Unbelievably next week sees the start of 2011’s National Shed Week; it runs from 4th – 10th July when shed enthusiasts the length and breadth of the country will be celebrating the traditionally wooden structures. It brought back memories of a shed that played a particular part in my life.

Back in the late 1970s at the Keelby Road playing fields a large wooden shed was built in front of the children’s playground. It was, if memory serves me right, provided by and run in conjunction with both Scunthorpe Borough Council and Humberside County Council to provide entertainment, activities & games to children and teenagers during the lighter evenings of the year. It consisted of two rooms, one large room with bench seating around it the other a small room mainly used for storage, there was also an electrical supply for lighting and sockets. The outside was eventually painted green and it became known to those who used it as simply, the green shed.

I seem to recall it would open in the evening from the summer half term holiday at the end of May right through to some time in October. Facilities on offer included table tennis, which took place in the larger of the rooms, trampolining, football, rounders, cricket, etc as well as a whole host of other activities all of which took place on the playing field. It also acted as a meeting point as well as a social point where people could meet and make new friends. Some evenings during the summers the would be upward of 50 to 60 children turn up to use and join in the activities, all for free too.

It only spent one season in it’s initial siting for early in 1980 a large mobile crane appeared at the park one morning and as children we watch amazed as the whole shed was strapped up and lifted from its location in front of the playground to a piece of ground just a few yards away against the fence of Riddings Junior School, this new position allowed the doors and windows to open out onto one half of the playing fields thus making it more practical for the play leaders to run the various activities. It spent the next few years at this new location where even in the closed season it would still act as a meeting point for us to get together and, amongst other things, play football. It was out of the way, in a park meaning we were able to act as teenagers do; making a noise wouldn't cause people too much concern because of the distance from nearby housing.

Keelby Rd playground where the shed was first constructed

It was about 1985 that it sadly became the target of an arson attack, because of its isolated location and the nature of the building by the time the fire brigade arrive it along with its contents had all but burnt to the ground. There was one name that came to the fore as to who was responsible for the attack, the same name being repeated by many people. That person was one of those who used it frequently, one of us, surely it wasn’t them and how could they have spoiled our fun. It seemed inconceivable that they would have committed this attack yet to my knowledge no one ever gave this persons name to the police, why? Was it some sort of brotherly cohesion that forbade us to ‘snitch’ on a mate, the very mate who had in one selfish act taken away our evenings fun.

The following year a new shed was built, this one was smaller and erected in the grounds of the park next to the tennis courts and bowling green and opened out onto the other half of the playing fields. By this time many of us were now more interested in going to the local public houses to play pool and darts. This new shed still seemed to attract children and teenagers to it but not in the numbers that it once did, could this have been a sign that with the emergence of home computer games consoles the traditional games provided by the shed has become old hat?  This new shed lasted two, maybe three years before it was eventually removed and the landscape returned to its previous use, whether it was through lack of use or the funding being pulled I’m not sure but if it wasn’t for those sheds a lot of friendships would not have been born. 

At the site of the first ‘green shed’ at the Keelby Road park today is a Multi Use Games Unit (MUGA) which has its own flood lights so not only can the youths of today play during the lighter evenings but during the winter too, there’s also more playground equipment and a fenced off football pitch which can hold small football matches. So although the facilities of the past have gone they have been replaced by more up to date and better equipment, let’s just hope it gets the respect and use it deserves.

                                                                              MUGA now sits where the shed was located

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the shed in any of its locations and an extensive search on various archives has failed to produce a result. If anyone has any pictures it would be good to see them so please upload them to a gallery on the visitscunthorpe gallery page.