Local Independent Minister Katherine Zappone says the Men’s Shed network is playing a huge role by providing an opportunity for socialising, networking and the use of talents. The Dublin South West TD made the remarks as she joined members of the Templeogue Men’s Shed for a sing-a-long and a jig. Minister Zappone was given a rousing welcome by the Shed’s gifted musicians who greeted her with a barnstorming rendition of Dirty Old Town before she was whisked off her feet to dance a jig.
The Independent candidate in the forthcoming General election described the movement as a ‘generous, innovative and empathic initiative that has swept through the country’. She praised the courage of the men present for daring to do something different and positive and for coming together from their diverse backgrounds, work histories and areas of expertise. As both a feminist and an admirer of the Men’s Shed movement, she remarked that the phenomenal success of the sheds as ‘almost counter-revolutionary’ in the best possible sense. She was presented with a unique beautiful handmade wooden pen, crafted in the shed’s workshop itself where the unique pens are lovingly made from Irish native woods such as white oak and purple pine. Before leaving, she was persuaded to giving the men a song herself, Sloop John B made famous by the Beach Boys, describing the opportunity to have a sing-song with them lifted the spirit and was ‘a great gift to me’.
