Shirley Men’s Shed have helped two local schools with their aim to get students growing vegetables.

Upper Shirley High School approached us in 2024 asking if we could make the framework of a greenhouse, to be “glazed” with used pop bottles.  This was out of our experience range, but with pictures on the web, a bit of imagination and a van-load of leftover timber from a nearby construction project, we set to work and the shell slowly took shape.  Making a 1:10 scale model was a great help!

Matching the availability of school staff and our small team, progress was slow – but it meant we could think through each step before the next Thursday morning session.

With much trial and error, we fitted one roof panel filled with bottles before the winter set in.  After a lot of thought about how to fill the gable ends, we hit on the idea of using vinyl LPs, in keeping with the aim of reusing plastic.  Most of the roof bottles and all of the LPs were still there when we restarted in March 2025, and we finished the job early in the summer term.

Word gets around, and in 2026 we were asked if we could help assemble and erect a polytunnel at Shirley Junior School.  That was also beyond our experience but over two days during the Easter break a dozen of us marked out the site, hammered in the posts and assembled all the metalwork, ready for others to fit the cover and get gardening.