‘Shedloads’ to Benefit from the Gosport Community Lottery

20/05/2019

The Gosport Community Lottery has recently had a record number of cash prize winners, with Harry Ansell, Chair of The Gosport Shed, one of the lucky £25 cash recipients. Harry, who also supports The Gosport Shed when playing the lottery was really pleased to have won and said, “It’s great to have won a prize, but more importantly, the lottery has been a real help so far for The Gosport Shed. When it was first posed to members, they thought it was a good idea and ticket sales have grown over time. We now we have 69 weekly ticket sales and we’ve received over £900 to date! All funds from the Gosport Community Lottery have been going to the refurbishment of our new premises, which we are opening next week. Our community lottery poster is up, and we are still getting people joining. The lottery really works for causes like ours – it’s an excellent thing.”

The Gosport Shed provides workshop facilities and a friendly meeting place for older men. It is available for community projects and for members’ own projects and hobbies. The remarkable range of activities available includes woodwork, joinery, gardening, pyrography, pottery, engineering, basket making, choir, bands, art and much much more. The group also organise a range of social activities and excursions, even taking a group of members as far as Berlin!

The Gosport shed was set up in 2013 with just eight members and its aim is to support the many older men who find retirement takes away friends and a sense of purpose, leaving them vulnerable to physical illness and depression. The group provides a new network of friends and a renewed sense of purpose and now has 160 members, almost half of which are ex-military. The range of skills of the members is astonishing and the contribution they have given to the community to date is remarkable – just take a look at the project page on their website www.thegosportshed.co.uk.

The impressive venue is adjacent to St Vincent College on Mill Lane and is generally open 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday. The Shed have recently taken over the lease of the drill hall, which is next to their current premises, and is of course using their members’ many skills to expertly refurbish the 19^th century building into an accessible and purpose-built HQ. Due to launch this week, the new venue includes a full kitchen, a very spacious relaxing/social area full of comfortable sofas, disabled access bathroom, ramps, various workshops, an IT suite where members will share their skills, and there is even plans for a repair café! Furniture and materials have generally been donated by the community and The Shed are continuing to fundraise themselves too. Throughout the summer they will be holding fundraising stalls with the popular ‘pick a bottle’ game and donations of wine, bottles of water, juice, soft drink etc. would be gratefully received.

The Gosport Shed are hoping to grow their supporters through the Gosport Lottery to continue to raise funds for the refurbishment. To support the shed or another good cause, or to find out about fundraising for your organisation visit www.gosportcommunitylottery.org.uk.

The Gosport Community Lottery is managed by Gosport Voluntary Action and Gatherwell Ltd (External Lottery Manager) and supported by Gosport Borough Council. It was set up to support community projects in the area, and operates on the principle of raising money within the com-munity, for the community. Tickets cost just £1 each and deliver 60 per cent back to local good causes, in comparison to just 28 per cent contributed by the National Lottery. The remaining 40 per cent goes back into the prize fund and pays for the running costs. To date, the lottery has paid £15,266 to Gosport good causes and is set to raise £42,125 annually.

The lottery regularly has special prize draws, where goods or experiences are donated by local businesses and can be won in addition to cash and ticket prizes. If your business would like to support the lottery and in exchange receive social media promotion and bespoke flyers provided to all good causes, please contact Lisa Powell, lottery@gva.org.uk or 02392 583836.

If you would like to join The Gosport Shed, just turn up and you will be made welcome, or contact the Membership Secretary, Terry McCutcheon by email at membershipsec@thegosportshed.co.uk. The Gosport Shed is located at the north end of St Vincent College, Gosport and can be found by going into the northerly entrance in Mill Lane, and then bearing left– for those with a Satnav, the postcode is PO12 4QA. Normal opening hours are 9.00am till 4.00pm on Monday to Friday and the telephone number is 07852 452664 during open hours. The Gosport shed is a registered charity and membership subscription is £60 per year – pro rata for part of the full year. All new members are very welcome!