New Fort | Cranleigh Mens Shed

ROCKING HORSE

We were asked to refurbish a rocking horse that was a family heirloom. It had many years of use and was now wobbly and unsafe to use.

We cleaned it and made it secure.

New handles were made and the the old lead based paint removed.

It was then repainted with a child friendly water based paint.

All ready for riding by the next generation!

THE FORT

A wooden Fort, mostly in pieces with a few broken and missing parts was donated to the Lions nearly new market stall, but unsaleable in its current condition.

Men's Shed were asked if it was possible to repair and one of our members gladly volunteered for the project!

The Fort was completely dismantled, a new base was made and with some parts refurbished including reshaping the drawbridge,

The Fort was finally ready for the market stall and a lucky child’s Christmas present

THE GARAGE

When Men’s Shed took over one of their previous premises there were some abandoned toys, including a garage, found buried under leaf mould in the garden area. It appeared that it had been there for some considerable time and investigation revealed that the various mechanisms were intact, but everything was choked up with leaf mould.

The garage was given a through clean with a pressure washer, some corroded fixings were replaced and the vehicle and goods lift, floor bell, ramp, turntable and barriers were all lubricated and returned to operation.

As soon as these desirable commercial premises became available a local Cranleigh lad, Archie, expressed an immediate interest. He has now taken the freehold and the premises now house and service his extensive vehicle collection!

THE DOLL'S HOUSE

We were asked if we could restore a family heirloom which was in a pretty bad state.

When almost stripped back to the original wood, many previous poor quality repairs were apparent and this also revealed some of its history.

The roof and walls were made from recycled tea chests, originally used to import tea from the Far East.

Stencils on the plywood show that the tea was on its way to The Minister Of Food, London. This indicates that the chests dated from the 1940’s or early 50’s, when the Ministry controlled the rationing of food.

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The Doll's House finished!