SPOTLIGHT: The life-giving shed at Hampden Park  

Janet is wrestling with a skirt – and winning. 

Claire is positioning an extremely small washing line next to a tiny house. 

And three women sit chatting in another corner as they meticulously cut, align and realign pieces of glass to their satisfaction. 

They sit in a former shop unit, surrounded by teetering piles of fabrics, ranked spools of cotton thread and boxes spilling over with crafting materials. 

This is Hampden Park Shed and it is vitally important to each of them. 

The crafting and making sessions run four days a week in the converted unit in Brassey Parade within yards of Hampden Park station. It is for over-50s and the oldest ‘shedder’ who comes is 96. 

Men’s Sheds, as they are generally known, bring together older men who find it difficult to make social connections. 

It typically involved woodwork, replicating working together in a shed, using vacant premises to combat isolation and improve their mental wellbeing.  

Nowadays, Sheds include women and younger people in different sessions at various locations. There are two other Sheds in Eastbourne: one next to Langney Priory in Etchingham Road and another in Fort Lane, near Princes Park. 

At Hampden Park, there are crafts such as sewing, knitting, crochet, cross-stitch and papercraft but proficient volunteers also teach stained glass, pottery and mosaics. There is also a small woodworking area and a kiln to fire the pottery. 

This Shed started in September 2019 with National Lottery funding for five years.  

People drop in for a couple of trial sessions and, if they like what they see, they pay £10 a month and can use most materials – 90% of the supplies are donated. There is a small extra charge for the stained glass and clay for pottery. 

Linda Plumley, who works for Age Concern, is the paid Hampden Park Shed co-ordinator. She previously worked in retail and the hotel industry – and she is passionate about people. 

There are now 42 regular members, grown from an initial list of just eight. 

“It is a safe space to come and create. It could be just having a cup of coffee and a chat or making something like a stained-glass little bird,” she said. 

“I do love crafting. And for me, it was watching people heal coming out of the pandemic. Now it is watching people grow,” she adds, becoming emotional just thinking of how much the activities mean to her members. 

Janet Russell, 69, who lives nearby in Hampden Park is upcycling a sunny yellow skirt to create a sundress she modelled at the eco fashion show as part of the E Festival in late July. 

“Since I have been coming here, my confidence has gone through the roof,” she said, smiling happily. 

Janet, who used to work in a pharmacy, has even posed for a Calendar Girl-style calendar with strategically placed items to cover nudity. “I never thought I would do anything like that!” 

Her husband Michael died two years ago, she broke her ankle soon afterwards and then lockdown isolated her. “It brought me very low,” she said. 

“I was on antidepressants but I stopped taking them. I thought: ‘I don’t need them any more.’ I would probably still be on them if I hadn’t started coming here.” 

Janet calls the Shed her happy place and goes in two days a week. 

“It’s camaraderie and we share a lot. I never did much crafting but this has really brought me out of my shell. It keeps me sane.” 

Claire Hall, 50, below, who lives in Shinewater, comes once a week for mental wellbeing and calls it her escape. “Everyone is just so friendly and welcoming.” 

She loves creating miniature houses from wood offcuts and any other materials she can find. She made one for Linda which was so tiny, it was stuck on a peg. 

Claire suffered mobility problems while recovering from cancer treatment, so she has found crafting the ideal way to use her hands. 

She jokes she’s living among 60 tiny houses at home but finds it very hard to part with her creations.   

Three women sit around a table in the corner, clipping glass into shapes and arranging them in the first stages of planning a stained-glass project. 

Janet Potter, 66, has gone from the shock of redundancy from a college just before the first lockdown to voluntarily teaching others how to create stained-glass.  

She is unequivocal about the part the Shed plays in her life: “It has been my saviour.” 

She went on: “I had absolutely no confidence at all or self-esteem. My partner rang here to find out more because I didn’t have the guts to do it.

“It has really helped that I can contribute as well. So much self-respect comes from being able to contribute to society – it gives you dignity.” 

Opposite her, Steph Manning, 71, from Polegate (pictured right in main image) is carefully arranging glass and glass beads until she is satisfied.  

Steph, who used to run an aromatherapy and essentials oils shop in Brighton, became hooked on creating mosaics after taking a course in 2011 at West Dean College in West Sussex. 

“There is always someone to talk to and things to learn here,” she said. 

Next to her Valerie Shahilow, 67, (on left in main image) who lives nearby, is scoring and cutting glass pieces to fit a flower template. 

“I walked by and offered some materials, then started coming. I had never done much crafting before but it’s great. I love it!” 

Valerie, a self-confessed golf widow, is forward planning and clearly here for the long term – she intends to make Christmas decorations with her stained glass.

As we leave, the chat continues as heads bend in concentration over projects. In an unremarkable parade of shops, it’s a triumph over social isolation in our post-Covid world.  

:: Sessions run at Hampden Park Shed from Mondays to Thursdays 10am to 4pm. Call 01323 351291 

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