With wellbeing as a prime focus of Men’s Sheds, it is very relevant to discuss anything that can help members and their families to cope with the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, and the challenges that can follow thereafter.

Maggie’s Centres are a charity that supports people who have or have had cancer, and offers them, their families, and their friends a drop-in facility that can provide advice, help, or just a friendly and compassionate environment to be in.

Pentlands Men’s Shed members enjoyed an interesting and informative presentation from Kathryn Sinclair from NHS Lothian on the subject of Health Screening. This focused on the National screening programmes that are most relevant for men – specifically Bowel Cancer screening, and Abdominal Aortic Aneurism (AAA) screening. As well as being interesting in their own right, these topics triggered wider discussion about other health subjects that are important for Shed members.

The ethos of Men’s Shed is to improve men’s well-being, and by both raising awareness of important topics and getting men (who are often reticent about such things) talking about these in a safe and supportive environment, this talk was absolutely in line with what we are all about.