By Lauren Liles on behalf of SLH
A big thank you to the volunteers and residents of the Heatons and beyond who have turned up at the Heatons Repair Café. Visitors have brought in a wide variety of household items, bikes, toys and clothes for repair and reuse rather than sending them to landfill.
Our records for the year show that 499 items have been submitted for repair with an amazing 380 (76%) successfully repaired and put back into use. This has resulted in a total saving of 19,670kg in carbon emissions- equivalent to an average car driving 33,485 miles in the year. The calculation is a guide based on the weight of the items brought in, the type of item combined with the replacement product saving plus the landfill and recyclables savings.
In addition to the monthly repair sessions, we have recently trialled a sewing workshop and a DIY workshop – more news on these in 2025 when we hope to schedule more. If you are skilled in repairing electricals and would like to volunteer for two hours a month at the Repair Café please contact heatonsrepaircafe@slheatons.org.
The Repair Café is held on the third Saturday of each month at St Pauls Community hall (at the back of the church) on Heaton Moor Road from 10.00am – 12noon. Everyone is welcome, even if you only want to call in for a cuppa.
The Repair café movement began in 2009 when a Dutch journalist called Martine Postma brought together a group of friends who were good at fixing things and ran what she called a “Repair Café” – a free event where people could bring their broken belongings and volunteers would help to try and fix them. It was so successful that in 2011 she started the Repair Café Foundation to provide support to local groups hoping to start their own Repair Café. Since then, the concept has grown to over 1,400 events in more than 30 countries.
The aims:
-prevent everyday items from going to waste, reducing the environmental impact of manufacturing new items.
-encourage learning and sharing of skills in a social setting, maintain repair expertise and to spread this knowledge.
For further information contact: heatonsrepaircafe@slheatons.org
