Templeogue Women’s Shed

Description

Templeogue Women’s Shed was started by older women to provide a safe environment for older women in Templeogue and surrounding areas to reconnect with society having been cocooned during COVID. Since our first meeting in March we have expanded our membership from 8 to over 40. We have introduced the members to new activities with physical and mental wellbeing in mind all while having fun.
A number of our members have not been involved in any social activities since before COVID.

Aim of Initiative

To give women, in particular older women, an opportunity to try out new activities or activities they haven’t participated in for years, to meet new friends and to develop a renewed sense of purpose in their lives, to do this in a safe and comfortable environment.
We endeavor to vary our program to include physical activities such as dancing and exercise, brain stimulated activities e.g. board games, arts and crafts e.g. painting, knitting. All done with an element of fun, we often sing our way through the morning.

Who is it aimed at

Women living in Templeogue and surrounding areas, Greenhills, Walkinstown, Perrystown. While the majority of our members are in the older age bracket we are not limiting the membership to any age group.

3 Steps critical to success

1. Gathering together a sufficient number of women who were capable and had the interest to drive the project. We had regular meetings for coffee and a chat to keep the interest going while we sought a venue and sorted out insurance.
2. Finding the venue. There is no community center in the Templeogue area although there are several sports halls. We checked out several venues but unfortunately none were available or suited to our needs. The Sports Pavilion in Tymon Park, adjacent to the Limekiln Road carpark was available and thanks to one of our founder members, Pamela Kearns, we managed to secure the venue for 3 mornings a week.
3. Building our membership. We placed notices in the parish bulletins of St Jude’s and the Holy Spirit churches. We set up Social Media pages to let people know of our existence. We gathered members by word of mouth.
   In order to get people in and entice them to stay we have made an effort to ensure they have fun while they are there and most importantly they feel welcome.
   We have new members every week.

3 Challenges in Planning / Delivery

1. Our biggest challenge was finding a venue. This was mainly due to the cost factor as we were looking to set up the group for at least 3 mornings a week.
2. Finance. Although there is talk of available funding through various grants unfortunately we have to date not received anything but promises and rejections.
   We couldn’t open without having insurance in place, this was paid for up front by one of our founding members who eventually was refunded the monies through members fees.
3. Building membership. In the initial stages it was slow going but thankfully word of mouth and advertising has worked.

3 Outcomes / Benefits

1. One lady in particular had spent the best part of 3 years sitting at home on her own playing games on her phone. She had lost the confidence to go out and socialise. She now joins us at least 2 mornings a week and is enjoying life again.
   There are a few others in similar situations and it was with these people in mind that the group was formed initially.
   As a group we offer support and a safe and comfortable space for others to be at ease.
2. We have deliberately not put a weekly program in place as the intention was that the members would decide what they wanted to do, not be dictated to as to what would be available to them. This has worked very well with some of the members organising outings and others producing different games to occupy our minds and keep the brains working. This will hopefully result in the group growing in its own way and not relying on the founder members to always direct and drive the project.
3. In our short existence we have had a visit from our Mayor, a very informative skin care demonstration, a visit to Dublin Castle, a fun morning of song & dance assisted by the local Ukulele Group and a visit to Dail Eireann courtesy of Deputy Colm Brophy.
   None of these experiences would have been possible for most of our members prior to joining the Shed.
   We hope to continue to offer our members opportunities that are not likely to be experienced outside of a group setting.