Ardara Men’s Shed, the Grand National winner and the cash!

It's not too often you hear of a champion racehorse being found in a shed in Ardara but before you go off blathering theories about Shergar or the like, the horse in question won the Aintree Grand National 124 years ago, back in 1898.

So what's the connection? Well, it's all to do with a competition organised by a group of talented men in the west Donegal town, the Irish Men’s Sheds Association, and its energy partner, Flogas.

The Ardara Men’s Shed is a community-based project, where men can come together to learn, share skills and make long-lasting friendships together.

The Ardara group has been active since its formation nine years ago with some members weaving, some members woodturning, and others doing carpentry and having a wee dab at painting.

Their community-based programme is run by people from the community that drop in to do different projects.

In December 2020 the company invited entries for an exciting competition open to all Men’s Sheds on the Island of Ireland.

The competition, called ‘Reimagine Drogheda’ was inspired by Knockbrack House, once the home of famous racehorse Drogheda, and now accommodating Flogas Head Office. As mentioned Drogheda, won the Aintree Grand National in 1898 against all odds.

To honour this special horse, Flogas invited the Sheds to ‘Reimagine Drogheda’ in a piece of work that would symbolize ‘Drogheda’ the horse. The work could be a painting, an art installation, a garden, recycled material, woodwork, collage, sculpture, or whatever.

At this time all Men's Sheds were under Covid restrictions and could not meet in person. So Ardara Shed members started to meet weekly via Zoom. They discussed the competition and how and what they would enter.

After a few “arguments” Rev Robert Wray suggested they design a ‘horse in motion' and all members agreed that they should try using recycled material in their entry.
They decided on the image to be used and a board was cut into five sections and distributed to the five members who volunteered to ‘reimagine’ their section of the horse in their own home.

After a few weeks, the five sections were assembled back on the mainboard. These sections included horseshoe nails, timber, Donegal tweed, material from the shore, and leather. A small piece of whalebone was also used.

Their entry was then submitted to Flo Gas and thanks to their imaginative entry, Ardara Men’s Shed was first past the post and received a nice €2,500 voucher for their troubles!

Their leap of faith and ability to clear the hurdles and work through lockdown certainly paid off. They will receive their All-Ireland prize at a function in Drogheda on Monday, April 4.