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UK MEN’S SHEDS ASSOCIATION – OVERVIEW

The UKMSA is a registered charity that supports Sheds, Shedders (the people who attend the Sheds), their supporters and the communities the Sheds serve across the UK to benefit health and wellbeing nationally. There are over 1,100 Men’s Sheds across the UK.  UKMSA was 10 years old in 2023 with eight staff equating to 5 full-time staff, 35 volunteer Shed Ambassadors plus hundreds of Shed Leaders and Supervisors. There were 30 Men’s Sheds in the UK in 2013. UKMSA have the ambition to see the number of Sheds grow to 2,400 over the next eight years.

Men’s Sheds are community-based, non-commercial organisations. Sheds are generally autonomous groups and self-determine their direction under common characteristics of Connecting, Creating and Conversing.

Physically Sheds are generally not in Sheds, they occupy community centres, industrial units, Church halls, etc. Some Sheds have been developed in partnership with charities such as RVS, Mind or Age UK, etc, others directly with UKMSA, Men’s Sheds Scotland or Local Authorities. Many Men’s Sheds have women members.

Activities in Sheds vary greatly, but you can usually find woodworking, metalworking, repairing and restoring, electronics, model buildings or even car building in a typical Shed. Sheds typically attract older men, but many have younger members and women too. Whatever the activity, the essence of a Shed is not a building, but the connections and relationships between its members.