THE first Repair Café for Stockton Heath is being organised at St Thomas’ Church Hall on Saturday, May 16.
Taking place at St Thomas’ Church Hall, on Ellesmere Road, WA4 6DS on Saturday 16th May, everything centres on making repairs.
Starting from 11.30 am and ending at 2.30 pm, various volunteer repair experts will be available to help make all possible repairs free of charge. Tools and materials will also be on hand. People visiting the Repair Café will bring along their broken items from home. Toasters, lamps, hair dryers, clothes, computers, bikes, toys, crockery… anything that is broken is welcome. And can more than likely be repaired. The Repair Café specialists almost always have the know-how and if we don’t, we will signpost appropriately.
By promoting repairs, Stockton Heath Repair Cafe wants to help reduce mountains of waste. This is absolutely necessary, according to Paula Jones, who said: “We throw away piles of stuff in the UK. Even things which practically have nothing wrong with them, and which could easily be used again after a simple repair. Unfortunately, many people have forgotten that they can have things repaired. Repair Café wants to change all that.”
Repair Café is also meant to put neighbours in touch with each other in a new way. And to discover that a lot of know-how and practical skills can be found close to home. Paula Jones explains: “If you repair a bike, a CD player or a pair of trousers together with a previously unfamiliar neighbour, you look at that person in a different light the next time you run into them on the street. Jointly making repairs can lead to pleasant contacts in the neighbourhood.”
Paula points out that repairs can save money and resources and can help minimise CO2 emissions. She said: “But above all, Repair Café just wants to show how much fun repairing things can be, and how easy it often is.”
To get the Repair Café off the ground, the volunteers are fundamental, so anyone with repair skills or those with the enthusiasm to support the café will be most welcome. The first Volunteer Welcome session was at St Thomas’ Church on 25th March which was well attended, where we shared the plans and operational strategies with everyone. There will be further Volunteer Welcome sessions and the Facebook page is where updates can be found, search for Stockton Heath Repair Cafe.
Paula added, “We already have some great volunteers with a range of practical repairing skills, as we’d like to be able to offer a range of repair services including electrical, electronic, sewing, computers, knife or garden tool sharpening, vacuum cleaner, woodwork and some we haven’t even thought of yet, so if you can help with any of these please get in touch.”
Repair Café International Foundation
The Repair Café concept arose in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 2009, and was formulated by Martine Postma, at the time a journalist/publicist. In 2010, she started the Repair Café International Foundation (see Repaircafe.org/en). This foundation provides professional support to local groups around the world wishing to start their own Repair Café. The foundation also supports the Repair Café in Stockton Heath
Stockton Heath Repair Cafe wishes to start in May and thereafter every third Saturday to be held in St Thomas’ Church Hall. News about dates and locations of up-and-coming editions will follow as soon as possible!
