Wigan Men’s Sheds
Wigan Men’s Sheds is a community business that allows men the opportunity to reduce their social isolation, whilst learning new skills. The aim is to empower members to make products that are needed by the community and sold as part of Made in Wigan’s ‘Buy Local’ campaign. Men’s Sheds operates 5 days per week, and creates a drop in environment that can be viewed as a replacement for sitting at home or going to the pub.
Our achievements
Tom is a young person from Lowton, aged 11, who has a love of Woodworking at home. During the summer of 2018, Tom, aged 11, from Lowton, wanted to get involved in woodworking at a work level but was too young to be accepted on a work placement at a private business, and also felt that his secondary school education wasn’t teaching him the skills he required.
His parents approached Wigan Men’s Sheds, and Tom joined the group as a member, initially attending sessions after school hours. Tom’s level of expertise in woodworking amazed all the members of the group and he was showing he could be involved in making high quality products. Tom now aspires to work within a Men’s Sheds setting or even establish his own Men’s Sheds group in his local community, once he leaves school.
Wigan Men's Sheds has helped young people learn new skills and make plans for the future.
Our impact on the local community
- Wigan Men’s Sheds has had over 100 men attend since March 2018 and has now seen female members attend, based on referrals from MissPlaces, who are also based at Platt Bridge Community Zone
- We’ve seen an increase in attendees to Platt Bridge Community Zone and the community businesses based within there
- Each of our members has been skilled up to work towards making products that are made to order via local people
- We’ve helped men open-up about mental health or physical health issues
- We have seen local people contact Men’s Sheds for their locally made wood-based products
- We’ve seen an increase in men ‘socially prescribing’ to the service and choosing services such as this as a way of improving their health and wellbeing and having less of a reliance on anchor institutions such as GP’s.
Bickershaw Village Community Club
The investment fund has allowed Bickershaw Village Community Club to tackle loneliness by providing a safe meeting place for people to enjoy each other's company.
The ‘Buddies’ weekly meeting, which is dementia friendly, allows individuals to meet old friends and make new ones, while participating in various activities. Lunch is available at Betty's cafe or attendees are free to bring their own.
Some of the attendees, who would bring their partners with dementia, now volunteer each week. This project has helped to combat loneliness and bereavement and given a sense of purpose and a positive contribution to our community.
Lancashire Wildlife Trust
The Bickershaw Project is a partnership between Wigan Council, the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, and City of Trees. This project will transform the former Bickershaw colliery site into a sustainable high quality and much valued local resource.
The purpose of the partnership is to improve habitats and diversity of wildlife within the 247-hectare Country Park. This will be achieved by engaging the community and encouraging volunteer groups to help plant trees, maintain grasslands, and help with the general maintenance of the site. The vision is to create a sustainable Country Park which has strong community links and thriving wildlife populations.
Our achievements
Our partnership work with the Environment Agency to increase wetland habitat on site and reduce the chances of flooding in communities downstream, has been a big success for the project.
The work has not only created huge swathes of wetland habitat and increased bird numbers, it has seen the return of water voles across the entire length of Bickershaw Country Park.
Our impact on the local community
The project has provided the community with a high quality greenspace where they can explore, exercise, and engage with nature. Nature provides many opportunities for exercising and has been proven to increase wellbeing amongst people who spend time in their local environment.
The increase in the number of plants and animals on site, the number of pathways, and the reduction in litter and anti-social behaviour has all helped improve the user’s experiences within Bickershaw Country Park.