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Two decades ago, on the other side of the world, a group of men came together as part of a health board initiative to combat social isolation.

Now, that scheme has made its way from Australia to the Aber Valley.

The Men’s Shed initiative brings men together to tackle loneliness, support mental health, and create friendships.

More than 80 official Men’s Shed groups are now running in Wales, led by volunteers and members themselves.

At the beginning of February, the Aber Valley Men’s Shed group held its first meeting, as men gathered to share their hopes and ideas.

The group is based at Aber Valley YMCA in Abertridwr, making use of the wide range of facilities at the centre, such as arts and crafts, football, table tennis, and more.

The idea of setting up the group came from Emma Rogers, an administrator at the YMCA who was inspired by the work of Pontypridd Men’s Shed.

“Since I started in September, I have felt that it would be so important to get a Men’s Shed group here for the community to support health and wellbeing, and combat isolation,” Emma told Caerphilly Observer.

“The group is growing every week, and as with anything, natural leaders will come to the top. So straight away, there’s a structure and they have a plan.

“We need funds obviously, so we’re applying for some funding, but we really want this to be a safe hub, and a place that men can come along, have a chat, have a cup of coffee, and just get involved.”

Two months after the group first started, it now has around 20 members, paying £3 a week in subs to contribute towards the group’s costs.

‘This group will be a success’

One person who has taken a leading role in setting up the group is Abertridwr resident Gareth Bowen, who has been chosen as its chairman.

He told Caerphilly Observer: “I think this group will be a success in this valley, and I’m hoping it will bring people out to spend some time together, make friends, take projects on, and just basically touch base with the people in the valley.

“I’m absolutely over the moon excited. I think it’ll be a success – it won’t be for the want of trying. I think the old saying is, ‘If you build it, they’ll come’. That’s our plan.”

Speaking about the early progress made by the group, Gareth said: “In the few weeks we’ve been meeting, I’ve seen certain people come out of their shell – unbelievably so – and that’s a massive, massive plus in my book.”

He also praised the YMCA and said: “The facilities here are phenomenal. I’d urge anyone to come along, not just to join the Aber Valley Men’s Shed, but to have a look at and use the facilities we have here in the Aber Valley. I think you would be totally amazed by what’s on offer here.”

But the group will also do activities outside of the YMCA – including visits to the National Mining Memorial in Senghenydd and Big Pit, as well as taking part in community litter picks, playing bowls and going for meals in Wetherspoons.

‘Wonderful potential’

When Caerphilly Observer met with the new Men’s Shed in late February, it had around 15 members, including 78-year-old Glyn Kellow.

Glyn has been a table tennis coach since he was 30, and is hoping to teach and play the sport with other members of the group.

“The facilities up here are wonderful for table tennis,” he said. “We’ve got four brand new tables, and a robot that they can use, and I think there’s a wonderful potential for it.”

Glyn’s passion for the sport has been passed on through his family. His son coaches in Sweden, while his grandchildren play the sport in Finland and have been Finnish champions.

Hoping to spread his love of the game within the Men’s Shed, Glyn said: “Hopefully, we could run tournaments here and different things like that, as well as other sports.”

Gareth Gittings, 69, lived in Abertridwr for most of his life before moving to Penyrheol two years ago. He regularly used the YMCA in the past, playing and coaching football in particular.

However, several years had passed since he last went there, and so he paid the centre a visit to reminisce over the historical pictures mounting the walls as you walk through the corridors.

It was during that visit he found out about the group.

“I’m quite a busy person. I’m not doing this because I’ve got nothing else to do – I’ve got grandchildren, I like walking and doing things – so I keep myself busy.

“But I thought this could be something else to do, to come and meet people and speak,” he explained when asked his reasons for joining the group.

Talking about the makeup of the group, he said: “We’ve got a table tennis expert, I like to do the football and sport, there’s other people with other skills, like the woodwork, which I’d like to have a little go at.”

Discussing the group’s plans to grow, he said: “If we can all encourage one person to join with us, that’ll double the numbers, starting from 15, and then it’ll grow and grow. 

“I went along with the boys to see the group in the Pontyptridd and it’s quite impressive. They started off very small, but now it has about 40 or 50 people – so, hopefully we can follow that.”

Successes elsewhere

One successful example of a men’s shed is the one running at Caerphilly Miners Centre.

It started three years ago with just four members, but now has around 16 members who meet twice a week.

Nicky Condon, is the group’s facilitator. She has a background working in adult education, as well as with families, the elderly, and people with dementia.

She told Caerphilly Observer: “Every week we try and change the activities. We do things like quizzes and play cards.

“We also do an ‘armchair visit’ to a different part of the world, where we explore that country. Through that, we’ve climbed Everest. We’ve packed our bags, and we’ve explored what we would need to climb Everest and what it took for the expedition in the 1950s.

“And we have visitors coming in to talk to us about local history, we’ve had authors, and we’ve had language specialists come in and teach us a little bit of French and Spanish.”

Talking about the group’s impact, Nicky explained: “It helps with isolation.

“A lot of gentlemen may be at home, they’ve looked after their partners for many years, or some might not have the confidence to meet people. So the first step is coming through the door

“We’ve welcomed gents, some who may be struggling with their mental health. We’ve got some people here who have paraplegia, or dementia. So, there’s a number of reasons why people come here. But the camaraderie is brilliant, because they all help each other.”

However, Nicky says the main issue facing the group is funding – with grants hard to come by.

“We want to come to enjoy ourselves. We want to come and have a cup of coffee, and to be able to spend time with each other, and not having to think about how we are going to sustain the group.”