Wicklow Men’s Shed now rooted in community life

THE Men’s Shed in Wicklow followed recognition five years ago that some members of the town’s community needed support as they faced unemployment or retirement.

County Shed coordinator Eddie Humphrey points out that many men lose their friends as well as their work whenever they are laid off or become pensioners.

To keep morale up, they enjoy having projects to tuck into, the theory being that while women talk face to face, the male of the species is more comfortable conversing shoulder to shoulder.

The Shed in Wicklow was handed not only place to meet but also a challenge to tuck into when the local pigeon racing club offered accommodation for the new organisation at their HQ in Dispensary Avenue.

The building needed a major up-grade, with the team from the Shed cleaning the building up and putting in a staircase to allow easy access to a first floor meeting room.

The main movers in the club have included the Chairman Tom McInerney and caretaker Lenny Canavan, with at least 25 men on the list of members – most of them aged 60 plus.

The door is open each weekday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with the wood burning stove providing a focus for companionable chats about affairs of the day and their personal experiences of life.

As well as socialising, they have assembled enough equipment to stock a busy workshop where hand finished bird boxes, bat roosts, plant holders and fairy doors are all coming off the production line.