The SMSA interviews 42-year-old Stuart Mackenzie who kindly offered his friends a lift to a meeting of their local Men’s Shed ten years ago but had no urge to go himself and thought that DIY meant ‘Don’t Involve Yourself’. Fast forward to present day, and he has a mad passion for woodwork and is the Chairman of Macmerry Men’s Shed.
Stuart said: “I worked in the prison service (young offenders) for a few years when, in 2007, I woke up one morning and I had lost my sight. I still tried to get up and drive myself to work but my wife thankfully stopped me.
“That lasted for about two and a half weeks during which I was diagnosed with relapsing/remitting Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
“I got better and thought nothing more of it. Then in 2011, I suddenly lost my ability to talk which ended up lasting for about six weeks. I had to learn how to talk again and I also lost the feeling in my hands which, as a guitar player, was an interesting learning curve trying to continue playing.
“I ended up being medically retired in June 2013 as a result of my MS and spent about six months getting steadily fed up with daytime telly, so I looked into doing some kind of volunteering work.
“I began volunteering and ran a Sporting Memories Scotland group at my local community centre and it was at one of our get-togethers that I first heard about Men’s Sheds. A few guys from the group wanted to go along to a meeting to find out more so I offered to give them a lift.”
Stuart admitted that “At the time I could not join two bits of wood together if you paid me and was never interested in woodwork at school. Just ask my wife Lynda, about the horror story that was the flat pack chest of drawers I tried to put together in our first flat. My dad has never been good at DIY so I had no real interest in trying to learn myself, so I was happy just being a chauffeur for my pals that day.
“Before I knew it though, by just being at the meeting, I had inadvertently now become a member of the Shed. All the men were great and welcoming, to the point that I felt, seeing how I was the youngest there, I had somehow been adopted by 20 or so granddads.
“The Shed has an infectious nature and before I knew it, I was hooked and attending regularly. By just watching and helping out—and without realising it—I started to learn so much from my peers.
“The Shed has an
infectious nature.”
- Stuart Mackenzie, Chair of Macmerry Men’s Shed -
“I began to absolutely love working with wood and started making garden benches, planters and even playhouses for my daughter and her friends in their respective gardens. Over time, my daughter Olivia’s playhouse grew with her—in the end I had almost turned it into a two-storey house complete with a spiral staircase! Knowing my history with DIY, my wife still struggles to believe that I am ever asked to make, build and fix things.
“Working with young offenders in the prison service comes in handy when peace making with 15-25 guys in a Shed every day. There is always someone not having a good day—so it is certainly a useful transferrable skill! Saying that, the members are all great—all from different backgrounds that come together as a team. They are all so welcoming and inclusive.
“Being the youngest at the Shed, I initially worried that we would have nothing in common but the banter and friendships were almost instantaneous. We are all there to help and support each other.
“For someone that was unable to talk, I now never stop—I do love to blether a LOT! But also, I try not to dominate those all-important chats in the Shed and I always try to make time to listen to others.
“In lockdown, we all missed the Shed so much. I was bored and craved the banter so we started holding video conference calls—checking in on each other and cheering each other up. In fact, we held a surprise birthday party video call for one of our members—he was delighted. Each of us had party hats on, balloons and banners on the walls behind us which made it a lot of fun for everyone involved.
“My wife says I fight against my health condition. Yes, the Shed does take up a lot of my time—more so now I am Chair—but it replaced work for me and gave me purpose. With my MS, I felt tired and run-down all of the time to the point of feeling useless but now, I want to get up and go, I want to better myself and do things for the guys at the Shed and the wider Shed community.
“My mental health really did receive a huge boost. In all honesty, there are so many people out there all with either physical or mental health issues that, I would say, going to a Shed could be just what you need. It is an amazing sight when you see a new member come into the Shed and all the guys greet them, chat away to them and within 10 minutes have made a new friend.
“Our Shed recently purchased a CNC machine and members have been familiarising themselves with this new piece of kit as well as learning computer skills whilst making intricate designs and this knowledge is being passed on to other interested members.
“Every Shed has got their own speciality, that could be specific to their area or something a member has learned in their personal or working life and can bequeath this to other Shedders. One of our members Fred did stick dressing as a young boy and has passed his skills and knowledge of this on to his fellow members. Fred sadly passed away not that long ago but his memory lives on when the guys are doing this activity.
“I have been at the Shed for ten years now and last year took over the reins from our former Chairman David Dickson who is now our Honorary President. We are a Shed run by its members, for its members and we have welcomed quite a few new guys recently ranging in age from their 40s to 80s. We have so much potential to grow the Shed, and it’s great to see some younger guys, the next generation, joining—we are not just here for the retired after all.
“Future plans include the addition of two new cabins to the yard which we have secured funding for through the Community Health and Wellbeing Fund and National Lottery Community Fund. Two of our members were featured on BBC Radio 4 specifically talking about their experience of joining a Men’s Shed. The producer of that show has asked us to launch a podcast about the Shed which would be produced by the BBC. This will afford the opportunity to promote the Shed and stories from the Shedders to raise awareness but also teach skills around video editing and radio presenting. There was even talk of taking the show on the road to other Sheds to get their stories, which would be fantastic. This project is still in its infancy just now but it is a project that I feel would be worthwhile and hope to pursue.
“In the past, we have connected with the community—young and old—and we have exciting plans to step this up a gear and get a van full of tools and start up a ‘Men’s Shed on the Move!’ and visit different places to spread the word. We can bring the Shed to communities and hopefully, as a result, they will then check out and join the actual Shed. We plan to hit the road to connect with schools, colleges and care homes etc in the surrounding area and really promote what we have to offer to ensure we are still around in 30+ years!
“To think that all of this started just by offering to give a couple of friends a lift to a Men’s Shed. That, I feel, proves the totally infectious and positive results of the Shed effect.”