Banchory Men’s Shed “bags” top Tesco Bags of Help award
Banchory and District Men’s Shed is delighted to announce it has bagged the top award of £4,000 from Tesco’s Bags of Help community grant scheme.
Bags of Help is run in partnership with environmental charity Groundwork, and sees grants raised from the sale of carrier bags awarded to thousands of local community projects every year. Greenspace Scotland is working with Groundwork to provide support to communities in Scotland.
Since launching in 2015, Bags of Help has provided more than £56 million to over 16,000 local community projects.
Millions of shoppers have voted in Tesco stores up and down the country and it can now be revealed Banchory and District Men’s Shed has been awarded £4,000.
Work will now begin on bringing the project to life.
The project is the conversion of the undercroft area of Legion Scotland’s Ravenswood Club at 25 Ramsay Road, Banchory into a Men’s Shed workshop and social area.
Paul Evans, Chairman of Banchory and District Men’s Shed said:
“We wholeheartedly thank Tesco Bags of Help and the customers of Tesco’s Banchory store who voted for us to receive the top award.
“Men’s Sheds have become recognised as a major contributor to the improvement of men’s health and wellbeing. The Men’s Shed movement recognises the particular challenges which men face around life changes such as retirement, social isolation and a lack of established social circles once away from the working environment, and also the isolation and lack of direction which men can experience due to long-term unemployment. Men’s Shed provides facilities to address needs particular to men and the different ways in which men live, communicate and interact. A common saying is that “Men don’t talk face to face, they talk shoulder to shoulder”.
Tony McElroy, Tesco’s Head of Communications in Scotland, said:
“Bags of Help has been a fantastic success and we’ve been overwhelmed by the response from customers. It’s such a special scheme because it’s local people who decide how the money will be spent in their community. We can’t wait to see the projects come to life.”
Voting ran in stores throughout May and June with customers choosing which local project they would like to get the top award using a token given to them at the checkout.
[Press releases here]