Alex Harvey, a retired engineer, has been involved in the creation of Broughty Ferry Men’s Shed – a new Age Scotland community project which brings older men together to work on practical projects, socialise and share skills
Through the project we want to deal with isolation and bring people into the community. This can particularly affect men who have been bereaved, are retired, or were made redundant.
We hope that older people will come along and find some purpose in the project. Many people are interested in learning a bit more about DIY, and you can learn a new skill at any age.
About a year ago the idea was mooted. I went along out of idle curiosity really, my background is project related so it seemed ideal for me to get involved.
They had a building that wasn’t fit for purpose but there was a project there to bring it into purpose. I pitched up and just got involved, it really appealed to me.
There’s a small group of people that has been quite focused on the project. And then there have been others that come along occasionally and help out as well.
The closer we got to the opening, there were lots of people coming down to help out. The project is already living up to the whole ethos of the Men’s Shed - it is bringing people together and getting them talking.
We are creating a place where men can go and talk. The big thing about pubs is that they are not always where people want to go. Indeed, a lot of the time they provide what people don’t need and can be detrimental to people's health.
The idea behind the project is to have more spaces where people can come and interact, that are inexpensive and not of a detrimental nature to people's health. This is what the Men’s Shed aims to provide.
The whole project is now at the stage where it is getting up and running. It’ll be a project for the long term, and seeing it grow and change is one of the exciting things about it.
I have really enjoyed getting involved. Being from a project and practical background, it was a good thing for me to get involved with.
There are heaps of these empty buildings across the country, and this could happen all over the place. The whole Men’s Shed story is spreading. People do not need to do exactly what we are doing here, the model can change.
There are lots of opportunities for people to get involved, and if you want to get involved then you can in anyway you like.
People can come down and if they just want to sit and not do very much then they can. But if they want to try out some DIY and help out, then they can do that too. We also have the ability to help people with basic IT skills. There are some older people who aren’t really aware of social media, and we can help them learn about that.
