This event has now happened
A repair cafe is a place where you can bring your broken items for free, while our volunteer repairers work their magic to bring them back to life! Repairing items instead of throwing them away keeps unwanted items away from landfill, and reduces the need for new purchases which has such a negative impact on the planet.
How did it go?
“I’d let him perform brain surgery on me.” This was one of the many compliments given to our repairers at our final Repair Café of 2025. Our volunteers were able to restore a wide range of beloved belongings: from radios and toasters to valuable ornaments and clothes.
It was a busy affair, with the church space shared between our growing enterprise, the book swap, one setup to buy eco-products, cadets selling poppies, plus a stall selling Christmas cards. However, teamwork and organisation prevailed, and we fixed a total of 30 items.
Glass Dragon
One cherished glass dragon sculpture arrived with a broken wing. The ornament, brought to us by Alan, had two clean breaks. It was fixable, however required incredible attention to detail to glue back into place.
That was where repairer John came in to save the beautiful sculpture, made in Gloucester around 50 years ago. He remarked that it was one of the toughest gluing jobs he had done, due to the tiny gluing surface. But John, with patience and dedication to match his expertise, came out on top.
The end result speaks for itself:
CD Player
Electronics repairer Paul, in his first Repair Café, got a taste for the rewarding but tricky work. He immediately went up against an incredibly stubborn CD player that required close attention. It was his handywork that earned him the comparison to a brain surgeon.
Unfortunately, after identifying the two major problems with the power and tracking mechanism, the roughly 30-year-old player was unable to make it. But Paul then went on to fix many electronics, including a hoover and a hedge trimmer, no doubt saving people lots of money while helping to reduce waste. A win-win and a great first Repair Café, hopefully of many more!
There are so many benefits to our Repair Café. Whether you want to save money, bring back a loved personal belonging, help the environment, have a chat and a cup of tea, find a great (and free!) book, or learn more about our work in the community, we’ve got you covered. We hope to see you at St. Michael’s Church on January 3rd.
Get involved!
Send us an email if you would like to help us either as a repairer or as a meet and greeter – or pop in and say hello!