Volunteers Week – A volunteer Journey
4 June 2018
Today’s Volunteers Journey is from Andy Swain and Morgan Harcus from Men’s Shed Orkney.
How long have you been volunteering?
Andy “about 20 years”
Morgan “Going on for 50 years, in one guise or another!”
Who do you volunteer for? What do they do?
We both currently volunteer for Orkney Men’s Shed. The Men’s Shed movement started in Australia in 2002 to help give older men somewhere to go where they could be active and socialise. It’s just a larger version of the typical man’s shed in the garden. A Men’s Shed offers this to a group of such men where members share the tools and resources they need to work on projects of their own choosing at their own pace and in a safe, friendly and inclusive venue. When men get together it keeps them happier and healthier. Our motto is
“Men don’t talk face to face; they talk shoulder to shoulder”.
The Orkney Men’s Shed started after (insert name) from Westhill Men’s Shed in Aberdeen came up to Orkney to give a talk in 2015. A committee was formed from those who attended and after a lot of hard work and energy Orkney Men’s Shed opened in September 2017. We currently have 93 members and will welcome anyone who wants to come along.
We currently open on Tuesdays from 10.30am to 4.30pm and on Thursdays from 5.30pm to 8.30pm.
The activities in the Shed usually involve making or mending in wood (e.g. carpentry, joinery, turning, carving, marquetry, furniture renovation) but may also include metalworking (turning, milling, sheet metalwork, welding) bike repair, gardening, electronics, tool renovation, boat renovation, model engineering (model railways, aeroplanes) and even building a car!
We hope to refurbish unwanted donated tools ready for sale and undertake small projects for the community which would not be commercially viable. Meaning we can purchase more equipment for use in the shed and that we don’t tread on anyone’s toes who is trying to make a living. We are currently undertaking our first major project for the Blue Door, building a shed!
What do you enjoy most about volunteering?
Meeting different people. We’ve met some great guys we would never have met otherwise. And seeing the difference it makes for other people. One old guy came to Men’s Shed and he had some quite serious health problems but now the change in his physical health and his outlook is staggering. We also opened up for Christmas Day afternoon and this was able to give people who maybe felt a bit isolated a chance for some company.
What do you enjoy least?
Paperwork! It impacts on your time but it is what happens when you help to run an organisation.
What advice would you give to anyone thinking of volunteering?
Do it! Think about the contribution you can make, it does make a difference.
What has surprised you most whilst volunteering for your organisation?
The encouragement and support from the wider public has been fantastic with offers of fundraising and donations, just the sheer generosity of local people.
What is the most important thing you have learned whilst volunteering for your organisation?
That there is an awful lot of people worse off than yourself. It can take up a lot of your time, but it is worth it.
What do you think Orkney would be like if there were no volunteers?
It’s quite hard to think of Orkney without volunteers!.There would definitely be more crime. Volunteers do a lot of great work with young people, giving them a purpose and something meaningful to do.
It would make Orkney a lot less of a friendly and purposeful community. Volunteering brings the community together. Our members come from all over Orkney and they probably wouldn’t get together without volunteering.
