A Blackburn man says he “saved himself” through his work around men’s mental health.

Shane Calvert, 42, runs a wellbeing group in St Oswald’s Community Hall in Shadsworth, as well as volunteering in other projects such as knife bins and litter picking.

The mental health work, done with the ‘Shad Chefs’, aims to be a warts-and-all approach with no topic banned from discussion.

Mr Calvert said: “It’s helped me because I came out of prison in 2018, and I needed something to do, yet nobody would employ me.

“I started volunteering and handing out food parcels, and then we set up the Shad Chefs.”
Shad Chefs began as a Facebook group where people would share their cooking creations, but it has since grown into a pivotal network within Shadsworth.

Shane (second right) with more of the Shad ChefsShane (second right) with more of the Shad Chefs (Image: Shad Chefs) Mr Calvert added: “If anybody needs help, we help them.

“People even donate food to our mental health meetings, anything goes there.

“We’re similar to Andy’s Man Club but you can’t talk about drugs there, we let people talk about anything.

“We ask people how their week has been while we get stuck into some food.

“And then, as we’ve asked some serious questions we go a bit lighter and ask about famous people they would like to have a coffee with, or quickfire questions about their favourite football team.

“Mixing the tone of the questions really works in making the atmosphere better.”

Mr Calvert works as a support worker with the Salvation Army after turning his life around.

He has changed his ways after being jailed in 2016 for his role in organising an anti-immigration protest in Dover.

He added: “Loads of us who volunteer have all done well, one lad is now at Red Rose Recovery as a support worker, and another lad is volunteering himself.”

The support group featured on Russell Howard’s Good News in 2022, with the TV show exploring the work done by them in the community.