WATCH: 'We still have our hands. We still have grey matter moving around.'

Every Wednesday and Thursday morning Fintan Bardon throws on some old clothes and heads up to Mullingar Men’s Shed base in Columb Barracks.

One of the youngest members of the group at 57 as well as being one of the newest members, Fintan was forced to quit his job as a truck driver nearly a decade ago due to his health.

Now working part time, he says that joining the Men’s Shed has given him an invaluable social outlet and a new circle of friends.

“It was discovered that I had sleep apnea and asthma. I had to give up driving because of the sleep apnea.

“I heard about this when they were down in Forest Park [Mullingar Men’s Shed old home] and I was told that there wasn’t enough room at the time.

“I decided to come in here and join up. It just gets you out of the house. It’s good for your mind. It keeps you active and making new friends. When you get to a certain age, they don’t want you for jobs.”

While Fintan became a member of the close-knit group when the group resumed when restrictions were lifted last autumn, Charlie Donoghue is one of the founder members along with his fellow former Eircom colleague Danny Cole.

He says that while some members maybe handier than others when they join, people are only too happy to share their knowledge.

We’ve been lucky enough for a good couple of years we had a carpenter. Everyone picks up bits and pieces from one another. Whatever fellas were doing beforehand, you pick up bits and pieces from that. That’s the way it works. We’ve improved our skills as we go along.”

The group’s former base was on the first floor of a unit in Forest Park industrial park. They made the move to Columb Barracks a few years ago due to the difficulty of moving bulk items down a flight of stairs.

They are now one of over 25 community groups based in the barracks campus in a building that to the best of their knowledge was an indoor rifle range just off the barrack square.

Full of timber and other materials (much of which is recycled), every Wednesday and Thursday morning the workshop is alive with the sounds of the members at work and enjoying the craic; relaxed yet busy.

Currently busy making benches and other pieces for the Repair Acts event, Caring for Repairing Exhibition and Féile, in Kilbeggan in November, the group have worked on a number of projects over the years, including a Santa’s Grotto for WinterFest in 2017. They have also made around 30 Buddy Benches for school across the locality. Buddy. Originating in the US, Buddy Benches is part of an anti-bullying initiative, which has proved so successful that it has spread worldwide.

While the members enjoy working on projects, both individually and collectively, long term member Peter Burrows says that social dimension to the group is .

“It’s a chance to get together and have the craic. We went off about a fortnight ago for the day to Carrick on Shannon. We went off on a bought trip and came back and had a meal and a couple of beverages and went home. It was a great day out. The social side is great.”

For Ray Maxon, one of the best things about being a member of Mullingar Men’s Shed, is that he and his friends “get to talk our own kind of rubbish or our own kind of stuff”.

“You are also on learning curve because there are different projects going on. You can put in your tuppence worth.

“Men don’t talk face to face, they talk shoulder to shoulder. If much easier [to talk] when you are making something.

“The main thing about is the creativity. It’s actually making stuff. Even if it’s not fabulous stuff, we made it ourselves. We still have our hands. We still have grey matter moving around.

“It’s about being able to come down, have the chat, have the craic. There is no drink involved to mess things up either. It’s a comfy place to come down to during the day.”

Always open to new members joining, Charlie says that you don’t have to be a DIY maestro to fit in at Mullingar Men’s Shed.

“Some people would have come here and they mightn’t have had an idea about woodwork or anything like that and over time some have become excellent.

“It’s not only about that, it’s the bit of banter. When you are standing there with a screwdriver or that some fella might complain to you about his big toe or their hearing mightn’t be the best. It’s a good way of discussing our own medical problems. You are not going to get fellas to go into that sort of detail over a cup of coffee but when you are there and you are hammering something it’s put in as a throwaway comment but it’s a serious query. It’s just men’s way, particularly men of our age profile, of communicating and offering each other advice. It’s surprising people will follow up on it. That’s what the Men’s Shed is about. A lot of people are reluctant to join something new, it’s that fear of meeting new people.

“Why not come up for five or 10 minutes and stick your nose in the door. They are not too vicious around here. Come up a couple of times and see how you get on. You’d be surprised what you’d learn and what you could teach other people.”