Westport Men’s Shed, Co Mayo
Hospitality is the lifeblood of Westport. The easy, unforced charm that keeps visitors flooding back is the town’s trademark.
Westport Men’s Shed is a fine standard-bearer of those local traditions. The shed has become a local byword for unstinting generosity and community spirit.
Westport Men’s Shed has hit the headlines repeatedly over the past year, each spin on the media merry-go-round enhancing its reputation. The shed’s big-hearted refurbishment and donation of a Massey Ferguson 135 tractor and its subsequent donation to an impoverished community in Ghana, earned it deserved plaudits.
On 18 July, the shed added another notable media appearance to a CV that would put many a PR agency to shame. As part of a series of reports focusing on rural Ireland, Virgin Media’s long-running breakfast show Ireland AM visited the shed to capture a flavour of one of Westport’s most-cherished community institutions.
Alan Hughes, the show’s much-loved stalwart presenter, sat down with shed chair Brendan Duffy to get a sense of the shed’s importance to the Co Mayo town. Brendan told viewers that while sheds are often regarded as a solution to rural isolation, men can become equally isolated in thriving, respectably sized towns such as Westport, and that sheds offer meaning and structure to men who find themselves in such a situation.
At 11 o’clock in the morning, ’tis as social as a pub at 11 o’clock at night
Shed member Pat Keegan wryly remarked that his post-retirement golfing career came to a grinding halt as “all my playing partners went over the edge one-by-one”. Pat then wowed viewers with the revelation that he is now 87 years old, his strident good humour and robust appearance belying his advancing years.
Pat’s shed mate Christy O’Malley then summed up the appeal of the shed with the perfect one-liner: “At 11 o’clock in the morning, ’tis as social as a pub at 11 o’clock at night”.
The segment closed with a serenade from shed member and noted singer-songwriter Tony Reidy, who performed his popular local hit “Devilment (They’re Dancing Down in Tooreen)”, before segueing into perennial dancehall favourite “The Hucklebuck”. The segment can be viewed online on the Virgin Media Player.
Ballykelly Men’s Shed, Co Derry
With the interminable and impenetrable saga of Brexit still hogging headlines, sheds north of the border continue to do their bit for cross-community relations. Ballykelly Men’s Shed has just embarked on a new project called “The Ties That Bind Us”.
The project will be delivered in conjunction with the University of Ulster, Magee Campus. Facilitated by a Greek Master’s student, the project will draw from the cultures of all communities resident in the melting pot of contemporary Northern Ireland.
The shed recently received a visit from Sean Bateson, the youthful Mayor of the Causeway Coast and Glens council district
The study will examine these communities through the medium of their music and explore how music can unite, combine and sometimes divide people from different cultures.
The shed recently received a visit from Sean Bateson, the youthful Mayor of the Causeway Coast and Glens council district in which Ballykelly is located. Mayor Bateson was on-hand to issue shed members with the impressive haul of certificates which they have attained in recent months.
Thanks to the shed’s unquenchable thirst for learning, members have achieved certification in fields as diverse as governance, first aid, child and vulnerable adults safeguarding and several other areas.
Having previously partnered on a lifelong learning project with the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW), Ballykelly Men’s Shed has proven that no field of human endeavour is off-limits to the men’s sheds movement.
The shed opens Tuesday to Thursday at its premises on Shackleton Drive and is always on the lookout for new members. Contact the Irish Men’s Sheds Association on 01-891-6150 if interested.
Read more
Summer time in the men's sheds
Men's sheds: a busy summer for sheds
Westport Men’s Shed, Co Mayo
Hospitality is the lifeblood of Westport. The easy, unforced charm that keeps visitors flooding back is the town’s trademark.
Westport Men’s Shed is a fine standard-bearer of those local traditions. The shed has become a local byword for unstinting generosity and community spirit.
Westport Men’s Shed has hit the headlines repeatedly over the past year, each spin on the media merry-go-round enhancing its reputation. The shed’s big-hearted refurbishment and donation of a Massey Ferguson 135 tractor and its subsequent donation to an impoverished community in Ghana, earned it deserved plaudits.
On 18 July, the shed added another notable media appearance to a CV that would put many a PR agency to shame. As part of a series of reports focusing on rural Ireland, Virgin Media’s long-running breakfast show Ireland AM visited the shed to capture a flavour of one of Westport’s most-cherished community institutions.
Alan Hughes, the show’s much-loved stalwart presenter, sat down with shed chair Brendan Duffy to get a sense of the shed’s importance to the Co Mayo town. Brendan told viewers that while sheds are often regarded as a solution to rural isolation, men can become equally isolated in thriving, respectably sized towns such as Westport, and that sheds offer meaning and structure to men who find themselves in such a situation.
At 11 o’clock in the morning, ’tis as social as a pub at 11 o’clock at night
Shed member Pat Keegan wryly remarked that his post-retirement golfing career came to a grinding halt as “all my playing partners went over the edge one-by-one”. Pat then wowed viewers with the revelation that he is now 87 years old, his strident good humour and robust appearance belying his advancing years.
Pat’s shed mate Christy O’Malley then summed up the appeal of the shed with the perfect one-liner: “At 11 o’clock in the morning, ’tis as social as a pub at 11 o’clock at night”.
The segment closed with a serenade from shed member and noted singer-songwriter Tony Reidy, who performed his popular local hit “Devilment (They’re Dancing Down in Tooreen)”, before segueing into perennial dancehall favourite “The Hucklebuck”. The segment can be viewed online on the Virgin Media Player.
Ballykelly Men’s Shed, Co Derry
With the interminable and impenetrable saga of Brexit still hogging headlines, sheds north of the border continue to do their bit for cross-community relations. Ballykelly Men’s Shed has just embarked on a new project called “The Ties That Bind Us”.
The project will be delivered in conjunction with the University of Ulster, Magee Campus. Facilitated by a Greek Master’s student, the project will draw from the cultures of all communities resident in the melting pot of contemporary Northern Ireland.
The shed recently received a visit from Sean Bateson, the youthful Mayor of the Causeway Coast and Glens council district
The study will examine these communities through the medium of their music and explore how music can unite, combine and sometimes divide people from different cultures.
The shed recently received a visit from Sean Bateson, the youthful Mayor of the Causeway Coast and Glens council district in which Ballykelly is located. Mayor Bateson was on-hand to issue shed members with the impressive haul of certificates which they have attained in recent months.
Thanks to the shed’s unquenchable thirst for learning, members have achieved certification in fields as diverse as governance, first aid, child and vulnerable adults safeguarding and several other areas.
Having previously partnered on a lifelong learning project with the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW), Ballykelly Men’s Shed has proven that no field of human endeavour is off-limits to the men’s sheds movement.
The shed opens Tuesday to Thursday at its premises on Shackleton Drive and is always on the lookout for new members. Contact the Irish Men’s Sheds Association on 01-891-6150 if interested.
Read more
Summer time in the men's sheds
Men's sheds: a busy summer for sheds
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