Clitheroe Repair Cafe celebrates first birthday

In its first year Clitheroe Repair Cafe has handled almost 400 items brought in by local residents, and has successfully fixed around 63% of them.

Clitheroe Repair Cafe is based in Clitheroe, Lancashire, and runs every third Saturday of the month. It has almost 40 regular volunteers, who range from qualified electricians and a silversmith to a horologist (clock expert) and talented sewers.

Since its launch, Clitheroe Repair Cafe volunteers have contributed over 1,000 hours of their time to make the cafe a success.

Part of the International Repair Cafe network, which started in Amsterdam in 2009 and now has over 3,800 Repair Cafes worldwide, Clitheroe Repair Cafe aims to encourage a circular economy and ultimately reduce the amount of waste going to landfill unnecessarily.

Gayle Wray, a volunteer who helped set up Clitheroe Repair Cafe, said: “Since we started last spring, the cafe has grown and grown in popularity now the word has started to get around. It really shows how much of a need there is for this kind of service in communities. I think people normally don’t want to throw things away and would often prefer to fix them if possible, but over a generation a lot of these ‘make do and mend’ skills have been lost, so sometimes they don’t feel they have a choice.

“Repair Cafe wants to help instil that confidence again, which is why our repairers always sit with the visitor and talk them through what they’re doing. Visitors won’t necessarily come away with new skills, but they can come away feeling like they could give something else a try in future: they’ve seen it’s possible.”

Clitheroe Repair Cafe offers a ‘pay as you feel’ repair service, and regularly sees household electronics like kettles and alarm clocks being brought in alongside children’s toys, broken ornaments and jewellery.

To date, the cafe stopped nearly 250 items like this from being sent to landfill, or sat redundant and unused because they are broken.

Visitors can also enjoy a selection of homemade cakes and tea and coffee while they wait with their item to be fixed.

Graham Ellis, a repairer volunteers at Clitheroe Repair Cafe, said: “One of the main reasons I decided to volunteer at the repair cafe was because I wanted to be able to share my skills with others, and feel I was giving something back to my community.

“I really enjoy hearing people talk about items they’ve brought in, and it’s nice to sit and have a chat with a visitor while you’re working on their item. You meet lots of different people and they are always grateful when you can bring something back to life for them. And even when you can’t!”

Clitheroe Repair Cafe runs between 10am and 12 noon on the third Saturday of every month (excluding August and December) at United Reformed Church, Clitheroe.

You can like their Facebook page to find out more. The cafe welcomes new volunteers, either those with repair skills, or people who can help with hosting, admin, or in the kitchen. If you’re interested in volunteering, please contact Clitheroe Repair Cafe on Facebook or email [email protected].