Bernie

We received the sad news today that fellow sheddist Bernie Beddoe passed away on 21 October.

Bernie joined the Shed in May 2015 and has made a huge contribution to our work and to the spirit of the group. He was an inventor and had a wide range of interests. He was enthusiastic about sharing his experience and ideas on many subjects and took an active interest in all of the Shed's activities.

The day Bernie arrived at the Shed he set about exploring the workshop. He made it his mission to discover what materials and tools we had and where they were all kept. From that day on he became the "go-to" man if people needed to know where to find something.

As a self-professed "ideas man", Bernie is the one who when we were talking about purchasing a lathe for the Shed said "you know, you can convert a treadle sewing machine into a lathe". We are now using that lathe to produce candlesticks for the Christmas season.

Five months ago we were presented with a mass-produced cardboard dollshouse to renovate. It sat on our shelf for quite a while. We didn't know what to do with it. It was Bernie who realized that we could create a Tudor half-timbered look on the house with ice-lolly sticks. He started in on this with dedication and then decided to create wooden doors and shutters for the house with ice-lolly sticks. The house is finished now, complete with thatched roof. A testament to Bernie's inventive spirit.

We will miss Bernie's creativity, his interest in all that was going on at the Shed. We will miss Bernie.