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Mark Larkin describes the LBS (Loughlinstown, Ballybrack and Shanganagh) Men’s Shed as a “social shed”. Based in a housing estate in Ballybrack, the LBS shed is definitely different than most sheds. For one, it has younger members attending than most sheds have.
“We’ve lads who are 23 to lads who are 70, which is a huge thing. In an estate, you can catch some of the younger people. They don’t have to travel. They can just come in,” explains Mark.
This definitely sets the LBS Men’s Shed apart from others, particularly at shed gatherings where most members would be older. LBS retains integral parts of being a shed, says Mark. “We carry out work in the area, we do a bit of painting and we’ve a garden that we look after. But I suppose we’re slightly different than most sheds, in that we don’t have a place where we can do work with tools.”
This year, Mark and shedders in LBS held an open trad night fundraiser, a first for the shed. “As a shed, we do different fundraisers every year. We’ve abseiled in Dalkey quarry. We’ve rolled down the Liffey.” A member of the shed approached Mark with the idea of raising money for Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS). “One of our founding members had a son who died aged 14 from SADS,” Mark says, “so he was really interested in doing it for SADS”.
Fundraising is at the heart of this particular shed, with Mark describing it as a shed that ‘wants to give back’. There’s no doubting the shedders’ commitment here, with thousands raised over the years for the likes of the local Lions Club and other great causes. The latest LBS fundraiser was a huge success, with the shed raising €1,310. The shed brought people back to their roots with some trad music, with a twist.
While the shed has run trad nights before, which Mark says have gone done well, this one was quite different, with an open trad night.
“We threw it out to people that can play, come up and do a stint. We’ve a couple of people who we bring in and we ask people in the area if they can play to come up. If you want to do a few songs, a few numbers get up on stage there and do it,” says Mark.
“We had a brilliant response from people, raising €1,310 in raffle tickets alone which is amazing. Through our last four fundraisers, we’ve raised over €10,000 for good causes.”
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