Midlothian Carer Community Fund

So I’m Katy, I work for Growing Families, charity based in Loanhead, and I work at the garden, Loanhead Community Garden. I’m also a freelance artist and yoga teacher.

Hi, I’m Daphne and I also work for Growing Families and I’m also an artist and sometimes help Katy in the garden.

It’s been really eye-opening learning about unpaid carers and learning about, you know, how much work they’re saving local government and central government.

And you know, as we’ve found, it’s primarily women who’ve contacted us, and I think, yeah, there’s a really large unpaid workforce of women out there. So yeah, I guess as women ourselves, it’s really important that their work is recognised and they get some space for themselves as well.

I think we’ve experienced a massive change in the people that have kept coming back. There’s a few people that have come in and for whatever reasons they’ve not come back again. But that’s the nature of unpaid carers.

But it’s just been so nice to get the people that have managed to, and able, and time to keep coming back and to see that friendships develop and a support network. And it’s also led onto other things that they’re sharing – contacts and networking. So it’s been really nice to experience that, and also really nice to give them the opportunity to create, and to see that they can carve that time out and create something like an artistic, creative object or thing that they make and how it’s all different within the group.

And it, yeah, I feel like we’ve built a really nice little solid community and it’s just been a really, yeah, really nice experience. Yeah, it’s been lovely.

and just thinking specifically about a couple of carers, like one once said this is her therapy. She said, this is my therapy, you know, I really need this.

And another carer, like quite early on she said there needs to be more things like this out there for unpaid carers. And she said it’s so great, and she said she wants to, you know, shout about it.

And yeah, I think the main change is really like people talking to each other and making those connections amongst each other. That’s been the best thing to watch, really.

My name is John Bell, and I am the secretary at Dalkeith Men’s Shed, where we’ve recently started our workshop day for carers.

We saw the potential for an extra day at Dalkeith Men’s Shed where we had a clear focus on unpaid carers. Dalkeith Men’s Shed, before we even began, had 3-4 unpaid carers and one former carer.

So it’s something that’s close to all of our hearts. We know what it is to care for a loved one. We know how challenging it can be. And it just seemed like a great fit.

I think it’s important for carers to have access to these kind of community spaces because there are so few places now where a person can go and just exist, without an expectation of buying something, paying a subscription, covering a membership.

So we love the idea that we’re somewhere guys can just drop in and have a chat with people who are walking the same path in life as them.

Yeah, it’s just made life a bit more interesting. Especially getting out on a Tuesday, where would be again, in good weather, in the shed.

And it’s great meeting people who are in the caring role as well. And slowly I’m getting to know more and more people, you know, as the weeks go by, I’m beginning to get familiar with who does what, and when, really.

I care for my wife who has arthritis and doesn’t get about very well. So, making food for her, driving her about the place, that sort of thing.

You don’t notice it, but it’s exhausting. And it’s only when you come to a place like this, and you hear other people’s stories, that you realise it does happen to me as well.

And I’ve always said that about Men’s Shed in general, that men’s mental health is frightening because men lock it up so much, and don’t talk to each other about it either.

And it’s only when you’re having discussions, like we are today, that pieces of that jigsaw start to fall out and you’re able to see how much strain you’ve been under.

How much pressure we’ve been under and how much we really care for our partners. So this is an ideal scenario, an ideal place.

I’d sort of withdrawn into myself, so I didn’t really know anybody. And I cam down and got introduced and never looked back. It’s been great.

Well, it’s made me be more upfront. I can speak to people and make new friends and shake hands with people, something I’ve never been able to do before, because everybody here is all in the same boat.

We’ve all got some form of carer’s role. Gives you a wee break. Cup of coffee and a blether with the other boys. It makes life a lot better.

I came to the Dalkeith Men’s Shed because my wife insisted that I learn how to use a screwdriver and a saw, which I’d never done in my life before, so I thought it was a good idea to start here.

However, I’ve been here over a year now, and I still don’t know how to use a screwdriver or a saw – because I like the camaraderie. The drinking tea, coffee, the eating cakes, and just generally speaking to other guys about life in general and any issues that might crop up as life progresses.

The good thing about coming to this Men’s Shed is the fact that I can speak to others. Because there’s only myself and Wilma, and conversations get a little bit stilted, because there’s only so many things we can talk about.

I get out here, I talk to another 20 guys, we’ve all got different things to say, do, find out about. And I can go home, and our horizons have been expanded, both of us.

It doesn’t matter if you’re shy, if you’re forward, if you’re in between, you can do whatever you want, whenever you want.

Nobody bothers you, nobody chases you. You listen, you talk, you don’t, you just get on with bits and pieces, and at some stage you may learn how to use a screwdriver and a saw.