Le Chéile Mallow Men’s Shed
Minutes of County Cork Men’s Shed meeting
24th Oct 2013
In attendance were representatives from:
Bantry, Blarney, Carrigtwohil, Cobh, Fermoy, Millstreet, Newmarket.
Guided tours of the Youthreach premises were provided and the shedders were shown items made by the Mallow shed.
The meeting began at 8pm with Paudy, the Mallow secretary, welcoming all who travelled.
Stephen Kelly from the HSE was introduced to the gathering and he spoke about a survey he is hoping to organise with UCC to investigate and document the benefits to men’s health that the sheds are creating. This has the potential to be very beneficial to future streams of funding. Fermoy shed volunteered to be the start up shed.
Each shed was then invited to give a brief rundown of their current situation
Bantry: Mark told us they are repairing bicycles and many of their members are doing a mechanical course to help them do this.
Blarney: Donal told us about their horse trap restoration project, their use of the Garda Community Van and HSE grants
Carrigtwohil: John explained that they are between sheds now and hope to move into their new shed shortly. They did a sponsored climb of Carrauntoohil and raised €4000 which is being put towards the building costs. They are fixing bicycles and plan to undertake the restoration of a 1953 Austin.
Cobh: Malcolm told us about their walled Victorian garden project, their polytunnel and allotment where they grew potatoes this year. They are currently building bird boxes to raise funds.
Fermoy: David told us they meet six days a week and built a currach last year for which they received funding from Avondhu Blackwater. They build wooden furniture such as chicken hutches, a gazebo and a childs wendy house. They also repair bikes.
Millstreet: Donagh told us they have 25 members and completed workwood projects for Millstreet Tidy Towns. They had a soap box race in July as part of the Millstreet gathering and invited other sheds to take part in a race against each other. They will shortly be starting night classes in topics such as computers and carpentry. They also are planning to have a polytunnel.
Newmarket: Stephen told us they are in existence for two years and have a new cabin. They make wooden benches and boxes and plan to carry out a digital advertising campaign around Newmarket soon. He described their progress as ‘planting’ last year, ‘growth’ this year and hopefully ‘maturity’ next year
Mallow: Chairman Tim told the meeting of the night classes and projects happening at the moment. He plans to locate a 40’ container on the site which will allow us to have daytime opening hours and extra storage.
The IMSA AGM was discussed and concerns were raised about the lack of transparency and communication.
It was agreed that Paudy would send minutes of this meeting to all sheds and information about funding and access to services would be put on the Mallow Men’s Shed website for all to see, www.lecheilemallowmensshed.weebly.com.
Other issues and concerns raised were access to information regarding funding, recruiting new members-particularly younger men and ideas for projects to keep men active and interested in attending their shed.
The next County Cork Men’s shed meeting is planned to be held in Mallow on the third week of January’14. Following that, it is hoped to move the meeting around the county and to have one every two months.
Tim, the Mallow Chairman, concluded by saying it is very important that the personal contact gained by having County Cork Shed meetings be continued so that the bonds between the sheds can be strengthened.
The meeting ended at 9pm with food and refreshments being served which were made on site by the Mallow Shed Cooks.
Minutes of County Cork Men’s Shed meeting
24th Oct 2013
In attendance were representatives from:
Bantry, Blarney, Carrigtwohil, Cobh, Fermoy, Millstreet, Newmarket.
Guided tours of the Youthreach premises were provided and the shedders were shown items made by the Mallow shed.
The meeting began at 8pm with Paudy, the Mallow secretary, welcoming all who travelled.
Stephen Kelly from the HSE was introduced to the gathering and he spoke about a survey he is hoping to organise with UCC to investigate and document the benefits to men’s health that the sheds are creating. This has the potential to be very beneficial to future streams of funding. Fermoy shed volunteered to be the start up shed.
Each shed was then invited to give a brief rundown of their current situation
Bantry: Mark told us they are repairing bicycles and many of their members are doing a mechanical course to help them do this.
Blarney: Donal told us about their horse trap restoration project, their use of the Garda Community Van and HSE grants
Carrigtwohil: John explained that they are between sheds now and hope to move into their new shed shortly. They did a sponsored climb of Carrauntoohil and raised €4000 which is being put towards the building costs. They are fixing bicycles and plan to undertake the restoration of a 1953 Austin.
Cobh: Malcolm told us about their walled Victorian garden project, their polytunnel and allotment where they grew potatoes this year. They are currently building bird boxes to raise funds.
Fermoy: David told us they meet six days a week and built a currach last year for which they received funding from Avondhu Blackwater. They build wooden furniture such as chicken hutches, a gazebo and a childs wendy house. They also repair bikes.
Millstreet: Donagh told us they have 25 members and completed workwood projects for Millstreet Tidy Towns. They had a soap box race in July as part of the Millstreet gathering and invited other sheds to take part in a race against each other. They will shortly be starting night classes in topics such as computers and carpentry. They also are planning to have a polytunnel.
Newmarket: Stephen told us they are in existence for two years and have a new cabin. They make wooden benches and boxes and plan to carry out a digital advertising campaign around Newmarket soon. He described their progress as ‘planting’ last year, ‘growth’ this year and hopefully ‘maturity’ next year
Mallow: Chairman Tim told the meeting of the night classes and projects happening at the moment. He plans to locate a 40’ container on the site which will allow us to have daytime opening hours and extra storage.
The IMSA AGM was discussed and concerns were raised about the lack of transparency and communication.
It was agreed that Paudy would send minutes of this meeting to all sheds and information about funding and access to services would be put on the Mallow Men’s Shed website for all to see, www.lecheilemallowmensshed.weebly.com.
Other issues and concerns raised were access to information regarding funding, recruiting new members-particularly younger men and ideas for projects to keep men active and interested in attending their shed.
The next County Cork Men’s shed meeting is planned to be held in Mallow on the third week of January’14. Following that, it is hoped to move the meeting around the county and to have one every two months.
Tim, the Mallow Chairman, concluded by saying it is very important that the personal contact gained by having County Cork Shed meetings be continued so that the bonds between the sheds can be strengthened.
The meeting ended at 9pm with food and refreshments being served which were made on site by the Mallow Shed Cooks.