‘We’re looking for a place to call home’ Men's Shed group in desperate search for premises

The Men's Shed group in Navan is appealing for help to secure a premises - as their current workshop is a 40 foot leaking container with a polythene roof!

Chairman, Alan Brady explained they are desperate for a new premises - they meet at Claremont Stadium, but their workshop is in a container.

"The roof caved in and is now covered with polythene," he said.

"Claremont Stadium has been very good to us, but we are restricted in our activities and we are losing members because of that restriction."

The group is now planning to meet with Meath County Council in the coming weeks in an effort to secure new accommodation.

"There is a huge demand for Men's Sheds - it is a great social outlet and is particularly important for mental health especially in these times of turmoil both domestically and abroad.

"We are living in a town of 30 to 40,000 people and if we had a proper premises, we would have a membership of around 40, but at the moment we just have 10 people who attend regularly. We had 16 members but the numbers fell because of the lack of facilities. We could cater for so many more," he said.

"We have approached the council to see if they could give us a plot of land or if someone could donate a premises.

"If we had a place to call our own, we could apply for grants and funding from the National Lottery, Meath Partnership of the County Council.

The group has made up picnic tables and flower boxes in their workshop, but that work is very weather dependent. They also meet up as a social outlet for a cup of tea and a chat in Claremont.

"If we had our own workshop, we could make a great contribution to the community - we could provide picnic benches and seating for places like Blackwater Park.

"We also work with other groups. We had great interaction of young and old, when a local youth group painted the picnic benches we made," he said.

The Mayor of Navan, Cllr Eddie Fennessy is secretary of Navan Men's Shed. "Our workshop was broken into not long before the Covid lockdowns came into effect. A lot of damage was caused to the structure of the building and it's not a safe place to work in anymore," he said.

"I approached the council recently and requested a meeting with the area manager to discuss the possible handover of community lands or buildings to be used as a new base for the Shed. A meeting is due to take place over the coming weeks.

"We offer a range of services from social activities to the construction of garden furniture for schools and resident associations. We want to grow the shed and increase our community activity but we're restricted by not having a base of our own.

"Our options are limited so we're hopeful of a positive outcome from our meeting with the council. We're also open to speaking with anyone who might have a building we could use or would be willing to sponsor us."

Cllr Padraig Fitzsimons raised the issue at a meeting of Navan Municipal district last week.

"They don't have a premises, but even if they got a property that was in poor condition, they could do it up themselves," he said.