Scarborough Mates Men's Shed's move to state-of-the-art facility made possible by £10,000 donation

Men's Shed chairman Iain Hale receives a 10,000 cheque to help finance the new facility.

Scarborough Mates Men’s Shed moved to a new site on Londesborough Road in September thanks to a donation of £10,000 from the Sirius Minerals Foundation.

Iain Hale, Scarborough Mates Men's Shed chairman, said: "This group has been a real lifeline for many people. Many of our members had nobody and without this group, they would have simply become isolated from society. This facility is a real community asset now and will ensure we can help more and more people in the future.

"We wouldn’t be here without the generous grant from the Sirius Minerals Foundation. Without their support we simply couldn’t have taken the risk of signing a lease on this property. It also demonstrates great understanding and support that the Foundation has waited patiently for us to find the right premises and that has helped us enormously."

Scarborough Mates Men's Shed chairman Iain Hale.

Work has included creating a new kitchen area, disabled toilet, removing internal walls and installing new lighting, widening doorways for wheelchair access and redecorating inside and out.

The charity aims to alleviate loneliness, which has risen during the pandemic, among the hard-to-reach residents in Scarborough who have suffered illness, unemployment, bereavement and those lacking confidence.

The new centre provides a space for residents to come together to complete practical activities which can include woodworking, metalworking, arts and crafts and model railways.

Leah Swain, Foundation Chief Executive, said: "The work Scarborough Mates do to help try and alleviate social isolation is fantastic and the Sirius Minerals Foundation are delighted to have supported them to be able to take this step and relocate into their own dedicated space.

"Loneliness is a big issue for so many people, worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic, so any support we can offer to projects like the Scarborough Mates is funding well spent."

Research from the Campaign to End Loneliness found that isolation is going to be a serious issue beyond the Covid pandemic.

The report highlights that around one million more people became chronically lonely during lockdown – resulting in 3.7 million adults reporting that they were often or always lonely by the beginning of 2021 according to the Office for National Statistics.