In the pink: Kinnegad Women's Shed at hub of great network

There was a bustle in Serenity House, Kinnegad when members of the local Women’s Shed welcomed the Irish Heart Foundation’s Screening Unit.

The pink shirts bobbed around arranging visitors and members into groups. The offer of free blood pressure and pulse checks enticed not only Shed members, but many others to the community hub. There were two nurses in the Heart Foundation’s van outside Serenity House administering the tests.

As part of the day, those gathered heard from Sharon Butler, a volunteer patient champion for the Irish Heart Foundation. Sharon gave an account of her experience of having a heart attack at just 46 years of age.

It was an informal morning. The group sat around enjoying tea, coffee and biscuits as Sharon unfurled a story that emphasises the importance of recognising symptoms of heart disease, and taking action.

By hosting the day, Kinnegad Women’s Shed delivered on their community commitments: “It’s about bringing people together. They just come in for the chat and a cup of tea. Our guest speaker today might tell them something that could save lives,” Geraldine Holmes, chairperson of the group, said of the day.

The Women’s Shed welcome all women over the age of 18. From their home in Serenity House they facilitate chats, arts and crafts, games nights, flower arranging and a host of other activities.

“I worked in Tesco and when I retired I wanted to be part of something that made a difference in the community. I heard about the Men’s Shed, but never knew there was a Women’s Shed. We were just four women; Laura, Vera and Anne-Marie, and myself as members,” Geraldine said.

From those humble beginnings, the group flourished. Four became six, six 16, then 20, 30 to today’s roll call of around 40 women.

Fundraising for local charities, and for some further afield, has become one of the endeavours the collective are known for. Alzheimer’s and cancer research have benefited from coffee mornings they have organised,

The Shed managed to intertwine their activities with the community support remit: “Laura (Walsh) started a knitting programme and it has become very popular. Laura is donating knitted items to St Camillus Nursing Centre, Killucan.”

“We also did a similar event for the prem unit (The Special Care Baby Unit) in Mullingar Hospital,” Eileen O’Hara said.

Geraldine says the appetite for members to get together has been growing since day one: “Originally we just met up on a Monday night. We’d also have a morning coffee ourselves, just have a cup of coffee and a chat. Then we arranged a computer course in Kilbeggan. We have a free painting class, where an artist shows us how to develop our skills.”

The magic of the Shed is bringing people together: “Before I joined the group, I didn’t know that many people here, even though I moved from Dublin 20 years ago. I’m getting to meet people from all around,” Eileen explained.

“We get wonderful support from the council. Cllr Dennis Leonard has been brilliant to us. There have been other great people who have helped and supported us since we first started,” Geraldine said.

Anne-Marie Bracken joined after seeing a post on Facebook: “It was shortly after I retired. I thought it would be something good to get involved in. Just to give something back.

“I like that we’re involved in the community. We’re organising events and activities. I enjoyed that.”

The voluntary aspect of the club appears to be something that particularly appeals to the women: “I suppose we’ve done a good few activities for the community. We raised funds two years ago with the coffee morning for Daffodil Day. And then last year, we organised a coffee morning for Alzheimer’s that raised €3,000.

“We have given back to the school. We invited the kids from the ASD unit down for our coffee morning. In return, they invited us to their coffee morning. We contributed €250 there,” Anne-Marie said.

Laura Walsh was among the founder members approached to establish the group: “Geraldine said she wanted to open a women’s Shed. I went to the first meeting, we formed the committee and it just mushroomed from there.” Laura, along with Anne-Marie, Geraldine and

Vera Farrell-Rock, filled the first top table of the four person group: “It’s amazing how much it has grown and what it’s given to our women. They, the members, are the Shed. We’re the committee, but they are the Shed,” she said.

Their efforts have been well supported by the community. The raffle last year of a hamper donated by Eurospar raised €2,000, a clothing appeal for The Merchants Quay Project saw 63 bags of clothing sent to Dublin.

Grainne Hatton says the popularity of the group continues to grow: “We have had women from all over the hinterland of Kinnegad come to join us. I suppose the more people we have, the more ideas we will have. Like Laura says the Shed is the members.

“It’s growing and growing and it will continue to grow, because we have an amazing group of women here,” she said.

Laura believes that growth is down to the vibrancy of the membership: “It’s just a great network. It is a really creative network that recognises all the talents of the membership.”