A bright, open, inviting and, it has to be said, lovely and warm, space has been created with the renovation of the Methodist Chapel Schoolroom. It was a pleasure to be at the Spud & Pud lunch held there recently in aid of the Ripon Men's Shed and enjoy the tasty baked potatoes, offered with a variety of toppings, including chilli, mince, and sour cream and cheese, followed by a choice (extremely difficult) from the dessert trolley that showcased to perfection the baking talents of chapel members.

Special mention, and a round of applause, must be given to the hostesses who prepared and served this wonderful lunch with no kitchen as this is currently being re-fitted. Despite this, the potatoes and fillings remained hot, the puddings came with a choice of cream or custard and tea and coffee followed on. No mean achievement.

In between courses, a brief presentation was given, using the Chapel's new, wall mounted wide screen television, by Bishop Monkton resident, Tony Johnson, from the Men's Shed. He described the “shed”, which has about 50 members locally, as a community group that happens to do woodwork, stressing they are far more than a group just for repairing and making items out of wood. Started in Australia in the late 1990's there are now 30,000 sheds in 12 different countries and in the U.K. latest figures show that there are 1,300 such communities. They are indeed “the shed at the bottom of the garden”, but with an opportunity to share skills and ideas, chat, and form friendships as well as making, repurposing and repairing while supporting projects in their local communities.

All 40 tickets for the lunch were sold and, together with donations, a sum of over £400 was donated to Ripon Men's Shed, continuing the valued support that the village has given to the Shed since its formation, very much acknowledged by the speaker in his presentation.

Work on the renovation work in the Chapel was on hold for the day as the chapel was opened up to allow everyone to see the progress being made. With no pews, the Chapel is now a remarkably large space, the walls have been lined with plasterboard and are in the process of being plastered. Admittedly there is still much to do (and mountains of dust to be moved) but there have already been great strides forward and the target is still for it be in use by Easter. Many of the original Victorian architectural features of the chapel are being retained as can be seen in the photographs above.

For our recent feature on the Ripon Men's Shed, click here