New Redcar Men's Group Hopes to Eliminate Isolation and Loneliness
Organisers of a new craft workshop in Redcar are hoping they’ll be able to lift vulnerable Teesside men out of isolation.
Organisers of a new craft workshop in Redcar are hoping they’ll be able to lift vulnerable Teesside men out of isolation.
Men’s Shed on Queen Street opens tomorrow – and will let men get stuck into DIY projects while getting essential social interaction.
It's an Australian idea, which has been depicted on soap opera Neighbours.
The idea is to encouage men to take up practical projects in a sociable environment.
Ruth Fox, manager of Footsteeps in the Community, has organised the group.
She's hoping some of the men who attend will be former SSI workers who've been left without a male social circle.
She said: "In this area, we have one of the highest rates of male suicide.
"A lot of that is men that have worked their whole lives and have suddenly been made redundant, they haven't got that network of friends and are left home with their wives.
"That can be very difficult for them."
Ruth spent some time at Men's Sheds in Australia and spoke to men who said it had saved their marriages and their lives, and she was determined to set one up in Teesside.
The first Men's Shed event takes place on Saturday 21st November between 10am-4pm at 17 Queens Street, Redcar.