Table 2.

Quotes

Quote number	Quote
1	‘The Shed is whatever you want it to be, it’s an important space for men to get together and be themselves and relax. Whether there’s an output at the end of it? It doesn’t really matter’ (State community development officer).
2	‘We can’t just open, we need supervisors, we need key holders, we need first aiders here, and therefore it’s a commitment...but the supervisors are just volunteers’ (Shed committee member).
3	‘I came down here to relax in my retirement. Don’t get me wrong, the Shed has changed my life, I’m involved in a lot, but I’m taking on too much it’s getting a bit stressful’ (Shed member).
4	‘At any time we could disappear, there needs to be someone else who knows what they’re doing, that’s what happens when you get to our age, you go over on your ankle and that’s it, or take the flu...we are not going to be here forever’ (Shed committee member).
5	‘It’s hard to talk to the shedders without feeling like you are managing them or bossing them around…shedders might think this way is too bureaucratic’ (Shed committee member).
6	‘We are here for ourselves, we can’t get a chance to get on the machines if we are too busy looking out for other people, we don’t have the expertise’ (Shed member)
7	‘Social work or occupational health might think “Well, you can bring somebody down here for two hours and leave them”, because it’s not the men’s responsibility to care for somebody, they can’t’ (State community development officer).
8	‘We care about people, there’s people in here living with dementia...but safety is their responsibility, so if they go to machine and can’t use it, they don’t use it’ (Shed member).
9	'We need to be near transport links, if you were further out with the area you’ve got to use your car, so older people will be relying on a lift, you’ve got to be able to get here by public transport’ (Shed member).
10	The biggest issue is that the council departments are not understanding the health benefit (in giving Shed premises)…To be fair to them, they’ve never seen this model before. So, there’s got to be this whole education thing that we try to do’ (Shed Association member).
11	‘...we have loads of Sheds (in Scotland) that have short-term low cost rental agreements that might last a few years. But what is going to happen in a few years when this stops or councils need to make some money so increase rents?’ (Shed Association member).
12	Paying the rent is the main challenge...I would hate to see the Shed close because we can’t afford to keep it running’ (Shed committee member).
13	‘It’s time consuming (making items to sell), people want to do other things, they’ve been putting themselves under pressure, everybody’s coming down here to relax, they didn’t sign up for this’ (Shed member).
14	‘At the moment…the funding’s very much small pockets…Sheds will need to get more creative and evidence their impact more effectively as that funding pot gets smaller…they’ll have to compete for that funding’ (Non-profit development officer).