Women’s Shed meetings a ‘lifeline’ for local women

The founder of a women's shed in Dunboyne says the weekly meeting has become a "lifeline" for local women.

Margaret Walsh set up the Dunboyne Women's Shed in 2019 however Covid scuppered plans she had to develop the group. Despite the set back, it is thriving with dozens of local ladies attending every Friday in the Oak Centre Dunboyne.

With activities from yoga, arts and crafts to mindfulness and line dancing and trips to The Dail and the Áras an Uachtaráin Garden Party it's not hard to see why!

"Generally the age group that we have is from late 50s to early 70s but ladies of all ages are welcome," said Margaret. "The youngest we have is 36 and the oldest we have is in their 80s.

"There is no clique it's just one big happy bunch of ladies. People come from all kinds of backgrounds and the different stories you hear you don't realise that someone can benefit this much from meeting up on a Friday morning.

"Some people say after, I was shaking coming in, you know starting something new and then the next you see them arranging coffee dates with other ladies.

" It has become a great outlet for women. When children leave the nest some women are just lost or some people may have lost their spouse or others are retired and just have more free time on their hands.

"I think we were the first women's shed in Meath. You see lots of them popping up all over the place now which is brilliant."

“When things opened back up again, people were so glad of the space to go and interact with people again.”

The group even got to go to The Áras an Uachtaráin Garden Party meeting Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina.

"We were given eight tickets but unfortunately I was away The ladies who went had a fantastic day and were very well looked after. They found Michael D charming, he and Sabina were up dancing, it was great fun. They both mixed with everyone and it was a lovely day out."