The very generous ladies of the Belturbet Hen’s Shed were delighted to support Cú Chulainn Blood Bikes with a donation earlier this year. The Hen’s Shed donated the proceeds from their Christmas Charity Raffle, a hefty €1000 to Cu Chulainn Blood Bikes. At the presentation were: Front (from left): Phyllis McCarthy, Patricia Denton Millar, Joan D’Arcy, Clare Collins, chairperson, Belturbet Hen’s Shed; Linda Moore, Cú Chulainn Blood Bikes; Rina Bannon, Bernie O’Keeffe, Mary Fitzgerald and Ann McMillan; middle, Anna Shalvey, Peggy Maguire, Josephine Waters, Mary Reynolds, Anne Brady, Eimear Hyland, Angela O’Reilly, Una O’Connor, Bernie McCabe, Mary McGuinn, Selina Berry, Philomena Curry and Maureen Tully; back, Kathleen Cassidy, Breege Prior, Christine Hewitt, May McGerty, Catherine McKenna, Margaret McGuigan, Eileen McCandless, Anna Smith, Rosaleen Gilleece, Dot Campbell, Mary Prior, Frances Donnelly and Margaret Murtagh. 8Photo: Lorraine Teevan

Celebrating a decade of the Belturbet Hen’s Shed

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Making the finals of these awards has been the “icing on the cake” for Belturbet Hen’s Shed, who are also celebrating their 10th anniversary next month.

They have a series of events planned to mark the special occasion, which former chairperson Clare Collins said is “quite remarkable”.

The group meets every Wednesday at The Goods Store in Belturbet, and Clare said between all of their activities, “friendship” is what has kept them going for the past decade. The group aims to provide social and emotional support to women, as well as training and education, with the aim of reducing isolation and increasing social connection. While this is their ethos, on a weekly basis this looks like sixty women gathering for a CPR refresher course, a cookery demonstration, wreath making, line dancing, fundraising, painting plates or their monthly chat and chill morning, where women can simply relax with a cup of coffee and chat to each other.

The hens also head away on overnight trips together, with their most recent one in Sligo when they stayed in The Glasshouse and explored parts of both Leitrim and Sligo, and called into the Drumshanbo Gin Distillery on the way home. However this is just a sample of their activities through the years, the full list could probably fill this paper.

Now chaired by Maureen Tully, women come from Belturbet, Cavan and surrounding areas to the group, which has over 100 members.

“Friendship is what this group is about,” Clare said, detailing how cousins, neighbours, old school friends or colleagues who normally wouldn’t have seen each other too often have reunited through the group.

In particular, the hen’s shed aims to “support” women who are “living on their own” and give them a space to meet other people in the community.

Hailing from Staffordshire herself, Clare said the group was invaluable to her for meeting people when she first moved to the area, while many other people have joined for the same reason.

“When you move to somewhere and don’t know anybody, you have to go to things,” she said, adding that the hen’s shed was “great” for this and for “connecting” people to the community.

Clare was “very pleased and surprised” to have made the finals in the Community Group of the Year category, and furthered: “I thought it was great for the group to get that acknowledgement.”

“Particularly on our ten year anniversary, this is the icing on the cake,” she concluded.

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