May Newsletter 2026 part one

1. Welcome to May’s newsletter. Firstly, I hope I didn’t send members scurrying to Amazon to purchase a ten-hour clock. It was of course April 1st. I did receive one email back shortly after the newsletter went live. Amusingly, this member, who shall remain anonymous was taken in completely and had a good old rant!

2. We received some great news recently. We applied for a National Lottery grant for the building cladding in December 2025 which involved a presentation in Havant by the Lottery team in the morning, then as an option a ten-minute session was offered to groups to give them the pitch as to why we could benefit from a grant. This was presented by the Secretary. When his ten minutes was up, he commented that it was like being on Dragons Den. A good sign was the fact that both National Lottery staff stated that “they were in”. The Secretary came away with a feeling that the first hurdle had been jumped successfully. Now the real work was to begin. Over the next four weeks the application form was completed to present the best attempt in achieving a grant and emailed to the authorities. After the acknowledgement of receipt, the agonising wait began to see if we were successful. Then 23rd of April the good news arrived via email to the Secretary. We had been awarded the whole amount towards the cladding of the Shed. So now we can move forward and contact the contractors to obtain a start date. That’s where we are now. I will keep you informed as to any developments. It’s a major step forward for WMS and everyone should be very proud of what has been achieved so far with both self-help and the professional help. We will be asking for work teams for two projects for the future. One will be replacing the flooring in the workshop and the other will be pulling up and replacing the decking in the recreations. Watch this space. Please sign up when we are ready to progress with the next level of WMS refurbishment.

3. So here we are with longer evenings and living in anticipation of a good summer. May has many celebrations of the arrival of the summer season and the midpoint between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. This is led by a traditional Beltain festival. Beltain is an ancient Gaelic festival celebrated on May 1st. Known as a ‘bright fire’ festival, it traditionally features bonfires, cattle protection rituals and the burning of a wicker man to symbolise fertility, growth and the welcoming of warmer weather. Huge bonfires were lit to purify, heal and protect people and livestock. Today it is celebrated by modern Pagans and in local festivals. The Butser Ancient Farm celebrate Beltain this coming weekend, with the burning of a 40 ft wicker man representing the coming of the green world and to encourage fertility. Jen and I will be joining the Beltain celebrations at Butser this year. Believe tickets for this year are sold out but may be worth a phone call in case.

3. Philip Griffiths has asked to advertise an electric planer, the sale of which he is going to donate to the Shed. We would also like to offer it to members first. We have agreed on a suggested figure of £50:00. It is a heavy piece of equipment and would require two men and a van to collect. Any offers please contact the Secretary.