NLMS Wasn't Built in a Day!
On July 5th 2023 our new flatpack shed was craned onto the Land of Hope and Dreams we're borrowing from Greater Anglia.
We finished the foundations the following week, and on 19th July we unpacked the flatpack and began the build.
Our ambitious plan to do it in a day was not achieved, but a good day's work.
The next week we completed the build.
The next milestones on our project are to create what we grandly call a patio outside the south face of our steel shed. We are looking for funding to install a solar set-up to give us a bit of light and power hand tools. A compost loo is being designed. We have plans to create a tiny orchard of East Anglian fruit trees. We have some very heavy lumps of concrete to get off the land.
The land has been a part of the UK national rail 'system' since 1847. Sometime between 1885 and 1905 a 'cattle dock' was built, where livestock was transferred off and onto trains. The concrete is a relic of this. Below the land is one of Lowestoft's main sewers, laid around 2007.
The quarter acre of land is a haven for wildlife – amazing number of grasshoppers and crickets this year – and we intend to keep it that way, and manage it to be even better.
Future Plans
All this is good. But our main aim is to persuade Network Rail to allow us to renovate, rejuvenate and re-purpose the old Menzies/Chadds building, just to the west of the land. This would allow us to create a marvellous multi-purpose Shed, with space to make things, socialise, and generally expand our activities. It's owned by Network Rail.
We'd like us to be able to say 'We are the greenest Shed in the UK'.
The Shed meets every Wednesday 10.30 – 12.15 (all times approximate) on the land in Denmark Road. It is rough and beset with potential danger for those treading its narrow briar protected paths.
The Shed itself is a mere 20 feet by 6 feet, and we use it as a shed. This puts an unwelcome restriction on membership numbers. However, if you are interested, email info@northlowestoftmensshed.org
Add new comment