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Does your lover need a garden shed?
Enter our competition to find out and you could help yourself to a spot of romance
If you are quite accustomed to finding your Dad or Grandad pottering in the garden shed at the weekend, you should know that they are likely to be wisely tinkering away at marital bliss.

Far from spending hours with a screwdriver and glue to build a miracle love machine, or beavering away with compost and a trowel to grow magic beans that will sustain their marriage, the very act of being in the shed may well be helping them live happily ever after with their wives.

The garden shed may be giving them much more than just a storage space for tools, bicycles and a broken lawn mower, it may be giving them a safe, secure, private place to unwind and escape from the pressure of modern life and marriage.

The result? When they amble back up to the house, they are more likely to feel content and relaxed; a bit of space is healthy in any relationship.

Obviously, there is more to a successful marriage than a retreat at the bottom of the garden, but couples who give themselves a little shed-space might be enhancing their chances of romance no end and if you are married, or hoping to become so, it might well be a good plan to invest, as less and less marriages are starting or surviving.

Statistics show that the number of people getting married is at its lowest ever. The latest information on marriage from the Office of National Statistics is pretty depressing as it states that the UK's marriage rate has fallen to 22.8 per 1,000 for men and 20.5 per 1,000 for women – its lowest rate since the figure was first calculated in 1862. In addition, 45% of marriages will end in divorce.

But is marriage an institution worth saving? Despite the ups and downs that happen in any marriage, does it offer any real benefits - particularly in terms of stability for couples and families with children, or is it an outdated Victorian concept?

The ‘Marriage Focus Group’ of Sudbury are determined to find out. Led by Reverend Jamie Allen of St. Andrew’s Church in Great Cornard, the committee's aim is to try and improve the access to, support for and take-up of marriage in the local community – for which they need your assistance.

“We are trying to do our bit to address the decline in marriage; because we believe it is a great thing ! But first we must begin by understanding exactly why there is such a decline,” explains Jamie. “In order to find out, we are launching a local survey to find out why marriage is dropping so rapidly as an institution and if there's anything we can do to help change that.”

Focus DIY of Sudbury, one of the leading DIY and gardening retailers in the UK, have shown how much THEY care for their local community, by donating a fabulous garden shed for the project.

To have a chance of winning it, (and improving your chances of romance), all you need to do is fill out the questionnaire below, post your entry back to: The Marriage Focus Group, 95 Bures Road, Great Cornard, CO10 0JE and you will be entered into a prize draw. This survey and competition is open to everyone, whether you are married or not, just remember to include your contact details so that you can be notified if you are the winner.

If you win, you might choose to pop the shed in your own back garden and do wonders for your love life, or you might choose to give it to your Dad for Father’s Day, then sit back and smile as your parents start gazing lovingly at each other!
Printable version of Marriage Survey:      If you haven't already got Adobe Reader, you can get it free:
To download, right-click the image and choose "Save Image As" (Windows),
or click and hold on the image and choose "Download Image to Disk" (Mac OS).

Please return this survey by email to jamie@standrews-gc.org.uk or by post to The Marriage Focus Group, 95 Bures Road, Great Cornard, Sudbury, CO10 0JE, or by hand to St Andrew's Church, Great Cornard.

One entry, received by 30th June 2008, will be picked at random, and will win a brand new Garden SHED ! Thanks to Focus DIY, Sudbury.
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