Stonehaven Men's Shed 2025

15/06/2026

Sunday afternoon curry buffet at the Carron was the place to be for great food and wonderful company with the MenShed boys who were all ready for an evening of socialising starting at 5pm on Sunday 14 June.

31/05/2026

The Lord-Lieutenant of Kincardinshire, Alastair Macphie, visited the shed on Saturday 23rd.
The purpose of the visit was to hear what progress the members had made since the presentation by him of the King’s Award for Voluntary Service a couple of years ago.
Chairman, Duncan Cursiter, gave a summary of the projects done for, and with, the local community, and also the advances made in the shed by introducing new concepts to engage the members.
This was followed by transport, via the land train, to the Town Hall shed to see the work done, involving some 270 man hours, by shedders in conjunction with Stonehaven Town Partnership, STP, in restoring the facility. This project was made possible by funding organised by STP from community groups and the Council. Representatives from those involved attended the occasion.
He was also told about the progress by STP in acquiring funding for chairs and equipment for use by community groups at the various Town events. This is a great example of community groups working together with the Council, to fund and carry out work which benefits the community.

24/05/2026

Our monthly newsletter for MAY 2026 is now available to read here: https://www.stonehavenmensshed.co.uk/blog/
There's also an audio version available from the same location for anyone who prefers to listen to the newsletter.

23/04/2026

23/04/2026

Prosthetic Limbs
On Tuesday 14th April a consignment of disassembled components from prosthetic legs was sent off to STAND in Bristol for shipment to Africa. The pallet contained twenty-four boxes of prosthetic limb parts weighing just over a quarter of a ton in total. Men’s Shed and Stand are extremely grateful to K&G Aberdeen who kindly offered to organise the transport delivery of the cargo to STAND base in Bristol, free of charge!
This consisted of: - 156 Cups (the part that the severed limb is inserted into), 156 Pylons, 262 Feet, 144 Connectors, 165 Knee joints and 53 assorted new bandages & socks.
Willie Shepherd, who is responsible in the Shed for the disassembly and shipment of the limbs, estimates that there are enough component parts to make up approximately 120 full prosthetic legs.
The prosthetic limbs are collected by Stonehaven Rotary from hospitals all over Scotland and delivered to Stonehaven Shed. There, Willie takes them apart and saves the valuable parts which are then sent off to Africa, where STAND organise their reassembly and fitting to amputees.
To put this service in perspective, the cost of a full prosthetic leg is on average around £10 - £15 thousand pounds!
The consignment arrived in Bristol on Thursday.

20/04/2026

Our monthly newsletter for April is now available to read here: https://www.stonehavenmensshed.co.uk/blog/

There's also an audio version available for anyone who is not able to read the standard newsletter.

29/03/2026

Presentations
On Thursday 5th March, after the Open Forum, the speaker was Jill Pritchard, NHS Grampian. The topic was Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) screening. This was a repeat of a presentation 2-3 years ago.
It was pointed out that this screening, by ultrasound scanning, is carried out, free of charge, for men over 65. It was highlighted that men are six times more likely than women to have this condition.
Individuals can self-refer by contacting their local medical centre and the scan only takes 10-15 minutes and is done at KCH.
A brief survey of members attending showed that around one third were aware of being already scanned. Other members attending may have been scanned, without their knowledge, during treatment for other medical ailments, but anyone in doubt is encouraged to contact either their local GP or phone NHS on 01224553905. The red model, in the photo below, is an enlarged illustration of an aneurysm, (bulge) on the Aorta, which is the primary conduit for blood in the body.

23/03/2026

Our monthly newsletter for March is now available to read here. There's also an audio version available for anyone who is not able to read the standard newsletter.

Newsletters Our latest newsletters (in PDF and audio formats) are shown below.They are best viewed by clicking the ‘Full Screen’ button [click ‘Esc’ to go back to normal view]. **** Here is our FEBRUARY 2026 newsletter. To listen to the audio version, click the ‘Play’ button: https://www...

21/02/2026

Our Model Shop
We have, from day one, had an area separated out for members who are keen on activities other than general woodworking, equipment repair or metalwork or the latest computer-controlled routing and laser etching.
In here, our members get involved in activities like making model aeroplanes, boats, ships and marquetry, Christmas and Easter fayre and a range of model construction activities.
The group only come out of their haven when tea and bacon rolls are being offered!! Nevertheless, they have made some very fine models of famous vessels over the past few years.
Our main contributors are Superstructure builder, Ian Smith, Hull constructer, David Hepburn and Topsides and Rigging supervisor, Mike McInally.
We are very fortunate that we have members of the public who have donated kits of models of famous vessels.
In addition. we have a mode shop with a nice range of equipment specifically dedicated to this type of work.
Some of the vessels involved are: -
Titanic
John Cargill of Gourdon was quartermaster on the Carpathia when it left for New York on 14 April 1912. After the Titanic struck an iceberg, the Carpathia, 58 miles away, steamed at full speed and rescued 705 survivors, reaching New York on 18 April.
His grandchildren are trustees of the Maggie Law Maritime Museum in Gourdon. During COVID, the museum asked Stonehaven Men’s Shed, to build a model of the Titanic. Member Ian Smith worked at home, during COVID and it was completed in the shed, housed in a display case, and presented it to the museum in August 2021.
Cutty Sark
The Cutty Sark, one of the fastest tea clippers ever built, was designed by Hercules Linton, who was born in Inverbervie on 1 January 1837. He was an apprentice with Aberdeen shipbuilders Alexander Hall & Sons and then a Marine Architect in Liverpool.
In 1868, he moved to Dumbarton, where he co-founded Scott and Linton, the company awarded the contract to build the Cutty Sark. Later in life, he returned to his hometown of Inverbervie. He died in 1900 in the house where he was born. He is buried in Inverbervie.
The kit model was presented to the Shed by Bill Wiseley and the completion, by Shedder Mike MacInally took months, with the complicated work of the topsides structure, sails and rigging.
The San Felipe (1690)
This kit was donated to the shed and construction was by Ian Smith and Mike McInally.
It was a renowned 17th-century Spanish Navy ship, often cited as one of the most beautiful and heavily armed vessels in the Armada with 100 cannons.
As a 3-decker galleon, she defended Spanish interests until being severely damaged and captured and sunk by British ships in 1705.
LIBERTY SHIP
On the stocks at present under construction by Mike is a model of a Liberty Ship of the type built in American Yards during WW2 and supplied as cargo vessels for the UK War effort. It is recorded that the ships were produced at the rate of 2 every 3 days in some 18 US Shipyards. Ours has been on the stocks now for 2-3 weeks!
Fishing Boat - The Fifie
Also, under construction,, by David Hepburn, is a model of “The Fifie”, a traditional sailing boat developed, in the 1850’s on the East coast of Scotland for fishing herring using drift nets. Thus, the fishing term, “herring drifters!. They were still used well into the 20th century.