Woman makes a coffin at Brundall Men's Shed near Norwich

Members of the Brundall Men’s Shed quickly rolled up their sleeves to help the woman – not only to make the casket but also to provide support as she grieved.  

Paul Clark, chairman of the group, said: “My assumption was that she wanted to join.

"How wrong I was.

"The week before her dad, a very practical man with a garage full of wood, had died.

"She wanted to build a coffin with it. You couldn't write it!"

A team at the Men's Shed worked to get the coffin ready quickly (Image: Paul Clark)

 Paul set to work with two members to help her build the coffin.

"It didn't take long - he needed to be buried - so it was probably less than 10 days from the start to the finish. 

"She was very emotional - as were we all. 

"It was a very special project to work on.

Paul Clark is the chairman of Brundall Men's Shed (Image: Paul Clark)

"I've talked to other Men's Sheds and no one has seen anything like this."

Brundall Men's Shed was set up in 2022 to help combat loneliness in the local community.

Paul had mistakenly thought that the woman had come in looking to join the group after the Brundall Men's Shed recently opened to female members too.

The shed is a practical space for people to work on projects together (Image: Paul Clark)

This came after a Christmas mince pie event which saw some of the members' wives asking whether they could join.

Paul said: "There are vulnerable men and vulnerable women locally so we thought we would open to both and see how it goes.

The shed is in Brundall boat yard (Image: Google)

"We currently have six female members who have access to the shed on a Thursday. 

"One lady is currently turning a wooden stepladder into a set of shelves, which we will sell at our Christmas fair.

"We know that there are more lonely women living in the local area and would love more to get involved."

Brundall Men's Shed can be found in the boat yard near Brundall Train Station as is open from Tuesday to Thursday weekly.