Men’s mental health project goes from strength to strength

By Helen Fay

The Man About Town men’s mental health and well-being project continues to go from strength to strength in West Leeds.

The project currently runs two groups – a walking group on Sundays and a music group on Wednesdays. 

The music group has been held at Holbeck WMC for the past few months, but will have a new venue in West Leeds from July. The James McKenna Community Hub in Redshaw Road, Armley will be playing host to the group from next month.

The MAT music group has been running since 2021 and has met at a variety of locations over the years. During lockdown the group ran outdoors at Kirkstall Educational Cricket Club and then at Woodhouse Moor Allotments.

When lockdown eased and the weather got colder, the group started meeting indoors again at Woodhouse Community Centre, then later at Lovell Park Hub. 

The idea of the music group first came into fruition during one of the MAT walks, when member Darren mentioned he played ukulele and that he could teach other participants of the group to play. Some of the other members, willing to take on a new challenge, duly bought ukuleles and the music group was born with Darren as teacher. 

Fast forward to 2025 and the music group now features ukuleles, guitars, percussion and keyboard.

Apart from meeting every Wednesday to play and learn new songs, the group has played a number of gigs, including opening at Armley Festival last year, playing at the New Wortley Community Centre information cafe and performing at a charity fundraiser in Ripon.

Last Wednesday (4 June) the group played a set at the Armley Helping Hands 30th Anniversary celebration. 

The group has another gig tomorrow (Friday, 13 June) at Kirkgate Market as part of the Northern Man Festival for Men’s Health week.

Man About Town will be playing together with the Bramley based BARCA men’s music group between 12pm and pm. More information can be found here.

Another new development for Creative Frame/Man About Town is the launch of a training programme for people interested in running men’s groups.

Creative Frame director Jonathan Parker told WLD: “The first training session is full, but anyone interested in finding out about future sessions can get in touch. We are working towards a level 1 accreditation for the course.”

The course is designed to increase the number of groups available for men to participate in. For more information about the music group and walking sessions, or about training courses available contact Jonathan by email: info@creativeframe.org.uk and Facebook.

The Creative Frame website can be found here. 

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