All aboard! Shedders from Blyth Man Shed have been right on track recently with the STEM Lab on Wheels project at the Dales School in Blyth, the school is a specialist primary school providing Special Educational Needs for children. Blyth Man Shed is proud to be involved with this amazing project by building a Ticket Office & Platform Waiting Room area which is designed to engage children in sensory role play & inspire generations of children giving them a better future.
Read on to find out more…
The Dales School staff approached Blyth Man Shed in May 2022 requesting assistance with the build of a Train Station Masters Ticket Office to allow the children to engage in role play learning, which of course we agreed to without hesitation, even without knowing the scale of the project!
Shedders visited the Dales School Station platform late June to start planning & designing the Ticket Office. Seeing the two full size train carriages in person really put into perspective the size of the project and understanding the benefits to the children from the renovation works being carried was truly inspiring. This gave shedders a one-track mind thinking about the ticket office designs, planning and building requirements based on the available volunteer in-house joinery skills shedders can offer.
In the meantime, Blyth Man Shed pulled the stops out, and successfully managed to engage on a journey with Wickes, a well-known building supplier. Wickes management team from the local store in Wallsend visited & agreed to help by supplying a brand-new shed and materials towards the train project, or something along those lines…
In August, Wickes delivered the new shed right on time to the Dales Schools Station Platform ready for install by the Blyth Man Shed team.
On the day of the big build, volunteer shedders gathered at the shed early doors to gather tools & grab boxes of screws, just in case! The whole team rendezvoused up at the Dales School to start the shed construction. The Wickes team also attended to offer support on the day to ensure everything went along smoothly and nobody lost their train of thought.
The Blyth Man Shed team of four shedders prepared with impact drivers, electric drills, and pockets full of screws the team of shedders managed to complete the shed build in one day, including felting the roof, adding the weather strips & hanging bi-fold doors.
While building the ticket office a camera crew from Channel 4 filmed shedders as construction was taking place for some action shots which will hopefully be used on a new series coming soon.
Next stop is for the shed modifications to incorporate a working ticket office window & waiting room area for the children to role play, preparing & handing out train tickets before heading to the Dales School Platform to get onboard the train.
This is not the end of the line just yet, Blyth Man Shed will always have a connection with this project and we cannot wait to see the final stop when all the works have been completed and the children can start to enjoy & benefit from this truly amazing space.
Follow progress on the Train Blog –
https://www.thedales.northumberland.sch.uk/category/train-blog/