Even on a cold and frosty January morning there is still a buzz at the small industrial unit where the members of Forth Valley Men’s Shed meet for one of their regular meet-ups.
The small group of ‘shedders’ in attendance are scattered all over the place, some sweating away at woodworking or other projects while others enjoy sharing jokes and banter over a cup of tea in the social room.
The Alloa-based organisation, which welcomes members from all over the region including in Stirling, offers a vital sanctuary for men to be able to open up, make friends and find a fresh focus at a time when men’s mental health is a hot-button topic.
The work of Men’s Sheds across Scotland has come into sharp focus in recent weeks after it emerged the Scottish Government was set to pull £75,000 of funding for the Scottish Men’s Sheds Association (SMSA) from April this year.
The decision was recently criticised as “short-sighted” and “appalling” by Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Alexander Stewart.
Chairman Kenny Quinn told the Observer: “The ironic thing about losing the funding is that the SMSA is losing the support because they say it is going into the NHS but we are providing that service to people.
“The big thing for us is male suicide, the numbers are tilted back in favour of being more positive for the age groups that we deal with but it’s still a huge problem.
“The SMSA is the guiding light to Men’s Sheds – two guys can have an idea to have a shed and they tell you how to do it and very quickly that network can build itself into a shed.”
The Forth Valley shed has been going since 2016, with around 50 to 60 members attending at some point over its three meetings a week, even if only for a few hours.
Kenny explained: “The whole ethos of Men’s Sheds is ‘shoulder to shoulder’ and challenging the fact that men don’t talk.
“A man doesn’t talk to his wife in his house about any medical problems and most brown-letter envelopes are read in the toilet just in case it’s bad news.
“We are here to encourage people to talk and to share that because if someone does have a pain for example, then someone else might say they have had it and it’s nothing, hearing from people that have been through a similar experience.
“Guys come in here at first and they are shy and don’t say anything and then over the course of two or three weeks, we suddenly get his story.
“The social side of things is huge for us, 95 per cent of what we do happens in the social room and it’s great because you see people there who were lonely for whatever reason and now they are laughing and the old jokes are coming out.
“We’ve got a guy who had a double stroke and he says that if he hadn’t found the Men’s Shed then he would probably be dead because his partner couldn’t cope with things.
“He was a hard working guy before it happened and his life was just going to shambles sitting in his living room.
“The pride aspect is important as well because someone can make something as simple as a bird box and then we go to a local market and sell it. It gives them that sense of purpose.”
One of those in attendance on the cold Monday morning was Eric Brown, who was referred to the Shed by a local organisation as a means of overcoming a very personal tragedy.
Eric said: “I’ve been here for about six to eight months or so. I came down because I lost my wife to cancer about nine years ago and that really got me down.
“I used to sit in the house and do nothing but then I went to First Start and they put me in touch with the Shed.
“It took me about three months to come down here because I just didn’t want to do it but I eventually came down and got talking to the boys.
“I’m not very good with woodwork or anything like that, but I come here to talk and listen to the guys, that’s the main reason I’m here.
“By coming here I have totally changed and even people who see me now say that I’m a lot brighter and a bit happier and that’s because I get to talk to the guys who are mainly my own age.
“A place like this helps so much with your mental health. Everyone will talk about anything and nobody is any better than anyone else.”
Jason Schroeder, SMSA chief executive officer, said: “The SMSA has grown the Scottish Men’s Sheds movement from an initiatory idea in 2014 into the biggest and most successful men’s health movement in Scotland.
“This is now the time to invest so we continue to not only provide much needed stability and sustainability post-Covid to existing Sheds and developing groups, but to ensure we are there to support new Shed groups which continue to emerge at a rapid rate.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said it had provided £570,000 to the SMSA since 2016.
They added: “The Scottish Government funding for men’s sheds has helped the movement to grow from five men’s sheds in 2013 to more than 200 sheds today, with more than 3,000 members.
“The £75,000 provided by Scottish Government this financial year will help the Scottish Men’s Sheds Association build further success as they continue to develop their business model and new funding partners come on board.”
