Shannon Town Men's Shed

Wings Musical Festival background. It started with Damian O'Rouke coming to the Shannon Mens Shed and asking could we make a stage for the festival.  Jarlath and Christie installing the stage at The Shannon Springs Hotel After doing plans and costing the materials for the stage the lads, which are: Jarlath Bracken and Christie Collins and John Donegan and Mike Twohig went to The Old Lodge hotel in Shannon (now called The Shannon Springs Hotel  https://www.shannonspringshotel.com/) to set up the stage as the Wings Music festival will be held on that stage. A big thanks to CS Couriers & Logistics  ((061) 479 850) who covered costs of the wood and rest of materials for the stage. Damian  also shared some pictures of the stage in use: "The musicians can be seen from the back of the room now and vice versa... musicians can see the whole room now which is good feeling for a performing musician" "We decided to carpet it also...this helps with sound on stage"

I was very please with myself using the wonderful bench jigsaw to create angled corner pieces today. I don't want to screw down the roof yet until I know what I'll be covering it with (if anything).  Next day I will put in the shelves and start filling it with bamboo and things I pick up when walking. A fun activity to be doing on my 62nd birthday :)

With Brian manning the saw and with Tony struggling with a bit of algebra they cut the first six pieces of wood for the bug hotel project. It is based on an idea at: https://www.prima.co.uk/craft/easy-craft-ideas/a32457142/how-to-make-bug-hotel/ And will look something like: Tony checking the measurements Brian make the 30 degree cuts Tony checking the looks. Too long? Working at the 30 degree cuts for the hexagon Hopefully they will complete the frame on Thursday. There are three to make in total.

 We had a great time on Saturday night at the Oakwood Hotel for our Xmas dinner. There was a great crowd there with many other groups/companies attending that night.

 A big thank you to the guards and the businesses of Shannon Town for their gift of an Xmas lunch to the Mens Shed. It was a very enjoyable event! And who needs Simon and Garfunkel when we have our own Paul and Sean! The guards also kindly left us each a mug full of teas/tea/soup and an emergency container to hold medical and contact details, etc. in case any of us are left incapacitated. Thanks again. Later there was a bit of a sing song. With Rebecca singing Galway Shawl.

Shannon Library have a wonderful kit you can borrow to perform some simple energy saving and comfort increasing actions. (Kits provided by Codema see: https://www.codema.ie/think-energy-home-hub/the-home-energy-saving-kit/) We at Shannon Town's Mens' Shed are very much behind this initiative. And I loved the very simple, clear and easy to understand booklet. And I was more than happy to fill out the Clare Library questionnaire. As the days get colder I will certainly be bleeding my radiators!   

Today we were visited by Breda O'Driscoll & Karl Quinn of Limerick & Clare Education Training Board (LCETB) who presented to use how to make use of the various training opportunities available to us. The first stage is to sign up at:  www.fetchcourses.ie The two presenters are also contactable directly. Here is a poster Karl left with us: There have been a number of courses successfully run by LCETB which the Mens Shed members have  benefited from.