Glounthaune Men’s Shed was founded in 2015 by a “bunch of similarly aged men” who were either retired or semi-retired and wanted to get a good thing going. A steering group was put together, they talked, and then they looked into buying a premises. The shed received a kind offer to rent half of an old army hut, which is approximately 600 sq ft. The shed has 14 members from a variety of backgrounds but what they all have in common is their very strong work ethos.

Derry Delany and Brendan Howley of the M/S team testing out the Green Oak / Stainless Steel benches during installation. The stainless steel frames were made by member Pat O’Byrne not shown

“The shed brings together people who may never have crossed paths before,” Garry Tomlins, shed chairman explains. The shed has a great range of equipment from every type of saw, to welders and power tools.

A big project they worked on recently was the Harper’s Wetlands, an 80ac site for wading birds. The shed members put up gates and fencing, created a nature trail, put up signage and constructed a bird hide for observing the birds at close quarters. “We spent about 2000 hours working on this project,” Garry shares. “The scale of it is significant to us.”

Inside fit out of Birdhide: with benches and wheelchair access - the team designed and made the windows.

The shed also does plenty of work with the local Tidy Towns committee. For the Christmas period they constructed Santa’s hut and previously made reindeers for the community too. “The community and local businesses have been very good to us and the relationship works both ways.” On a smaller scale, members make Get Well Soon cards out of wood for under the weather friends, which have been greatly admired.

New 2019 Scrape Hide built this last year - pictured from hide 1 and entrance from trail.

Future plans for the shed include building another bird hide for the wetlands and crafting seats and benches for the community in the local park. They would also potentially like to get a space of their own to build a bigger shed and have an area for members to just come and relax. “We would like to offer the chance for a cup of tea or coffee.”

The shed members meet every Wednesday evening at The Palms, The Heighlands, Glounthaune, Co Cork. To find out more contact Garry Tomlins on 086-321 3963.

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