silent Soldiers!

🐎 Workshop Action & Project Progress

🎰 Human Fruit Machine Success! A big thank you to North Lancing Primary School for sending in a wonderful photo of the Human Fruit Machine in full action! After the summer fayre was postponed due to the heatwave, the rescheduled event took place earlier this month—and the fruit machine built right here at the Shed was an absolute hit! It’s always a pleasure to see our workshop creations out in the community bringing so much fun to local events. 😃📸

• 🎭 Seaside School Xmas Display: Work on the display house for Seaside School's upcoming Christmas panto season is well underway!

• ✈️ Whirligig Production Line: The Spitfire whirligigs are practically ready for takeoff, our latest Snoopy whirligig is getting its paint job, and a fresh batch of propellers is ready for new prototype builds.

• 🎨 Horse Prototype & Painting Offer: The latest horse prototype had its front legs tweaked and is now mounted on a stand ready for paint. A huge thank you to local resident Tinia, who kindly offered to handle the painting for our completed builds so we can stay focused on cutting and construction!

• 🪴 Allotment Raised Beds: We prepped, cut, and delivered raised bed timber directly to Shedder Andy's local allotment plot.

A heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone in our community. Last month alone, our weekly updates reached over 53,000 interactions thanks to your shares, likes, and comments. We couldn't do what we do without your support!
Have a wonderful weekend! ☀️

02/10/2026

What a great job the children did painting the items we made, thanks for posting a picture it is great to see :) . Well done all involved

Can you spot your sea creature?

During the summer holidays, we hosted our ‘Painting Sea Creatures’ children’s activity 🪸

Men in Sheds Lancing and Sompting kindly cut out all the wooden shapes for the children to paint on Beach Green.

The finished creations have now been varnished and put up along Beach Green, ready for everyone to enjoy!

26/09/2026

Could not post in comments so here is a quick reel of the larger horse prorotype

25/09/2026

🛠️ Weekly Update: Lancing & Sompting Men in Sheds 🪵

The workshop has been buzzing with activity this week, fueled by a fantastic delivery at elevenses—a big thank you to Sue Recycling in Lancing, who brought in some delicious homemade bread pudding that went down an absolute treat! ☕🍰

Here’s a look at what the team has been working on across the Shed and in the community:

🎯 Deliveries & Community Projects

🎯 Axe Throwing Targets: Following a request from local resident Marty, the axe throwing targets for the 3rd & 5th Lancing Sea Scouts have officially been completed and delivered!

🪑 Manor Park Bench Refurb: The bench refurbishment over at Manor Park is now fully complete and ready for locals to take a breather on, one of our shedders refurbishes a bench as and when in his own time another is due very soon this time around the rose garden area :) .

🏫 Seaside School Xmas Display: Work is underway on a special Christmas display request for Seaside School—watch this space!

📦 Storage Space Expansion: We’ve been moving items into our store area, made available to us thanks to Lancing Parish Council . It’s making a big difference in keeping the main workshop tidy.

🐎 Whirligigs, Spookies & Christmas Prep!

🐎 Big Horse Whirligig Test Success: The horse prototype was re-drawn larger and had its first movement test yesterday. It’s working brilliantly, so we’re pushing ahead to the next stage! Check out the comments for a short video of the prototype in action

✈️ Spitfire Whirligigs: The Spitfire whirligig requests are now getting their propellers and finishing touches fitted—they are looking cracking.

👻 Halloween Spookies: We’ve crafted a batch of wooden spookies for Halloween! They’re all set to get painted next week.

🎄 Xmas Figures: Christmas figure production is in full swing as we gear up for the upcoming November fayres. This year we are planning on attending our usual Care for Veterans fayre and also have a second team attend the Lancing Village Christmas Fayre too :) .

🧰 Workshop Upgrades & Garden Care

🪚 Table Saw Upgrade: We swapped out our long serving table saw for the donated new unit we received a while back. The old one was starting to drift on cuts, so the replacement is getting right to work!

🛠️ New Tool Wall: The new tool wall board in the Cow Shed is coming along nicely to help keep all our tools right where we need them.

💻 Website Updates: Our group website is currently undergoing a few updates and changes behind the scenes, which will take effect very soon.

🌷 Autumn Garden Prep: We’re gearing up the garden area ready for the autumn bedders. A huge ongoing thank you as always to Tinia , Lancing & Sompting Lions and Ferring Nurseries , for their wonderful donations of plants throughout the year. It allows us to sit, chat, chill and enjoy the garden in every season!

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone! Thank you for all your support, likes, and shares. Random fact that popped up whilst making this post ; Last month we had over 53 thousand views of our weekly updates :) :) ☀️

19/09/2026

A look back at August 2026 !!

18/09/2026

🎉 WE DID IT! WE GOT THE GRANT! 🎉

We are thrilled to share some fantastic news with everyone—Lancing & Sompting Men in Sheds has officially been awarded funding through the National Lottery Awards for All! 🪙✨

This grant is a huge boost for our group. It directly covers our essential running costs and everyday workshop supplies—meaning we can keep stock of vital materials like timber, fixings, paints, and wood stains. Having these core supplies secured ensures our shedders can keep doing what they do best: hand-crafting community items, restoring local projects, sharing skills, and enjoying a good brew together.

A massive thank you to The National Lottery Community Fund and to every National Lottery player across the UK—it’s thanks to you that community projects like ours can keep building and thriving! 🛠️❤️

Thank you as always to our shedders, supporters, and local community partners. Stay tuned to see what we build next! 🪚🪵✨

18/09/2026

🛠️ Weekly Update: Lancing & Sompting Men in Sheds 🪵
The panic is officially over in the workshop... the biscuit tins have been refilled! 🍪🎉
We had a slight blip on Tuesday when, for the first time in over 7 years, we ran dangerously low on supplies and reached critical "crumb level." Thankfully, by Thursday’s session, order was fully restored, and the tins are packed once again. (Word of advice if you ever find yourself attempting to dip biscuit crumbs into your tea: make sure the tea is luke-warm first! 😉).

With energy levels restored, here is a look at what the team got up to this week:
🚚 Deliveries & Local Collections
• 🪧 Chesham House Centre Notice Board: The custom notice board built for Chesham House has been collected and is officially out in the community!
• 🪴 Trug & Bug House: A big thank you to local resident Pat, who popped by to collect her newly purchased garden trug and bug house.
• ☕ Table Bases for Nina: We completed another two table bases for local resident Nina—always happy to help!
• 🌳 Manor Park Planters: We have made the final sponsored planter signs for Manor Park and successfully replaced the one that mysteriously went "walkabout" recently!

⚙️ Workshop Projects & Upgrades
• 🐎 Horse Whirligig Progress: The new horse prototype is coming along brilliantly—it now officially has its tail end attached!
• ✈️ Spitfire & Snoopy Whirligigs: Work is progressing on completing the Spitfire whirligig order for local resident Hayley, and we are preparing to kick off another Snoopy whirligig build soon.
• 🧰 Cow Shed Updates: We’ve added another tool wall board in the Cow Shed to keep things organized as we continue our workshop tidy-up.
• 📦 Equipment Donations & Rehoming: We collected a fantastic donation of machinery at the start of the week, and one of our Shedders is already putting it to good use! Meanwhile, our Scheppach Whetstone was looking for a new home (listed on Marketplace and is now off to a new workshop 😊 ), a Bostitch manual flooring nailer will be listed very soon too.

🎃 Spooky Season & Festive Prep!
• 👻 Halloween Items: We've been having fun crafting a few spooktacular items for Halloween (check out the photos in the post!).
• 🎄 Christmas Fayre Prep: We are ramping up production on our Christmas range to ensure we're fully stocked for upcoming local fayres and fetes to raise vital funds for our group and the community causes we support!
• 🪣 The £1 Bargain Bucket: As we tidy up, we’ve put more items into our popular £1 bucket outside the units. Lots of locals have already had a good rummage and found a bargain or three!

🏰 Shoreham Fort Heritage Open Day – What a Day! ☀️

• I had a fantastic time visiting the Shoreham Fort Heritage Open Day on Saturday! It was wonderful to see so many locals out enjoying the site, taking in all the displays, stalls, and military vehicles—and best of all, the rain stayed completely away! The air raid shelter experience was a huge hit once again. A massive well done to Gary, Sharon, and the entire team for all the hard work that goes into putting on such a brilliant event. 👏

📝 A Quick Request for Anyone Who Attended!
The team usually hands out visitor feedback surveys on the day, but it was so busy this year they didn't manage to get around to everyone. These surveys are vital for securing future funding and keeping the restoration project moving forward. If you attended on Saturday, please head over to the [Shoreham Fort page] where they’ve posted a couple of quick survey links. Taking just a few minutes to fill them out makes a huge difference to their cause!

Thank you so much for supporting this fantastic local historic landmark! 🏛️ Heritage Open Days

All in all, another fantastic, productive week at the Shed. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! ☀️