Member Spotlight: Dungiven Men's Shed

Building bird boxes a the new Dungiven Men’s Shed

Dungiven Men’s Shed, one of Northern Ireland’s newest charities, is off to a strong start with some exciting plans for the future! Granted official charitable status in June, the group aims to advance the social needs, health and well-being of men living in the Dungiven area.

The driving forces behind the project, Raymond Brady and Tony McCaul, first got talking after a Rannyglass Residents’ Association meeting about the lack of activities for men in the area that didn’t involve going to a bar. Raymond says he was particularly concerned about the rising number of young men dying from drug and alcohol-related problems.

“We had to do something,” said Raymond. “There needed to be somewhere for men to go to escape that cycle of bad mental health and bad choices.”

The men’s shed concept seemed a perfect fit for what they were trying to do. After visiting the Shed in Limavady, the men decided they needed to start one in Dungiven. Despite a rocky start when planning got disrupted by the Covid lockdowns, they persevered, and with help from the council and Supporting Communities, the process of forming a committee went ahead and things started moving!

Dream team! Raymond Brady and Tony McCaul with Catherine Farrimond, Causeway Council, and Gillian Forrest, Supporting Communities.

“Both Catherine Farrimond from the Council and I have worked closely with the group over lockdown to get them set up, " said Gillian Forrest from Supporting Communities.

"I facilitated their first public meeting over Zoom, supported them with funding applications, and helped register them with the Charity Commission. We have all worked so well together, they are a lovely group of men!”

Raymond and Tony proved quite good at garnering support from all quarters. People in the Dungiven community really got behind the project to help them get things up and running. A local business provided a building they could use, and other charities and individuals donated money, equipment, and supplies.

The owner of a local gym even did a 40-minute ice bath to benefit the new project raising over £1200! A bar in town also came up with a different kind of fundraiser - a ‘surstromming challenge' (eating fermented fish), and a local parish fund donated £1500 to buy a 3D printer and supplies, which everyone is very excited to try.

The Shed has 30 members so far, and they are currently open two afternoons a week, providing a social space, sports room, workshop, and a range of programmes, training, and events. Now that they have successfully registered with the Charity Commission, Raymond and Tony are looking forward to growing and expanding their work.

Raymond thanks the Housing Executive for funding a sports room in the new Men's Shed.

Already they have some fantastic evidence of their success. Supporting Communities ran a social value exercise evaluating the impact they made with some initial funding from the Housing Executive, and we determined that for every pound invested, the Men’s Shed produced over £10 in social value – a very impressive result for any project!

"We were very pleased with the outcome of the impact evaluation! It's a great figure to be able to quote to potential funders," explained Raymond.

Raymond tells us that the reactions from the men make it all worthwhile. “When someone comes in and says how fantastic it is that there’s something like this in the town now, it shows how much it was needed.”

Congratulations to Raymond, Tony, and all the folks working hard to make the Dungiven Men’s Shed a success. We look forward to seeing what comes out of that 3D printer!