Repair, reuse & recycle at Local Repair Cafés

SINCE 2018 Blackdown Hills Repair Cafe has been very successful. Visits from Swiss TV and other media have catapulted the events popularity with other repair cafes being set up in Wellington, Taunton, Honiton, Uffculme, and Bishops Hull to name a few.

With the BBC’s TV show The Repair Shop, it seems that a movement has sprung up with the aim of re-using and repairing household items, computers, tools and many more things that we may have once thrown away without a second thought.

Stephan Lehner who runs and manages the event said: “Our aims are to prevent items from being consigned to the bin and landfill by offering a Repair service in return for a small donation. Also we provide somewhere for the community to be able to get together in a relaxed atmosphere, to meet together while repairs are being carried out and enjoy a cup of tea and a piece of cake.”

“We have had quite a number of clients who have been particularly pleased and proud of the repairs that we have managed to carry out. We have saved a number of precious items such as: A 1930’s reel to reel Pathe News Projector, A 1950’s Dolls Pram, A world War one Document Case, and Various pieces of antique furniture.”

“I’m now offering help, guidance and assistance to many other Repair Cafes who have now established themselves in the area.”

The assumption by many that modern goods are made to a lesser quality certainly stands true with Stephan: “We simply want the right to repair, older tools last much longer and are easier to repair because they had the owner in mind. Modern items are harder to repair by design as manufactures try to stop you repairing them by inventing new tools needed to repair that one item.”He said

This is a sentiment that is echoed by John Buckley who is in regular attendance as a computer repairer at the event. He said: “A lot of modern electrical items are very hard to take apart and will require you to break something to be able to continue the repair.”

The Wellington Weekly attended one such event in Hemyock Parish Hall, There was a bustling and friendly atmosphere among all that attended and the catering team made sure to serve teas, coffee’s, Bacon and vegan butties and cakes to great success.

Shelly Miller a local resident of Hemyock had just had a clock repaired that had not worked for 10 years. She said: “I’m extremely happy about it, I’ve always been of the opinion that things should stop be being made out of plastic and use materials that can be repaired.”

There is also an eco-friendly element of this repair cafe as repairing items is much less harmful to the environment than buying new. Debbie Hurley a member of the catering team at the Repair Cafe said: “With the recent heatwave people may be thinking of all the little ways in which they can help the environment.” Figures from the Tech-Recirculation Service found that the UK produced a total of 1.6 million tonnes of e-waste in 2019, which sets the country to become the biggest e-waste producer in Europe per capita by 2024.