A shedful of characters

There’s a famous scene in the BBC comedy series The Thick of It where a hapless politician and her advisers are desperately trying to come up with a catchy name for the demographic they want to be seen to be supporting. They come up with various terrible options such as ‘deserving workforce’ and ‘Everyday Wombles’ before finally alighting on their choice – Quiet Bat People.

I was reminded of this as I drove home from a day representing the Warm Welcome Campaign at Shedfest, the national gathering of the UK Men’s Sheds movement, and tried to think about how on earth I could sum up the cast of characters I had had the pleasure of meeting. The many people who came to chat to me and my colleague throughout the day came in all shapes and sizes, both men and women from across the country. But they all shared some key characteristics that together seem to make up the Men’s Sheds essence.

Commitment

It was extraordinary to get a glimpse of how committed people were to the largely unglamorous work of setting up and running a Men’s Shed or similar initiative. One group told me how they’d got started in 2020 in the midst of Covid. “Often it was just me on my own,” said Dave, “but we kept at it and eventually it took off.” Now they were sending a delegation of half a dozen to this annual gathering of groups from across the UK.

A visually impaired Councillor from Gloucester explained how he’d set up two ‘chatty cafes’ in his area which both regularly attract over 40people. “I just love sitting and chatting with people,” he said, “and it’s amazing the difference it makes for people just being heard.”

Compassion

Some of the stories we heard were beautifully understated tales of kindness. A Welshman called Byron told me how a man came to their Shed for the first time recently. “He hardly said a thing, couldn’t get his words out.”

Afterwards, Byron saw the man waiting at the bus stop and offered him a lift home. “I could tell he wanted to chat, but he said he’d recently had a stroke which made talking tricky. So, I made sure he knew he was welcome back and over time he’s really come out of himself. Now he’s the one welcoming newcomers.”

Another Shed leader told me: “We get tears and laughter and everything in between at our place.” In many people’s stories we heard moments of real grief and suffering, whether through bereavement or mental and physical ill health. But often their engagement in a Men’s Shed helped turn these trials into tales of hope and redemption, the raw work of real community in a country that sometimes feels like it has lost it.

Contribution

Crucial to these stories was the sense of dignity and contribution which Men’s Sheds and other similar projects embody. Sharon from the Repair Café in Shrewsbury told me how an older gentleman who was living on his own came to the café and asked if she could sew two buttons back onto his shirt. “I tell you what,” she replied, “I’ll sew one, you watch me, and then you do the other one.” He duly did and left not just with a fixed shirt but a new skill.

The beauty of Men’s Sheds, just like other Warm Welcome Spaces, is that nobody comes as a ‘service user’ or a ‘customer’, nobody is there for a handout. People of every level of skill and capability are invited to join in, and through participation they find not just new friends but also new purpose and dignity.

Supporting the Sheds

As the Warm Welcome Campaign, our mission on the day was to encourage as many Sheds as possible to register with us on our website so they could go on our map and benefit from the other resources we make available for community spaces across the UK.

The response was hugely positive, summed up by one person who said: “Sounds like nothing to lose and lots to gain, and it’ll be nice to be on the map with everyone else.”

We were also helped by giving out the soon-to-be-iconic purple Warm Welcome cups, which went down a storm!

While we were there we also got to connect with some incredible organisations like Talk Club and At a Loss, kindred spirits in seeking to partner with and resource community groups across the UK to deepen their impact.

I headed home somewhat spent after a day of non-stop conversations (those Shedders can talk!), but also hugely uplifted. Whilst it may be hard for politicians or PR professionals to put Men’s Sheds neatly in a box as a community and social phenomenon, the work for Warm Welcome of supporting them and getting behind their efforts to grow feels both profoundly important and deeply energising.

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