The Repair Café in Peasedown St John, which started in June, is

expecting to have its 100th item for repair brought in when it is next open this Saturday, 23rd November.

The Repair Café is a place where you can bring items that have broken – electrical, wooden, mechanical, clothing – and a team of volunteers will try to repair them while you wait and enjoy coffee and refreshment.

All sorts of things have been brought in to the four sessions so far; a cine projector, a stool, a skirt needing a zip, a bike, vacuum cleaners and lawnmowers and a lot more.

Sometimes, the team have to break the news that an item is beyond repair; sometimes the owner may be asked to go and get a part and bring it back next time, but of the eighty plus items seen so far, more than fifty have been repaired.

Part of the purpose of the Repair Café is to prevent items that could be repaired simply being sent to landfill, when, with a bit of care and repair, they still have life left in them. It is good to see so many items sent back with a new lease of life!

The next repair cafés will be on 23rd November and then, after a break for Christmas, on 25th January from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Peasedown St John Methodist Church (near Tesco). If you have an item that needs repair, a team of volunteers will be there, ready to try to help and maybe your item will be Number 100 – but there are no prizes offered for that! Ian Souter