MEMBER'S OWN PROJECTS
ARCHAEOLOGY PIT
The Grade II Listed Church of St Peter and St Paul in Ewhurst requires major repairs and is on The Buildings At Risk Register. Local people have been raising funds in various ways, but a major initiative took place in the summer of 2024 when Sayer's Croft, a rural activity centre for school children in the village, opened it facilities to local people. For a small fee visitors could enjoy the climbing wall, zip wire, bouldering, caving, an adventure playground; meet a wandering Roman centurion, visit a replica Iron Age Roundhouse, and enjoy the offerings from numerous stalls. A genuine Roman Road runs beneath the site and this was partially excavated so that visitors could see the well preserved surface.
Ewhurst History Society asked if Cranleigh Men's Shed could help with the building of an archaeology pit where children could carry out their own archaeological "mini dig". A rectangular log frame with jointed corners was made up, fitted with screw eyes and a rope grid designating work stations (marked with Roman numerals of course) then dismantled and transported to site. An area of ground had the turf removed and was dug over by History Society members and the frame installed around the edge. Children were issued with gloves and trowels and trowelled away searching for small pieces of Roman pottery that had been buried in the soil earlier, these having been found scattered by ploughing at the nearby Rapsley Roman Villa over the years. Inspired by the Roman Road remains, about 90 children tried their hand at "archaeology", each being allowed to take an artefact that they had found home with them. Aided by good weather the day was a big success and raised over £5,000 towards the Church appeal.
CHURCH SIGN
The sign for Holy Trinity Church at Forest Green had seen better days and Cranleigh Men's Shed volunteered to repair it prior to a visit by the Archdeacon. The oak post was beyond redemption, as was the sign board, but the text fixed to the board was found to be re-usable. A new local oak post was sourced and some reclaimed walnut floor boarding recycled to make the signboard, to which the original lettering was then re-fixed. The receiving socket in the ground was found to be out of true level and the post had to have offset tapers cut on the end and wedges fitted to overcome this, but the sign is now upright and should be good for many years.
VILLAGE NOTICE BOARD
We installed the new village noticeboard on behalf of our Parish Council.
DOWNS LINK PATH
Lydia, from the Surrey County Council Access team called by this week to collect a mountain of bird and bat boxes made by our team at the Men's Shed. 14 of our bat boxes and 14 of our bird boxes will soon be located along areas of the Downs Link path!
ONE STOP ELMBRIDGE PROJECT
A local residential area came up with the idea of adopting a small area of land adjacent to the main road to develop a garden. We supplied 3 of our bird boxes, made some notice boards to cover the sides of the bus shelter and made 3 planters that should look great when they are planted out and matured.
LEST WE FORGET
Back in 2018 the Royal British Legion started marketing silhouettes figures of solders, airmen, sailors, nurses, munitions worker etc. The purpose of this being to commemorate those who had given their lives in two World Wars on the centenary of the armistice that ended the first one, and to raise funds for the ongoing assistance of ex-service personnel.
In recognition of those lost locally (almost all soldiers) Abinger Parish bought five Tommy silhouettes, one for each of the villages in the parish. These were popular with parishioners and they have done good service, being transported around and positioned as needed each November for five years. However although the silhouettes have angle iron legs the bodies are made of plastic and these were starting to show significant wear and tear. Minor repairs were carried out year on year, but one figure had the rifle butt snapped off and was nearly broken in half in the autumn gales of 2022.
Major repairs were required and Cranleigh Men’s shed made plates from 3mm aluminium sheet to both back and reinforce the damaged areas, riveting these in position. The figure was then re-painted as necessary and returned to “active service”.
CRANLEIGH GOLF and LEISURE CLUB MEMORIAL BENCH
We were asked by the Craneligh Golf and Leisure Club if we could save a memorial bench that had been made from recycled timber and was on the point of collapse.
Taking the bench back to our workshop we removed and replaced all the rotten timber, strenghtened some sections and replaced the back rest with newly foraged timber.
The bench was delivered back to the club and now sits happily adjacent to the ladies first tee to the delight of members.
CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAU
NEW DOOR
The entrance door to Cranleigh Citizens Advice Bureau was in a poor condition and rotting badly. A new door was purchased and donated by Cranleigh Lions and subsequently installed by Cranleigh Men's Shed.
HIGH STREET BOLLARDS
We were asked by the Cranleigh Arts Centre to prepare 12 street bollards ready for painting as part of their street art project.
Local artists painted designs depicting local clubs and associations who were invited to submit their designs, including the Cranleigh Men's Shed design!
