Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge Repair Cafe will open for the first time today (Thursday, September 7th) for residents to bring along broken items for repair.
The first session will be held at the Waffle Hub in Burnham Methodist Church, College Street on Thursday 7th September from 10am-1pm.
Everything will centre on making repairs. 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 can bring along their broken items from home e.g. toasters, lamps, hair dryers, clothes, bikes, toys and crockery, anything that is broken is welcome. Many of those things will be repairable.
It comes after a successful appeal for volunteers earlier this year when a variety of helpers were recruited with hands-on skills. A stall was held at Burnham food festival, pictured below.
The Repair Café volunteers have a wide range of skills between them; electrical, sewing, general repairs to furniture, general DIY and jewelry specialists, and will almost always have the know-how.
The cafe will also launch in Highbridge on Saturday 16th September at The Purple Spoon Cafe at the YMCA Highbridge from 10am-1pm.
By promoting repairs, the Repair Café wants to help reduce mountains of waste. This is necessary, according to Biddy Hammond, one of the lead organisers. “We still throw away piles of stuff in this country.”
“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, the Repair Café wants to change all that. But above all, Repair Café just wants to show how much fun repairing things can be and how easy it often is.”
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.
Cllr Barbara Vickers points out that repairs can save money and resources and can help minimise CO2 emissions: “Volunteers have been working through the summer preparing to launch the Repair Café in September.”
“I am glad the Town Council has taken an active role in helping this project get off the ground as part of its Climate and Ecology Strategy.”
“There is a wealth of skills out there and it is brilliant seeing people coming together to share their skills, and giving up their time for a community project like this.“
If you have skills you could share and would like to be involved with the repairs, please email: bosandhbrepaircafe@gmail.com
