Shed of the Week: Ballagh Men's Shed

When members of another shed felt the distance was a bit too far to travel, the idea of Ballagh Men’s Shed was born. They came together with Ballagh Social Centre to build-up a shed for the area and it has been up and running for about two years with 11 members in total.

Members range in age from 55 to 80 years of age, are retired and from the local area. Before retiring the men worked in active jobs, now they are “looking for something to do” to keep boredom at bay.

One thing less common about this shed is the involvement of Maggie Connolly. Maggie was originally drawn in by her father and uncle to set up and run the shed’s Facebook page, now she is the shed secretary. The shed has plenty of tools and workbenches and the members also have access to the kitchen and toilet facilities of the social centre. There are a variety of courses run in the social centre such as computer classes and a food safety course for members to learn a new skill if they are interested.

“People come to chat and to have somebody to talk to. They don’t have to do anything else if they don’t want to,” says Maggie. She also shared that members have been making boxes for a local steel company, buddy benches, flower boxes, bird boxes and are also selling kindling to raise money.

Recently members were invited to another local shed to mix with others and share ideas. Some members also took a trip to Kildare by train and visited the National Stud and the Japanese Gardens. Due to the success of the trip, the shed hopes to go on more trips when they can. Future plans include setting up an allotment where they can harvest the produce and use it in cooking classes and creating Christmas yule logs.

The shed members meet every Monday and Thursday from 10am-1pm at Ballagh Social Centre, Ballagh, Cashel, Co Tipperary, and welcome new members. To find out more contact Maggie Connolly on 087-615 7667 or call down during opening hours.