A workshop of wellbeing and a shed full of laughs
At first glance, it seems like a typical male environment as the sight and sounds of bantering blokes combine with the burr of bandsaws reverberating around the busy workshop floor.
Listen more closely, however, and it soon becomes apparent that as far as these guys are concerned, their creative efforts are as much about promoting wellbeing as producing beautifully crafted wooden objects.
Based in Sandyford, Co. Dublin, the Fine Woodworking workshop being undertaken by a group of older men in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown could equally be called ‘wellbeing through well-doing’. The participants are all members of local Men’s Sheds, who use woodwork to express themselves creatively — and in the process boost their mental and physical health. The spacious premises, provided by St John of God Hospital for the Sandyford branch of Men’s Sheds, has become a woodwork hub for Men’s Shed members throughout the county.
“The workshops take three-and-a-half hours each, and then we sit down and have a cup of tea,” says 72-year-old Frank Hedderman. “This is our talk time. Men don’t often talk about personal stuff, but here we do. We share all kinds of things that we’d never bring up anywhere else… And we have a laugh too.
“We’re delighted to get out of the house. It’s better than sitting around twiddling our thumbs. The camaraderie between us is tremendous.”
As an area with a higher than average ageing population, the project is a good fit for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, according to Máire Davey, Assistant Arts Officer with DLR Council.
“We try to engage everybody in the arts, but it’s challenging to get a group of older men together and consequently, social isolation is a growing problem,” she says. “That’s why we devised a programme with the HSE to work with Men’s Sheds as a means of ‘social prescribing’; ie using social interaction to improve physical and mental health.
“Studies show that the arts can have a positive impact on people’s wellbeing and when the Men’s Sheds expressed an interest in woodworking, we were happy to support them. As well as the Fine Woodwork course, led by the renowned Chaïm Factor of Hill Picket Studio, they’re also involved in a Craftmakers project, which will culminate in an exhibition in the Municipal Gallery, dlr LexIcon in April 2019.”
The project facilitator is artist Orlaith
Ross, who describes it as “connecting communities through art and design”.
The initiative also has the wholehearted support of the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Josepha Madigan.
“This is a terrific project which celebrates and showcases the wealth of creativity within our communities and its importance to our personal and collective well-being,” she says. “In partnership with the Local Authorities and as part of the all-of-Government Creative Ireland Programme, groups all over the country are forging new and exciting ways of connecting with each other and developing new and exciting initiatives such as this one in Sandyford”.
This is our talk time; we share all kinds of stuff we’d never bring up elsewhere Frank Hedderman