The China Mail - British eccentrics push humble garden shed to new heights

As an ear-splitting whistle blasted out, the 68-year-old settled into a captain's chair next to a huge boiler he calls "the beast".

McLaughlin credits the shed, a recreation of a ship's boiler room, with "saving my life" after ill health forced him to retire at 50 from his job laying cables.

Nearly two decades on, it was one of 38 sheds entered in this year's Shed of the Year competition, now in its 20th year.

Long just a place for rusting lawnmowers, broken bicycles and old paint pots -- sheds are enjoying a renaissance as personal sanctuaries, according to competition founder and "head-sheddie" Andrew Wilcox.

Amid a growing trend for themed sheds, contest categories included "colourful", "eco haven" and "pub", with this year's crown won by a group of friends' gaming den.

At McLaughlin's shed in West Drayton, west London, a strong smell of coal and hot oil hangs in the air.

Every inch is crammed with pumps, engines, clocks, pressure gauges and other steam rail and ship memorabilia.

Some pieces were picked up online while others came from landmarks such as Battersea Power Station where McLaughlin worked while it was being decommissioned.

"All these different places I went to I just collected things. They were being thrown away and I just thought 'no, you can't do that'," he said.

Such is his dedication; the shed was "the first thing" he asked about after coming round from life-saving surgery a few years ago.

- Mini-pubs -

Britain's love affair with the garden shed has a long history.

Writers George Bernard Shaw and Roald Dahl both worked from sheds in their gardens.

Shaw's shed was famously mounted on a revolving mechanism so he could follow the sun throughout the day.

An exact life-size replica of Dahl's shed -- in which he wrote children's classics such as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" has even been recreated at the central England museum celebrating his life.

Mini-pubs are among the most popular shed themes.

In Crosby near northwestern Liverpool, 47-year-old postman Steven Fraser's "Fraser Arms" has become a focal point for a tight-knit group of 15 childhood friends.

The pals gather regularly at the extended six metre by two metre (20ft by 7 ft) pub shed, decorated from floor to ceiling with football memorabilia and photos of them on nights out.

With homes and growing families eating up spare cash, nights on the town and foreign trips have been replaced by cosy get-togethers in Fraser's back garden.

"When we were younger we'd go out all the time but (later) you could see some of the lads were fading away," he said.

- Place to 'be you' -

Annual highlights include a fiercely contested darts competition, a Christmas party and a themed Oktoberfest night with German beer and music.

"There's no hassle, you're just all together, you put the music on and everyone's happy," he said.

Men's community sheds, catering for groups of men, are also increasingly popular in Britain, having gained a strong foothold over the past 20 years.

Today hundreds of "men's sheds" provide welcoming spaces in different premises -- from church halls to former industrial units -- where mainly older men can meet, make friends, and share practical skills such as carpentry, while combating loneliness.

Whether group or solitary spaces, Alex Johnson, author of "The Philosophy of Sheds", says they provide a vital place for people to shut the door on life's pressures and "retreat into a world entirely of their own making".

His own modest garden hideaway evolved into a vocation with a newsletter and blog that attracted a global following.

"A shed is a sanctuary. You can dress it up however you like, decorate it, play whatever music you want," he said.

"It's your own kind of heaven ... the one place where you can be you."

W.Tam--ThChM