Health News - Skills project imported from Down Under aims to use experiences of over-55 ‘blokes’

Published: 30 June, 2011
by TOM FOOT

THE Men’s Shed is booming in Australia.

But until now the movement, in which “older men” come together, in a shed, to make stuff, use their tools and socialise, has yet to grace these shores.

Mike Jenn, an award-winning social entrepreneur who lives in Camden Town, and Dr Robert MacGibbon, a recently retired GP who worked in the Regent’s Park Practice for 30 years, have set up what is believed to be the first British men’s shed in Camden Town.

And they are welcoming men aged 55 and over to a room at Maiden Lane Community Centre in St Paul’s Crescent, free of charge.

“A lot of older men might have retired or find themselves unemployed and don’t have much to do with themselves,” said Mr Fenn. “But they may have skills they want to keep using. Maybe they haven’t made any retirement plans.

“Blokes do talk, but they will talk on the job. They don’t really discuss things over a coffee, it’s not really what happens. They might go for a pint, but not much more than that. They say women talk eye-to-eye. Men talk side-by-side, while they are working. But if you take them out of that environment they won’t talk much at all.”

He added: “Men are expected to be self-reliant, to look after themselves. It has been hardwired into us.”

The wellbeing of over-55 males has been a ­concern for Dr MacGibbon throughout his career as a Camden GP.

He said: “It was something we were very concerned about. They might feel disengaged, just be sitting around watching TV. There is a high death rate that is particularly connected with ageing men who have low ­activity. Even just a ­little socialising, with a cup of tea, can make a lot of difference.”

But the pair say the Camden Shed should not be thought of as a tin-pot therapy room. It is a place to have fun, share interests and experiences, keep busy and make things.

Mr Jenn added: “We’ve had a lot of tools donated from widows. People who didn’t just want their husband’s tools thrown away or sent to charity. They want them used by other blokes. We can repair tools or put our minds, as a group, to whatever jobs we are given.”

Some tools are sent to the Workaid charity that helps men in Africa. Other ideas that have been put forward so far range from making wooden handles for files to building a power generator that runs on water. 

• Camden Shed is open on Tuesdays between 10am and 4pm. To get involved visit www.camdentownshed.org or call: 07757 024749