Philip Jackson left the UK when he was 22 and returned when he was 67. During that time, he had worked in construction in Thailand and Australia. When he retired and returned to his native Barnsley, Jackson felt “like a foreigner” in his own country, The Guardian reports.
“I had a strong Australian accent, and everyone I knew when I was younger had moved away or was dead.” He was lonely. And he wasn’t the only one. “I’d never seen loneliness like it,” says Jackson. “There were so many lonely old men, in particular.”
Looking for something to do, Jackson became a member of English Heritage and travelled around the country, visiting castles. He applied for jobs, but no one wanted to hire a man in his 60s. He read about the suicide rate in Barnsley, which is higher than the national average, and was appalled, but not surprised. “When I came back home,” he says, “I saw how industry had been decimated. The factory where I did my apprenticeship had closed down.”
Jackson, who is 78, remembered an initiative he’d heard about when he was abroad. The Australian Men’s Shed Association is a collective of more than 1,000 sheds aimed at combating loneliness through communal woodworking.
Jackson decided to set one up in Barnsley. In 2014, with the help of a small National Lottery grant, Jackson secured premises from Barnsley council and woodwork equipment from donations for The Barnsley Men’s Shed. He then set up the “She-Shed”, a community space for women. The Sheds’ members range from 22 to 87, and meet once a week: the men on Tuesdays, the women on Wednesdays. They’re a diverse bunch: ex-coalminers, ex-shopkeepers, ex-homemakers. There’s even a retired carpenter, which is handy.
Shedders, as Jackson calls them, make everything from ornaments, dog kennels, bird and plant boxes through to wheelbarrows. “One guy made an operational windmill for his garden,” Jackson says. “And a lighthouse, with a flashing light on top. I’m sure the neighbours loved that one.”
FULL STORY
The people making a difference: the man setting up woodworking ‘sheds’ to combat loneliness (The Guardian)
PHOTO
Philip Jackson at Barnsley Men's Shed. Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian
