Members of the Bordon Men’s Shed are quietly confident of getting a permanent home in town following some good news from EHDC.

The council has provisionally granted the BMS planning permission to replace two storage contains at the back of the Phoenix Theatre with two ex-site cabins, which will be converted into a workshop.

There’s still work to do as freehold and noise agreements must be satisfied but Clive Handy is confident their near two-year wait for a home is coming to an end.

He said: “The council has offered us planning permission for our new Men’s Shed but it’s dependent on a favourable noise assessment by a professional company.

“The Phoenix Theatre also needs the freehold of the land to be given by Homes England, which is imminent, before any work can be carried out.

“Then the theatre will need to move the existing storage containers before we can place our work site cabins onto the same patch, so there’s still work that needs to be done.”

Meanwhile, the group recently answered a pensioner’s plea for help in repairing and improving an insulated wooden water filter cover.

The team leader of the Royal Voluntary Service based in Whitehill village hall asked the BMS if they could repair the dilapidated cover, which stood against a wall outside the elderly woman’s cottage and was possibly built by her husband.

It was not a quick fix with Phoenix Theatre director Rob Allerston allowing the BMS to use former production wood in the upgrade, while further wood was procured from Coomers Building Supplies via the business account of long-term BMS supporters, Furniture Helpline.

Coomers also donated scrap wood with the revamped weatherproof cover featuring a walnut shell woodstain and right angle cornices, while the Bordon Masonic Centre and Ted Wood also played a part in the process.