Our Repair Café returned to Clements Hall in York on Saturday 21 October, and once again saw a wide range of items given a new lease of life.

In the hands of our skilled volunteer repairers, we managed to fix or part-fix a total of 27 items, including: 5 bikes, 3 laptops, hair straighteners, a sewing machine, an umbrella, an espresso maker steam head, a pair of curtains, various items of clothing and jewellery, as well as encouraging a visitor to refurbish a piano stool. Only five items proved unfixable.

We were pleased to welcome Ey-Up Cycling and Lance Bumstrong back to the bike crew, who were kept busy, as were Carwyn Edwards and Ben Weaver on electricals and electronics. Thanks also to new volunteers Matt Bibby and Peter Barclay, who also joined the techy team. Lyndall Nicoll did a sterling job on jewellery and Gill Cossham and Ruth Jennaway hand- and machine-stitched clothes and curtains. We couldn’t have managed without our team of general helpers who shared reception, café and triage duties: Imelda Havers, Rosie Baker, John and Bronwen Gray and John Bibby A very big thanks to all those that helped,  and not forgetting the bakers – most especially Liz Court, who provided a fantastic spread of cakes, biscuits and tarts, including allergy friendly ones.

Attendance was significantly down on last time (around 30): we think this was due to the timing (first day of half term) and also the event being on a Saturday morning (the previous repair café was on a Sunday afternoon). Ironically, we had chosen the date because it coincided with International Repair Café Week, and Saturday itself was  the official Repair Day! Still, it seems what really matters is timing it to suit people’s busy schedules, and Sundays tend to be better for this (and afternoons better than mornings).

We hope we can repeat the event in the Spring (March or early April).  We may also consider doing drop in clinics at other venues for specific items (jewellery or bikes, for example). In the meantime, we are keen to build up our bank of volunteers, so if you would like to help out another time, please email us. If you have a venue in the greater South Bank area of York that you would like to offer to host a repair café or drop in  clinic, please get in contact!