“What is it with men and their sheds?” So asks Rhik Samadder (G2, 21 November). Why doesn’t he ask some of the 11,424 members of the UK Men’s Sheds organisation? I have the privilege of being the treasurer of the Shed in this village – one of 476 in the UK – with over 20 members. It is a thriving community hub offering skills and social support to local men aged 18 to 108. He is welcome to visit us at any time but warn him that he won’t find any “coddled, crackpot hobbyism” or indeed anyone “absconding from domestic duty”.
Dr Derek Middlemiss
Collingham, Nottinghamshire
• No, Rhik, it’s not “always a man in his shed”. Just Google women and sheds and be amazed. It’s almost 20 years since an entire section of one of my books was called “Shed” because it was written in my shed and was about my shed. I still cannot believe there are men out there who claim this magical space for their gender alone.
Geraldine Monk
Affiliated poet, Centre for Poetry and Poetics, University of Sheffield
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