Looking for a second home

Lifestyle – There is no shortage of men for Moycullen’s Men’s Shed group – their problem is a more fundamental one; they have no shed. And as BERNIE NÍ FHLATHARTA discovers, the group are at a loss as to how they can resume normal activities without one.

It was bad enough not being able to meet during the lockdowns but now the Men’s Shed in Moycullen has found itself without a premises — and without one, they can’t really function as a group.

Some of the members have started meeting for coffee since the recent easing of restrictions but their conversations are dominated by their predicament — what are they going to do if they can’t find a home?

They set up in 2016 in Áras Uillinn, a community premises which also houses a Naionra, the offices for the local Moycullen Matters newsletter, and meeting rooms which facilitate various activities from yoga to Irish dancing to the weekly Sonas social meeting of local senior citizens.

The Men’s Shed was there for two years until they were offered a premises by John Grealish, who owns the local Centra branch.

There they had the space for tools and some machinery so they started making benches and outdoor furniture for the local community in exchange for a donation. They also got involved in fixing sewing machines and bicycles – again not for a fee, but a donation, as they are a registered charity.

That premises is now no longer available to the men, who haven’t been there since March of last year due to Covid-19 restrictions and to be frank, they are at a loss as to how they can resume their normal activities as a group.

Their chairman, John Ashton, a retired carpenter and a Londoner who has lived in Moycullen for over 30 years, admits he’s pessimistic about securing another suitable premises in the village.

“We are very thankful to John Grealish and we all appreciate what he’s done for us but this is a bit of a mess now. We had invested so much energy and time in that premises.

“We just don’t meet for a cup of coffee once a week, we really need the space to do our repairs, our carpentry or whatever. And we need a secure space where we can leave our stuff . . . if we don’t find that space, I can’t see us ever resuming,” he says with a sigh.

His colleagues immediately rush to assure him that there are some other options being considered and that one of them is bound to work out to allow their Men’s Shed to re-open.

It appears from listening to the men chat that they have become very attached to the Shed, not only as one of them puts it, “somewhere to go to get out of the house”, but because they have obviously bonded as a group.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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