In an age when even the President of the United States doesn’t seem to know his Arkansas from his elbow, at least there are still some wise men around, and close to home.

Take Kevin Prosser, the workshop manager of the Men’s Shed, which (as reported in this paper last week) is holding an introductory event at St John’s Church Hall in Whitbourne Avenue today (11am to 1pm, so hurry).

Kevin summed up the philosophy of the Men’s Shed perfectly when he said: “Men don’t talk face to face. They work shoulder to shoulder.”

He is also quite realistic about the people who will join in with the project, saying: “We are expecting mainly older men.”

He is no doubt thinking of people like me, the middle-aged standard bearers of the shed revolution.

We understand that if more people spent more time in sheds instead of building Trump Towers, the world would be a far better place.

But not just any old sheds.

All kinds of things pass for sheds these days, and some even qualify for the finals of Shed of the Year, despite only being sheds on a technicality.

The kings of sheds are the Men’s Shed kind, which exist as a place where men like me can make, mend and maintain all kinds of things, from the useful to the frivolous.

As far as I can tell, Swindon's new Men’s Shed has two of the three essentials of a good shed, namely the skills and the tools.

But there is a third, magical and even mystical ingredient - because a shed is not a shed unless it is home to plenty of Things That May Come in Handy One Day.

My shed - it’s a carless garage, actually - has lots of these items, including a plastic cog from an old Hoover; some coat hangers I bought when McIlroys, the department store, closed down; and a range of old handlebar grips. But that is the tip of an iceberg that runs to hundreds of items.

It has taken me all 27 of the years we have been at our present address to amass this collection, and I save them because they all have potential usefulness, even if some have as much chance of every being used as Swindon Town have of winning the Champions League.

But you never know.

Some people would say that if something hasn’t been used after 27 years, then maybe you should throw it away.

But wise old shedders like me (and no doubt the men at the Men’s Shed) know that as soon as you throw anything away, you are sure to need it.

And if you keep something for 27 years and then throw it away, it is absolutely certain that you will need it the next day.

So the longer you keep things, the more potential they accumulate.

And suddenly there is even more potential for my Things That May Come in Handy One Day, after a visit to the little-known but charming Elemental Sculpture Park, near Cirencester.

It’s a lovely way to spend a couple of hours (but beware that it closes on September 30).

I was especially inspired by the 30-foot-high tree-shaped sculpture, made out of car parts, with a Morris Minor on the top.

This, along with some other sculptures that were also made out of what some people foolishly call ‘scrap’, got me thinking.

So this winter I will be locking myself away to see if my Things That May Come in Handy One Day become Things That You Can Make Whacky Sculptures Out Of.

So watch this shed. I mean space.