The Gift of Connection for Christmas by Mike Hanrahan & Westport Men’s Shed

Participants

Mike Hanrahan spent fifteen years with Stockton’s Wing as songwriter, guitarist and singer, and ten years with The Dubliners as guitarist, writer and producer. More recently, he graduated as a senior Fellow at the Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin. He has spent the past year with new friends from across the globe working and learning together about the wonders of Science and Art in Brain Health and Wellbeing. He’ll be working with a global community to promote equity in brain health and advocating increased support for Creative Arts as a key component in dementia care.

Irish Men’s Sheds occupy a unique place in Irish communities, where men in Sheds support each other ‘shoulder to shoulder’, including during times of grief and loss. Westport Men’s Shed is a Shed that encapsulates everything the Irish Men’s Shed network offers all men regardless of who they are or where they are from – a warm welcome, an inclusive atmosphere, opportunities to learn something new, share skills and contribute. Above all else this Shed (like the 400 plus Sheds nationwide) offers opportunities for connection.

Aims

The starting point for this project is a collaboration by Irish Men’s Sheds and IHF, funded by Healthy Ireland, to explore how Sheds could navigate grief and loss.

The impact of the pandemic lockdown on the Shed network was significant, particularly in relation to physical health and emotional well-being, along with a slow return to pre-pandemic attendance levels.

The goal behind this unique collaboration was to encourage men, previously involved in Sheds, back into their workshops connecting with each other. The ambition from a health and wellbeing perspective was to explore ways to express grief and loss.

Methods

IHF and Irish Men’s Sheds have this in common – they make space for conversation. It’s why IHF engages with “the arts” in its broadest sense. “Art” can include anything creative – from crafts such as woodturning and metal work, to gardening, to belly dancing, to singing. Making something allows your head to take a breather. The conversation changes when you make something together. New connections form. Current ones solidify. Old ones deepen.

That is why IHF decided to invite Sheds nationwide to use their skills and experience as ‘makers and creators’ of physical things to explore ways to express grief and loss — whether by creating a physical place within their local community for taking grief and loss to, or by having a location at their Shed to help with processing grief, or remember a loved one.

Westport Men’s Shed decided to use the power of collective singing to strengthen connections and provide a creative outlet for grief and loss. Mike Hanrahan joined them in November 2023 and naturally conversations around choice of songs veered towards Christmas and what the season meant to everyone. Even the theme of ‘connections’ went a lot further than anyone could have predicted. During one session, Mike discovered a member — retired engineer Tony Reidy — knew his Dad from their time working together in Ennis, County Clare many years ago. Ultimately, this led to the creation of an original song ‘Wishing You Were Here’ just in time for Christmas.

Other Sheds took a different approach with equally wonderful results. Lismore Men’s Shed in Waterford made a post-box for anyone in the community to send a letter to a dead loved one. Raphoe Men’s Shed in Donegal created a Memory Tree to hang tributes to loved ones who have died.

Artistic Outputs

Westport Men’s Shed gave a special live performance of ‘Wishing You Were Here’ just before Christmas 2023. IHF filmed this event and it’s available to watch on our website. Take heed though. A room full of men going deep on Christmas talking about the importance of connections makes for deeply moving viewing. Also available on the website is a short documentary film about this project, along with videos about the other creative projects completed by Sheds nationwide.

Evaluation Methodology

IHF Arts at its simplest level tells stories. At a sophisticated level story as narrative, underpinned by research, aligned to education, evolves a culture of health. Alongside the creative programme, IHF tested formal Grief Awareness Training with 15 Sheds. Following analysis, a brochure on Grief Awareness for Men was produced and distributed to all 400 plus Sheds in Ireland during 2024.

Evaluation Outcomes

As long-standing partners, IHF and Irish Men’s Sheds recognise the power of connection between individuals and within communities. IHF’s Compassionate Culture Network and a 2021 “House of Memory” project suggested a model to Irish Men’s Sheds to provide peer-to-peer support and spaces where conversations can and do happen in safe, non-judgemental ways.

As Rebecca McLaughlin, Health and Wellbeing Manager of Irish Men’s Sheds told IHF: “I am so proud of Westport Men’s Shed who offer us this ‘gift’ at Christmas with their individual ‘take’ on what the season means to them. I love that this group includes men who had never sung before, and others who started learning the guitar only recently.”

Mike Hanrahan was equally delighted. Not only with the results but the experience. He elaborated on this during an RTÉ Lyric interview with Marty Whelan:

“It was such a buzz being in a room with a bunch of aul fellas like myself and having proper chats. We [men] usually ‘talk but don’t talk’. We’re afraid to talk about anything personal. We talked about Christmas and what it means to us. It was such a beautiful, beautiful experience.”

In November this year, IHF’s Arts and Cultural Manager, Dominical Campbell, chaired a panel discussion about this initiative at the Men’s Sheds Annual Conference. Westport Men’s Shed also gave a live performance of ‘Wishing You Were Here’ to an audience who didn’t hesitate to join in.

Documentation and Dissemination

A dedicated ‘Grief Awareness for Men’ information brochure was produced explaining how Irish Men’s Sheds could support their communities navigate grief and loss, and learn more about the enormous value of the arts in promoting well-being through creative engagement. Approximately 5,000 of these brochures were distributed to 400 plus Sheds nationwide.

Short documentary videos about these projects were also produced, including the one at Westport Men’s Shed. Both the videos and brochure are available on the Irish Hospice Foundation website.