December Newsletter 2025 Part One

1. Welcome to December’s newsletter. Well, yet another year is drawing to a close and what a year it has been for us at WMS! At the beginning of the year, we belatedly celebrated our 10-year birthday with a cake and in warm clothes in January. This was soon followed by the dismantling of the old lean too in readiness for the scaffolders to erect their scaffold enabling the roofers to move in to completely renew the roof making it watertight. Work continued with the workshops interiors as soon as we could safely return to the building after the roofers. New electrics, new ceiling boards, and new lighting were all installed in record time. As soon as we had a suitable weather window the WMS recking crew came in and dismantled the lean too in quick time. We already had the materials, so the replacement lean too was put into place complete with guttering and downpipes in record time. Being on a roll, checks were made to confirm that the area to the front of the building was ours i.a.w. the land registry. Once this was confirmed we obtained a quote for fence erection around our established boundary. Sadly, this was beyond our financial spending limit however once again the vast experience with the membership we ordered the materials and again the task was achieved making a great impact on the available workspace we have. The painting of the fence was completed i.a.w. the specifications of HBC to match the surrounding fences. A decommissioned container was obtained and delivered into the new compound and now fits into the corner like a glove. We had a vision of how we wanted the ‘annex’ and now we have two windows looking on to the compound. There is still work to complete, making the container watertight and the interior fixtures and fittings added. So, I believe a huge thank you must go to those who have made this possible, from the countless hours in liaison with HBC for the lease and other issues, to those members with the physical skills and knowledge needed to achieve what we have. I won’t name names, however, am sure everyone knows those who I’m writing about.

2. I recently paid a visit to Denmead to collect a tool donation and thought I would look in and see the Book Exchange project WMS recently completed. It was a real picture sitting there amongst a dynamic poppy display.

3. Work continues with the WMS ‘annex’ with two windows now installed. It will be a major asset once completed. Any help with the installation continues to be gratefully received. Last month we were generously donated a large amount of tools and equipment. Most of it was able to fit in my car however, the larger tools required the services of John Skerratt’s Land Rover and large trailer. These included a turning lathe, a bench saw. A grinder and sanding machines. These could be considered for the refurbished ‘annex’ to provide further opportunities for members to pursue their projects. The WMS ‘removal specialists’ tackled the movement of the bench saw from the trailer to the annex. Well, it was reminiscent of a scene from Bernard Cribbins 1962 song ‘Right Said Fred’ about the removal of what was implied a piano. The bench saw wouldn’t fit through the gap so a suggestion to take a part of the bench saw off was tried. That didn’t work so Mark suggested taking the legs off. It finally went through in three pieces!