Every week in a cluster of old outbuildings on the Galway Road, more than 50 men from Clifden and the surrounding townlands gather to turn wood, grow vegetables, swap stories – and look out for each other.
The Marconi Men’s Shed is North Connemara’s first men’s shed – and it has a claim to fame few groups in the country can match. It is the first men’s shed in Ireland set up exclusively by male family carers, according to Galway County Council, which nominated it for the 2025 IPB Pride of Place awards, the Clare Echo reported.
Named after the man who called America from Connemara
The name is pure Clifden. The shed honours Guglielmo Marconi, who built his wireless station near the town and sent the first wireless transatlantic message from Europe to North America from there in 1907, Galway Bay FM reported. Marconi employed scores of men at the station.
When the group held its first meeting, the 21 men present agreed the name unanimously, the Connacht Tribune reported. Ballyconneely’s Tom McWilliam, one of the original group who came up with the idea, was elected chairperson.
What goes on inside
In partnership with FORUM Connemara CLG, the men secured a premises and retrofitted four outbuildings themselves – two became a workshop and two are used for storage. The shed now has more than 50 members aged from 43 to 85, who meet twice a week.
Members grow produce in polytunnels on site and work at woodturning in the workshop. Many have reported improvements in their physical and mental health since joining, according to the Pride of Place nomination.
The shed works with the HSE, Connemara Care, FORUM Connemara, the ETB and local GPs and public health nurses to reach men who might otherwise be isolated – men living alone, older men and those with long-term health conditions, Age Friendly Ireland says.
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‘Men talk shoulder to shoulder’
Ireland’s first men’s shed opened in Tipperary in 2009, and the movement has spread fast. Ireland now has around 450 sheds and the highest number of men’s sheds per capita in the world, RTÉ Brainstorm reported.
The idea is simple: many men won’t sit down for a heart-to-heart, but they will chat while they build a bench or fix a lawnmower. As the shed movement’s motto puts it, men talk shoulder to shoulder.
Sheds right across Connemara
Clifden isn’t alone. Sheds from across the west Galway network met at a networking event hosted by the Letterfrack and District Men’s Shed, Connemara West reported. They include:
- Marconi Men’s Shed, Clifden
- Letterfrack & District Men’s Shed
- Oughterard Men’s Shed, at the Clann Resource Centre
- An Seid Cumann na bhFear, An Cheathrú Rua
- Seid na bhFear agus na mBan, Ceantar na nOileán (Leitir Móir)
- Seid na bhFear Dhúiche Sheoigheach
How to join
The Marconi Men’s Shed is based c/o FORUM Connemara CLG, Eir Building, Galway Road, Clifden, H71 YF77. All men aged 18 and over living in Clifden and the surrounding areas are welcome. Check current meeting times with FORUM Connemara on 095 41116 or through the Irish Men’s Sheds Association.
If you know a man who has gone quiet since retiring, losing a partner or taking on caring duties, this might be the best thing you ever tell him about.
Sources: Clare Echo, Age Friendly Ireland, Connacht Tribune, Irish Men’s Sheds Association
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