A group of men "would be dead" without a community workshop.
In 2015, Eddy Flynn, now 55, had been working as a carer and landscape gardener when he realised he "just needed something for himself." Soon after he had opened the Bootle Tool Shed, a community workshop and community interest charity in the Bootle Strand, offering a place for people to go to escape isolation, get support and, more importantly, enjoy some good company.
Speaking to the ECHO at the workshop, ahead of a visit from LFC legend Jamie Carragher, Eddy said he never expected the workshop to become so meaningful and so important to so many different people. He said he'd been told by members they "would be dead" without the workshop and that he'd now welcomed around 200 registered members.
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Eddy told the ECHO: "Soon after we opened we were offered this space next door as well, which was a real Godsend. After that it just took off.
"I knew I needed it but I didn't know so many more people needed it too and it just grew and grew.
"Through covid we were able to manage some type of getting together, but that time was challenging for everybody, but it was so important then.
"We are always looking for new volunteers and we always have our ear to the ground for funding. As a service it's all free - this is never about the money - but we do still need to keep the lights on, and even more so now.
"We're told daily that this service needs to be rolled out everywhere. Unfortunately we're the only one at the moment.
Speaking to the ECHO, members at the shed spoke about how the workshop has helped them. One of them, Alan Wylie, 62, said he was a "completely different man" since he joined.
Alan, who was in the process of creating birdboxes during our visit, said: "It's a Godsend this place. I just happened to come across it last week. I started on Wednesday and now I'm a completely different man."
Ben Roghanchi, a sculptor from Iran but now living in Bootle, said: "For two years during covid I was stuck in a place without a job and without everything.
"Eddy really helped me, not just with equipment but even with bus fares here too - everything. Sculpting is my job. My father's job too and now it's my job. But without Eddy I couldn't continue.
Chris Hoey, 52, said: "I was just looking through the at the garden benches when I got talking to Eddy and soon became a member. I love it."
During his visit to the Tool Shed on Friday (February 10), Jamie Carragher, himself a Bootle native, told the ECHO: "It's brilliant. It's a fantastic initiative and I've learned a lot since I've been here.
"Most importantly you're getting these men to mix, talk and get out of the house and have them feeling like they're really doing something.
"Every area has problems and dark times and Bootle is no different but we all have to come together and work together, we know how important that is."
The community workshop is open to people of all ages (over 18) and genders, despite being linked to the Men's Sheds charity, and Eddy encourages everybody to get involved.
He said the charity needs more volunteers, as well as donations (of furniture and other materials) and funding if possible.
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