Christmas Time……
Midleton Men’s Shed Weekly News
We appear to be well and truly into the midst of the
Christmas season now, and with less than two weeks to go until Christmas Day, it’s
very easy to get caught up in the hype and commercialism that seems to begin
earlier, and grow in intensity every year. I know that I definitely saw Christmas trees
displayed in one of the large shops in Cork City as early as last August, and
the towers of chocolates and biscuits were in many supermarkets from the first
of November.
In the midst of all this hype and commercialism it is very easy to forget that
Christmas is not a time of joy for everyone. Some may have lost a loved one around this
time of year and for them it’s a time of loss and sadness, and they can see
little to celebrate. Likewise, some
people simply don’t have someone with whom to share the joys of the Christmas
season, so for them the giving and receiving are not-existent and the
loneliness is increased.
So what can we do? Well, we can all
check in on a neighbour or friend whom we know to be alone or having a tough
time around Christmas. Invite them out
for a coffee or a pint, or just phone them for a chat. Such a small thought from us can mean a huge
amount for a friend or neighbour.
Exciting times.
As one of the very few ‘shedless’ Men’s Shed groups in Ireland, we are very
excited and delighted that we are making some good progress on finally getting
a shed for ourselves. Obviously, the
cornerstone of and Men’s Shed group has to be the shed, and while we’re
delighted to have the use of the facilities at the Edmond Rice Centre every
Friday for our meet-ups, it’s just not a shed!
We are absolutely delighted that Midleton Parish have given us the use
of a site, and we are now proceeding with getting drawings finalised and
working on getting planning permission.
While all of this is happening, our main task over the coming months
will be fund-raising. This is a huge job
of work for our small group, and we hope the people and businesses from
Midleton and surrounding areas will support us so we can support the community
with more endeavours such as the Dam Easy floodgates we installed recently in
several houses around the town.
Anti-Social
Behaviour.
At our last meeting we have a very good and wide-ranging discussion about
Anti-Social Behaviour in the area. It is
disgraceful that elderly and infirm members of the community who are not in a
position to defend themselves are preyed upon by young and not-so-young locals
who appear to think nothing of banging on doors and windows of other people’s
homes in the dead of night, and scaring the occupants out of their wits. In an effort to get a better understanding of
this outrageous scourge on vulnerable people in the locality we have decided to
ask the community garda to come to one of our meetings in the near future to
discuss this worrying topic, and to explain if there is anything we as a group
can do to help.
Our Men’s Shed group meets weekly at 11.30 on Friday
mornings in the Edmond Rice Centre. We
welcome new members, and if you would like more information you can contact us
by email at [email protected]
Our new website is www.midletonmensshed.com
We are also on social media as follows:
Twitter: @MensMidleton
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MidletonMensShed2018