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It wasn’t long after his wife died, that Val Browne started to lose his hair. “Two years ago that was,” he says.
“After the funeral, I went up town and everyone was shaking my hand. I couldn’t do it anymore. So I went back home and I didn’t leave the house for four weeks.”
Family and friends tried everything to help. They even sent the priest up, saying that if he keeps this up, he won’t be around much longer himself. Val admits he was going downhill.When his friend brought him for a drive one day, little did Val know that he was on his way to the Ballina Men’s Shed. “I haven’t looked back since,” he says. “The shed saved my life and that’s the truth of it. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
I could not look back, because I enjoyed going to the shed
Before he retired, Val did a lot of woodturning, a difficult skill to master and something that is in demand in a lot of the men’s sheds. The Ballina Shed asked Val to join and share this skill with them.
“From there on,” Val says, “I could not look back, because I enjoyed going to the shed. It got me out of the house. It was a new lease of life for me.”
A few months later, a health check was carried out in the Ballina Men’s Shed. Val, being stubborn as some of us are, said that he didn’t need a health check and he was fine. “I was fit as a fiddle,” Val explains.
My doctor said I was a very lucky man
He reluctantly had his blood pressure checked, and the results were stark. His blood pressure was through the roof, and he was on the brink of a major heart attack. Val was told to go straight to his doctor, because if he didn’t, he might not see the weekend.
“My doctor said I was a very lucky man, that I was in the shed there and the health check was being given. If I wasn’t in the shed, I wouldn’t have got my blood pressure checked, and I wouldn’t be here telling my story.
I can simply say that when I met Maureen, she made my life
“My hair has started to grow back. Every day I’m looking forward to going to the shed. It’s changed my life completely.”
But Val’s story isn’t an entirely unique one. There are thousands of shedders just like Val who are or have been in the same situation.
“I can simply say that when I met Maureen, she made my life,” says Kilbeggan shedder Johnny Hannify.
Johnny, like Val, lost his wife and went through a period of great sadness. There were not as many visitors to the house after Maureen died.
“Two days after the funeral, I came back home and there was nobody there but myself. That was probably the loneliest evening I’ve had in my life,” says Johnny. “I have to say, the shed was a big help to me because they understood it.”
All those men are dependent on the shed, and I’d be one of them
Johnny says the shed has had a big impact on him, and many men remain dependent on their shed. “I think the men’s shed is good for men because it helps them feel like they’re not forgotten. Men need to know that there’s someone thinking of them that wants to know how they feel and what they’re doing. All those men are dependent on the shed, and I’d be one of them.”
Like many shedders out there, Val and Johnny are unable to attend their shed due to COVID-19. The current crisis has meant that sheds across Ireland are unable to raise vital funds to keep their shed going. Please, help support the men’s shed by giving to the Save Our Sheds (SOS) at www.menssheds.ie/sos.
The sheds have been a vital part of communities, they’ve been there when we needed them, now, they need you.
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