tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57000180185683577922024-03-12T18:02:24.920+00:00Repair Cafe WeymouthRepair Cafes are meeting places where local residents take household items to be repaired to avoid them going in the bin unnecessarily. So Don't bin it - Fix it!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-76017981706518735882024-01-06T18:12:00.007+00:002024-01-06T18:39:30.458+00:00January 2024 - BBC Radio Solent Interviews at our December 2023 event<p> <b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">BBC Radio Solent Interviews at our December 2023 Event</span></b></p><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%;">Both volunteers and visitors had a surprise when they were
interviewed by BBC Radio Solent’s Annie at our December 9 2023 event. Here are
a few ‘soundbytes’ from those interviews.</span></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><br /><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: 107%;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja9aDIOF4PVamyrlYfinI1PQw7ZBODe4VchtPXXymrPa_zCTF-CAVPL7lRzp7XjYsJlAwf3YWVqyWxA_IZQxNcEQEaioHgzSm9KbhlG3mVZo-w1Nk-HyUMpuxSJGY1H2CryU8IG651HP8EnAZo3H2_7l7W2zrbitRTVOI4wmJhtKgFn7EXW7R36CUUFik/s4000/20231209_105703.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja9aDIOF4PVamyrlYfinI1PQw7ZBODe4VchtPXXymrPa_zCTF-CAVPL7lRzp7XjYsJlAwf3YWVqyWxA_IZQxNcEQEaioHgzSm9KbhlG3mVZo-w1Nk-HyUMpuxSJGY1H2CryU8IG651HP8EnAZo3H2_7l7W2zrbitRTVOI4wmJhtKgFn7EXW7R36CUUFik/w351-h263/20231209_105703.jpg" width="351" /></span></a><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%;">Ros, you are in your Christmas get-up and I can see that a lot of other
people are as well. </span></i><span style="line-height: 107%;"> I am in my Mummy
Christmas outfit with my halo on…. Sometimes, you don’t have to give new. You
can give someone a lovely present by getting something repaired for them,
something that they treasure.</span></span></span></span></span></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">I’m Dave I’ve got a Santa that needs fixing. </span><i style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">How long have you had the Santa? It doesn’t look like the newest thing.</i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;"> It got it from my Grandad. It’s 20-30 years old. It sings “Jinglebell Rock” and shakes its hips. But not at the moment. If we get him undressed... </span><i style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">Cover your eyes.</i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;"> <John> We’ve got to get to the circuitry now. Take the feet off. We’ve got to undress him a little bit unfortunately. Fingers crossed… </span><i style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">Father Christmas has got his trousers down and his back open. What’s happening now?</i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;"> We are just trying to fault find. We’ve got power to the unit. We are just trying to see where the circuit has got power. It might be a little cable. </span><i style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">The test is to take the whole thing apart.</i></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxRi_P_pa8OjHZ1IeEeHJ0vuZM_LDn-Yo2Xa_se9IcheaU_21hyPy7ixd327iCdRrl7YJh0OQUsEtiu4Ry_Ajf64Fru1v2RDktWb_PUzqyNVdMJDPSpEAlGoj1lm_7vQKYxvHA_g4bovU-s_iv143g7hfwNrkl8bS44tZ_jaDSVHC8_rloQa9Nro1oZ1I/s4000/20231209_123125%20-%20Copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1574" data-original-width="4000" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxRi_P_pa8OjHZ1IeEeHJ0vuZM_LDn-Yo2Xa_se9IcheaU_21hyPy7ixd327iCdRrl7YJh0OQUsEtiu4Ry_Ajf64Fru1v2RDktWb_PUzqyNVdMJDPSpEAlGoj1lm_7vQKYxvHA_g4bovU-s_iv143g7hfwNrkl8bS44tZ_jaDSVHC8_rloQa9Nro1oZ1I/w583-h230/20231209_123125%20-%20Copy.jpg" width="583" /><br /></span></a></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></h4><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">I’m Victoria, I live in Weymouth and I’ve bought a bear to
be repaired. Rose, one of my daughters was poorly in hospital and she got the
bear as a present to help her through the time that she was not feeling very
well. He’s lost his voice so he can’t speak any more and he used to sing. His
name is Bingo Bear. It’s probably our fault. We’ve torn something apart and it
needs soldering. Hopefully, he’ll sing again.</span></h4><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;">Kevin here looks like he’s doing a fantastic
job. How did you get into fixing stuff like this? </span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;">I am
actually a military aircraft designer. I’ve been designing fighter aircraft
since 1976. I helped to design the Eurofighter, ejection sheets, NASA, Boeing
aircraft, in-flight refuelling … so engineering has been my whole life. <i>So
this is a piece of cake compared to what you have been doing before. </i></span><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span></span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;">My name is Tara Charlton. I’m hoping to get a Christmas
decoration fixed – the battery-operated motor part of the snowman. I think I’ve
had it about 8-9 years. When you switch it on it lightsup. It’s just nostalgia
for me. My boys were quite young when I first bought it and they loved it.<i>
That is very quick.</i> I’m delighted. He’s mended it. It’s got a new elastic
band on. <i>That’s brilliant. Are you pleased Mike?</i> I am pleased. I hate it
when bits of technology do not come apart in a nice easy manner. <i>So where is
it going to go now that you’ve got it fixed and ready?</i> It sounds really odd
but it’s going in my little window sill in my kitchen so when I’m doing my
boring dishes, which I hate, I’ve got something really nice to look at going
round. </span><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span></span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">I’m Phil from the Repair Café. It might only be something
small and ‘tat’ to somebody else but to them, it’s either from a loved one or someone
who has passed away and it’s a memory of them. It’s about watching their
reaction once you either press a button or wind it up or whatever you do to it.
In fact, it’s making me a bit emotional just thinking about what I have seen
through this. I just think that’s a great feeling to give that to somebody. 💚</span></span></h3><div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">Ros Dean</span></span></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">6 January 2024</span></span></h3><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;"></span></span></p><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">
</span></p></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><i><br /></i><p></p>RepairCafeBloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17804608482069312545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-91819809315544131032022-09-15T18:33:00.002+01:002022-09-15T18:37:25.356+01:00June to September 2022 Juke Box Restoration Project<p> <span face="Arial, sans-serif">I keep saying that we are a Repair Cafe, not The Repair Shop. But w</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">e broke our “40 minute” limit yet again. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie_I7Br6qkdBKYR5SBko4NQk6EQoh7FjA5N6nsN0NSlvu_Td5lkuGPsvMla-TGjQOoQv5ZlsG3LE7uD2GAi4sqtWH34EmruiKj_gLT1bLhwHe0RsJ01LCfARVhcSSOMvsCb0sVkHZ7XW53Da3xFOPUxFfdmHYnyFhhAEeWXrr-2f6ZHnheQQdNBmji/s3264/IMG_20220730_172130.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie_I7Br6qkdBKYR5SBko4NQk6EQoh7FjA5N6nsN0NSlvu_Td5lkuGPsvMla-TGjQOoQv5ZlsG3LE7uD2GAi4sqtWH34EmruiKj_gLT1bLhwHe0RsJ01LCfARVhcSSOMvsCb0sVkHZ7XW53Da3xFOPUxFfdmHYnyFhhAEeWXrr-2f6ZHnheQQdNBmji/w358-h269/IMG_20220730_172130.jpg" width="358" /></a><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Our
visitors had travelled from Wimbourne to our June 2022 event, bearing 2 printed
circuit boards from their Juke Box. Some of our electronics repairers said that
they couldn’t do anything without a circuit diagram and I think they needed the
rest of the juke box too. But we have a wizard called Robert who likes to
tackle the tricky jobs in his electronics workshop at home.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">The owners tell their story:</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">“The jukebox was my husband’s late parents’. We had many memorable
evenings, dancing & singing. Eventually, like everything, it didn’t work
anymore. We tried so-called experts in the field but with no joy. <b>I came across
the Repair Cafe through the Martin Lewis website. </b>We decided to give it a go. We
had nothing to lose. As the next step was sadly going to be landfill, we had
exhausted all other possibilities.</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">We transported the heavy jukebox to Robert’s home address, where he
worked wonders on it. They don’t make a Rowe-Ami R-82 jukebox any more and
parts are far and few between, if any at all. He made his own memory board and
wrote his own program, sent off to China for parts, he took the grille off to
paint, removed the old rotted foam and replaced the broken glass on the
selection display, Robert even did an ultrasonic clean on the old classic
records.</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Robert kept us updated on the progress every week.</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">We cannot thank Robert enough, he went above and beyond, and we are
so very grateful to everyone involved. He saved this huge piece of memorabilia
from landfill and prevented hazardous substances from leaking out and causing
soil and water contamination, harming wildlife and human health.</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">Once again thank you so much to Robert, Ros and Repair Cafe
Weymouth</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> ' The Collins'.”</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
<span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">What did Robert get
out of it? A real sense of achievement. He produced a one-page summary of the
work he did on it. It includes things like:</span></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEm5NrpeTqa6YpreS8G38PDM74QONxHmwq51-7tDB5TV-YCDPY1GWDJgKwKu-H_xl-tzSE9Rl86gXxzfqCd6qTLVfSZS6x9VDPK49Knk5_Q6Iq48qCZAv8bHBgEqBp_EKaxzd5pkYNNOn4AXXGNXzyI0ufo1sIHqa_1XNvrUjN1amiCgek40R7dPjK/s2338/Robert's%20list%20of%20repairs%20to%20Juke%20box.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="List of work done on Juke box" border="0" data-original-height="2338" data-original-width="1654" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEm5NrpeTqa6YpreS8G38PDM74QONxHmwq51-7tDB5TV-YCDPY1GWDJgKwKu-H_xl-tzSE9Rl86gXxzfqCd6qTLVfSZS6x9VDPK49Knk5_Q6Iq48qCZAv8bHBgEqBp_EKaxzd5pkYNNOn4AXXGNXzyI0ufo1sIHqa_1XNvrUjN1amiCgek40R7dPjK/w226-h320/Robert's%20list%20of%20repairs%20to%20Juke%20box.jpg" title="List of work done on Juke box" width="226" /></a> <span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 16px;">“Tried and failed to repair the Memory Unit. It plays sequences such as 130, 131, 140, 141, 150 etc and eventually it plays the selected record when the magazine gets to it. Concluded Z704 (H-7407B) is faulty. This IC (integrated circuit?) is obsolete and unobtainable. Designed </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">new Memory Unit including software. This new board uses a
PIC16F723A </span>micro controller<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> instead of the H-7407B.”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s a lot more on the list and it wasn’t all electronics.
For example, “Bottom base speaker grille
was very rusty. Rubbed down and painted black. Rotted foam cleaned out. Broken
glass panel replaced with acrylic panel.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">How much did it cost? A donation to Repair Cafe Weymouth. We
do not charge for our services.</span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> *** Why
did he do it? I think, because he can. ***</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">There
are 2453 Repair Cafes throughout the world. You can find the location of one
near you here: <a href="https://www.repaircafe.org/en/visit/">https://www.repaircafe.org/en/visit/</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
<span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Ros</span></p>RepairCafeBloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17804608482069312545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-24711069276230490252022-05-10T17:49:00.000+01:002022-05-10T17:49:47.879+01:00March - May 2022 Carol’s Leather gunbelt repair <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhprtUnM7SaGkEMhnSbgVmqXpoUevm1EvBZDlJCv2pafub5ycC9u_pUbilG554ryInbSwhZhxoOYAWkR1GbUk8vg1P9_gcWhsyWT8xqmNH-imSVc1OVrJoUNO7H0EU7UdGkgAdefRazZ9ZuzxC4CH_1_yfAo61wohqzQiKiZ0uXU4smJ0GsqprrX3F8" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhprtUnM7SaGkEMhnSbgVmqXpoUevm1EvBZDlJCv2pafub5ycC9u_pUbilG554ryInbSwhZhxoOYAWkR1GbUk8vg1P9_gcWhsyWT8xqmNH-imSVc1OVrJoUNO7H0EU7UdGkgAdefRazZ9ZuzxC4CH_1_yfAo61wohqzQiKiZ0uXU4smJ0GsqprrX3F8=w171-h228" width="171" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">As event organiser, I don’t often get the chance to do any
repairs. In the absence of Carol, our leather expert, at our March event, I
agreed to repair this thick leather gunbelt. It comes complete with holster and
ammo slots and its owner tells us that he does wear it sometimes. This is our
Judy modelling it before the repair.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I took it home but when I carefully read his description of
the work to be done, I realised that he didn’t want the lining glued onto the
belt as it was now, but he wanted it stitched around the whole very long length
of the belt. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Carol jumped at the challenge but didn’t realise what a
long job it would be. Ros<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Carol:</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I volunteered to take a look at a leather holster belt.
Usually, I try to repair items as they were originally. In this case it had not
been sewn before but I agreed to do it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGS14wyLUEttfWfdv6v6-HSx_6sYwkjJE_ARAZsJsvmSs4t_W5A4rk7EZ19ZvZRtwnkkziY97Ss-_jokM3oj_szvB86vrzRqVeq9ZAO0QSRSkvrg-G_Ni5YYXnf5WX5EbP1fgsVutvyhOmrk_G0ZoRIgvxeK0AXIIjMLAVMNARjRi_jVhPtAFyKtvJ/s2933/Gunbelt%201%20-%20Copy.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2913" data-original-width="2933" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGS14wyLUEttfWfdv6v6-HSx_6sYwkjJE_ARAZsJsvmSs4t_W5A4rk7EZ19ZvZRtwnkkziY97Ss-_jokM3oj_szvB86vrzRqVeq9ZAO0QSRSkvrg-G_Ni5YYXnf5WX5EbP1fgsVutvyhOmrk_G0ZoRIgvxeK0AXIIjMLAVMNARjRi_jVhPtAFyKtvJ/s320/Gunbelt%201%20-%20Copy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">The first thing to do was to inspect it fully. The belt itself was made
of vegetable tanned leather and had some tooling patterns. The lining looked
like a later addition in chrome tanned leather. This type of leather has a grey
core and cannot be tooled. It had been attached most recently with some sort of
rubber cement. I pulled it apart and cleaned off as much rubber cement as possible,
ready for re- gluing with some water based leather bond. I had to clamp the
length of the belt while this dried.</span><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The next step was to mark where the holes would be. Luckily
there was already a handy tooled groove along which I would place the stitches. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihi79JU902FZSan7lUzD4U7Xc0AbZY203IBqPV-P7iK2Ct9ef2lXdZUpBL5621wFBVMbPYdjW5M4C3zT-4b_BrTeIMeYsmCYxmmrSeMnLbV4xWOwm7S07g0bZWDhu1EwRWp2IUISz4Q72hRYMufDWAtS6yizkC80eygbxrmeEBryjSyn2H16fLedpJ/s4032/Gunbelt%202.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihi79JU902FZSan7lUzD4U7Xc0AbZY203IBqPV-P7iK2Ct9ef2lXdZUpBL5621wFBVMbPYdjW5M4C3zT-4b_BrTeIMeYsmCYxmmrSeMnLbV4xWOwm7S07g0bZWDhu1EwRWp2IUISz4Q72hRYMufDWAtS6yizkC80eygbxrmeEBryjSyn2H16fLedpJ/w319-h239/Gunbelt%202.jpg" width="319" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">A stitch marking wheel.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I chose this spacing as it was the same as the existing
stitches around the holster. I tested a small piece of the holster stitching
thread and found it was a man-made thread so I matched that in the rest of the
stitching, using a 1mm wide braided polyester thread. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I did not have a diamond chisel (a quicker method as you
can do about 6 holes in one go) in this wide spacing so had to pierce each of
the 427 stitches by hand with a diamond awl. When stitching, you don’t actually
punch out holes as they would stay open, you pierce the leather which then can
close up again around the thread and look much neater.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7WSUB_k6SIPj42yL2jlM4uMtu42ClqI8a-CnzciRewA_tp70XD4FwOoFnV1xy9XSPRc7QR44tHJTqnXN1JlPDCSKu0qb_YkpgPh4b9fbj3TubkRhkORNdsKkJMsHhl18_rAMXxV1lCAbrZUqbkh-bQTeqlgIhTrqdkMC1unvUYioPvTgQ5TQJOskn/s4032/Gunbelt%203.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7WSUB_k6SIPj42yL2jlM4uMtu42ClqI8a-CnzciRewA_tp70XD4FwOoFnV1xy9XSPRc7QR44tHJTqnXN1JlPDCSKu0qb_YkpgPh4b9fbj3TubkRhkORNdsKkJMsHhl18_rAMXxV1lCAbrZUqbkh-bQTeqlgIhTrqdkMC1unvUYioPvTgQ5TQJOskn/s320/Gunbelt%203.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This took a while as you can imagine as the two layers of
leather together were 6mm thick. I then clamped the belt in my hand made
stitching pony, threaded a needle onto each end of the first length of thread
and started saddle stitching. This is a strong stitch which holds even if a
stitch on one side breaks.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIvCNjIFiBw1zboQIE3ZBVfvNps-WSQa9i0RvA5JEPZrbafRPm3qr9FkVH_-OBcLWzO8G8bVXBbyXwTRJn2R88xuG5YJ_OAH-_JROdgBf_q1FPfhvGpmeDcxyBUmc1DoVD1U4ccaIl9HP6BLT31YUJ2frPa6L0MNntjHYeyIIF2lyiYywAcPXJ1xSY/s4032/Gunbelt%204.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIvCNjIFiBw1zboQIE3ZBVfvNps-WSQa9i0RvA5JEPZrbafRPm3qr9FkVH_-OBcLWzO8G8bVXBbyXwTRJn2R88xuG5YJ_OAH-_JROdgBf_q1FPfhvGpmeDcxyBUmc1DoVD1U4ccaIl9HP6BLT31YUJ2frPa6L0MNntjHYeyIIF2lyiYywAcPXJ1xSY/s320/Gunbelt%204.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsV4Rmj3QfLyIhyRedKATZmDpQBAL7sJu0clqiejw8de3TsTU4V16MoA74IPI-PlQgPPourLmNEMN5xarH6C73EN_K2FepAtsTFhevcnZVt5BITgIDTGXq9RpxSlenEhcj6su1yWVeJA2Q7cUTeeDD9k6aA5r-o6e6W3KDXIFjqn4WVMnfRYMcDxSx/s4032/Gunbelt%205.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsV4Rmj3QfLyIhyRedKATZmDpQBAL7sJu0clqiejw8de3TsTU4V16MoA74IPI-PlQgPPourLmNEMN5xarH6C73EN_K2FepAtsTFhevcnZVt5BITgIDTGXq9RpxSlenEhcj6su1yWVeJA2Q7cUTeeDD9k6aA5r-o6e6W3KDXIFjqn4WVMnfRYMcDxSx/s320/Gunbelt%205.jpg" width="240" /></a><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Each 60cms of stitches took 2m of thread and took about a
hour. Once the whole thing was finished, I cut down the lining leather where it
overlapped the upper part, sanded the edges to remove any remaining glue and
coloured the revealed grey chrome leather with brown dye</span>. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The finished article:</p><div class="separator" dir="rtl" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUHSI0MfB6zM1GrF5Q3sjYhbw5Co2EJlcMxz-Ygjbm6zTJlmupqE17J9hrcgchGN3vzgfRxNUQ2uGuKNxr2O-zhdgj3UsLB1i9OXmducq6SjopNy_0aFxcZsZUkVmI-vQbm_atxKXISpe4hqfOgSepiufNaAJyfoPukoIHFagGISFlz7IRg8YIPlYN/s4032/Gunbelt%208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUHSI0MfB6zM1GrF5Q3sjYhbw5Co2EJlcMxz-Ygjbm6zTJlmupqE17J9hrcgchGN3vzgfRxNUQ2uGuKNxr2O-zhdgj3UsLB1i9OXmducq6SjopNy_0aFxcZsZUkVmI-vQbm_atxKXISpe4hqfOgSepiufNaAJyfoPukoIHFagGISFlz7IRg8YIPlYN/s320/Gunbelt%208.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8I4GyV6wiJh7iEHNWHcNOMGscCkVTsXL6hX_EecgXw2ur3SR-ABi5-qDWUFVuI8Fkd14INA0baFbZkSaqHTd7K0Xtoe4VgsqOFUl9ChLM5To0UwZONoR885BXCbRBg6MY9YhisZl3OmaYCQUCZ417zNr0n7vu8yo5FsIYF2PlOcqIDyIeFOLuOSJ4/s3024/Gunbelt%207%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2075" data-original-width="3024" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8I4GyV6wiJh7iEHNWHcNOMGscCkVTsXL6hX_EecgXw2ur3SR-ABi5-qDWUFVuI8Fkd14INA0baFbZkSaqHTd7K0Xtoe4VgsqOFUl9ChLM5To0UwZONoR885BXCbRBg6MY9YhisZl3OmaYCQUCZ417zNr0n7vu8yo5FsIYF2PlOcqIDyIeFOLuOSJ4/w296-h204/Gunbelt%207%20(2).jpg" width="296" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8qEERnXX2O5Kz72UnDv0fpLYYKDmKJhJbWDKuRWAvPx30aWsNHFf5cqvG4OIMpKNntscxYHCMRpyOJ6k4Utd8LjE_YqnDAKhUDVKqwcEfcwV2mr74K60uAyE3CwGa3wL1FPC60rNA8WRvq6Zh5KTjHVYSoRktX9bwZJVsfZh3nqGCjKA_2u3WiWEb/s4032/Gunbelt%207.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>----------------<br /><p class="MsoNormal">Carol, you are amazing!</p><p></p></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br /><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_3" o:spid="_x0000_s1026"
type="#_x0000_t75" style='position:absolute;margin-left:-7.8pt;margin-top:5.5pt;
width:175.7pt;height:234.75pt;z-index:-251656192;visibility:visible;
mso-wrap-style:square;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0;
mso-wrap-distance-left:9pt;mso-wrap-distance-top:0;mso-wrap-distance-right:9pt;
mso-wrap-distance-bottom:0;mso-position-horizontal:absolute;
mso-position-horizontal-relative:text;mso-position-vertical:absolute;
mso-position-vertical-relative:text;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0;
mso-width-relative:page;mso-height-relative:page'>
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/Ros/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image003.png"
o:title=""/>
<w:wrap type="tight"/>
</v:shape><![endif]--></p></div>RepairCafeBloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17804608482069312545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-22295598396568772232022-04-25T22:49:00.002+01:002022-04-28T12:54:16.732+01:00April 2022 Short Staffed<p><span style="font-family: arial;"> <span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;">It was a week before Easter. Many of our volunteers had
family commitments, or were unwell and some had tested positive for Covid. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">We self-tested before the event. </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">With
the aid of one new Electronics volunteer, two new sewing volunteers, and two
Mechanical volunteers who had only performed at one or two previous events, we
had just enough repairers. But we did not have enough organisational
volunteers.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 107%;">In the café area, we had no experienced ‘Meet-and-Greeters’.
One of our sewing volunteers who had resigned due to other commitments, came back
to help in an unfamiliar role and our Technical Triage volunteer Rob, had to
help people to fill in forms. The wife of a new repairer offered to help too
and somehow, we had just enough. We usually have about 7 in the meet-and-greet/
Triage roles. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 107%;">We usually had 4 Team Runners. We had 2. Bernie and Judy are
very experienced in looking after teams of volunteers and allocating the jobs and
they coped admirably. On Reception, we usually have one person to check the
forms and complete missing details and one to receive donations by cash or card
and record items taken for home repair by our repairers. Jane did it all. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 107%;">What a team!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Luckily, we had a similar reduction in the number of
visitors and thus repairs. </span><o:p style="font-size: 12pt;"></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY1-mB6VI2D1Gz1A88o3LQeUmR2P0esg4vNsC4uh8zG9zlpB45-IKNXCTvrRiZ55IEUbW2XAGEaB7gcRow0R25AiEVYJckXpVNGDY6s7I8PzOS44SOnuqZxT-4teF9UR1hr10E_q7S8HzPjArDGyepkusj5swef0UIt0ivIbzfpC1lJHAZ5iRiPDjk/s2978/20220409_110253%20(2).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2233" data-original-width="2978" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY1-mB6VI2D1Gz1A88o3LQeUmR2P0esg4vNsC4uh8zG9zlpB45-IKNXCTvrRiZ55IEUbW2XAGEaB7gcRow0R25AiEVYJckXpVNGDY6s7I8PzOS44SOnuqZxT-4teF9UR1hr10E_q7S8HzPjArDGyepkusj5swef0UIt0ivIbzfpC1lJHAZ5iRiPDjk/w288-h216/20220409_110253%20(2).jpg" width="288" /> </a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 107%;">A memorable repair was that of Kota the animatronic triceratops,
brought in by our good friend Nigel of the Palm House. The battery contacts
were very rusty. Nigel was really hoping that we could get Kota working again
for Dinosaur week at the Palm House in early May. John managed to de-rust them
and Kota lives to entertain children again. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">People often ask me if I watch the ‘Repair Shop’ on TV. I
don’t. It is fascinating to see the end result of a restoration but so
frustrating that they do not focus on the techniques, tools and materials used.
They seem to focus on the emotional rection of the visitor when they see the finished
item, with a long pause as they wait for the tears, We had a ‘Repair Shop moment’
when a musical box was repaired. It just needed a good clean. The lady owner
told us that it was the first gift that her father ever bought for her mother.
He had passed away last year. This was the first time she had heard it play in
many years. As her husband gave her shoulders a squeeze and I heard the tremor in
her voice, a tingle went up my spine. </span></div><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsqGKPB0ObDySehXPnncyl7j5mgnEnIGzLXFgz0KLUV4HSQNtXaEW4NQWtUY-kOYSdECFOB2mSBKna7mMCNU0etcG49xt2sUOV5c0rjBs1wNJjGHe27AlJxdECAz5jpErQoAW6W2gYAqC6Wqf_2I-stevZsc3C8UTwjIwobDIYCPgClx3IaiFfd2cD/s838/Screenshot_20220425-222305_Photos~2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="838" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsqGKPB0ObDySehXPnncyl7j5mgnEnIGzLXFgz0KLUV4HSQNtXaEW4NQWtUY-kOYSdECFOB2mSBKna7mMCNU0etcG49xt2sUOV5c0rjBs1wNJjGHe27AlJxdECAz5jpErQoAW6W2gYAqC6Wqf_2I-stevZsc3C8UTwjIwobDIYCPgClx3IaiFfd2cD/w264-h202/Screenshot_20220425-222305_Photos~2.jpg" width="264" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu9CuKq_f_Fkr_bOAaddHofEf1oSKCG7KWakjCtVP6Jybjy2dbNRRBD2PZBdGQGDRnmOIhzZy78O5Buyp_PCP30BYLDDAJ5hhzfZLZ2xCwGO8XnpTQfwcdrjsGLEjzENewAaPKvnUSjjVdai_OmmeWD9W0dj4cjzliwStims99LWMyo8nziB5NJeIc/s1875/Screenshot_20220425-222326_Photos.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1875" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu9CuKq_f_Fkr_bOAaddHofEf1oSKCG7KWakjCtVP6Jybjy2dbNRRBD2PZBdGQGDRnmOIhzZy78O5Buyp_PCP30BYLDDAJ5hhzfZLZ2xCwGO8XnpTQfwcdrjsGLEjzENewAaPKvnUSjjVdai_OmmeWD9W0dj4cjzliwStims99LWMyo8nziB5NJeIc/w328-h188/Screenshot_20220425-222326_Photos.jpg" width="328" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%;">We had a few failed repairs that were due to planned obsolescence.
It was impossible to open the item without breaking the outer cover. The ‘Right
to Repair’ only applies to a small category of appliances at the moment. Hopefully,
in future, it will be extended to cover small domestic appliances. We enter the
data from our forms into the RepairMonitor system used by Repair Cafes all over
the world. Analysis of that data gives the insight needed to lobby
manufacturers to improve repairability. We do need Model number and age of the
item on the forms to help with that please. </span><span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😊</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12pt;">Ros Dean </span></p><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><br /><p></p>RepairCafeBloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17804608482069312545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-70166722707229536792022-03-30T01:03:00.004+01:002022-03-30T23:18:42.243+01:00March 2022 Our first event in 2 years, Top Club and £860 for Ukraine<p> <b style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">March 2022 Our First event in 2
years, Top Club and £860 for Ukraine</span></b></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> <span face="Arial, sans-serif">After 2 years in Coronavirus pandemic, we still needed to find
much bigger premises, where both our visitors and volunteers could be
well-spaced and feel safe. We had found Top Club 6 months previously but it took
a few months to get permission from Dorset Council to use a room at their
premises that is used once a week by Childrens’ Services and is not normally
available for hire. That gave us 2 big rooms with lots of power points for repairs
and a café area, outside seating and a free car park. Fantastic!</span></span></div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-insideh: none; mso-border-insidev: none; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="200">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu5x4jBfL5VsShfdTCLom7UAwctymzpNy9hrAMXOgI4fZv5U7fnVUTSfOgLx1o7roaieVap0vawbEXSfDGK85W3ynEWL_OwBNfiAhGkL5-tJ6vd9xE5NbcgnphlQHqKsCluvuhow9SpaGyuvIdVNHlfNxTtD-H4EAm3tOxze27Zj0Tv7GBvYrQ8Aj7/s4000/20220311_181147.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu5x4jBfL5VsShfdTCLom7UAwctymzpNy9hrAMXOgI4fZv5U7fnVUTSfOgLx1o7roaieVap0vawbEXSfDGK85W3ynEWL_OwBNfiAhGkL5-tJ6vd9xE5NbcgnphlQHqKsCluvuhow9SpaGyuvIdVNHlfNxTtD-H4EAm3tOxze27Zj0Tv7GBvYrQ8Aj7/w184-h137/20220311_181147.jpg" width="184" /></a></p>
</td>
<td style="padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.25pt;" valign="top" width="200">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6UIy8JJKtumYLok1yWf-oN7IPMjIlB-BPEirkwfY8aXNtVyULkjxgEvCOptiSQl-bWTN3RE0poaQJBkGfkv4dTi5gfN-w9udxMOAn7ldKfCfNZ6wY8Bcpfv6eh3dzXV1WWm9JjV_002RIPnDG90REOMq_y4o2J6eRqTMTIeDGViG6ynnM8PBcWhoU/s4000/20220311_181209.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6UIy8JJKtumYLok1yWf-oN7IPMjIlB-BPEirkwfY8aXNtVyULkjxgEvCOptiSQl-bWTN3RE0poaQJBkGfkv4dTi5gfN-w9udxMOAn7ldKfCfNZ6wY8Bcpfv6eh3dzXV1WWm9JjV_002RIPnDG90REOMq_y4o2J6eRqTMTIeDGViG6ynnM8PBcWhoU/w181-h136/20220311_181209.jpg" width="181" /></a></p>
</td>
<td style="padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150.3pt;" valign="top" width="200">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZPbxFY8M_-Fv4Iyhz7saOINvMheT5K6l9jYU9hUOPYW8EzlXYpo0XVRDOokFwQCGmw8A6FMQ8MZclSi9fNaEsdGtWUnTEdONQb8QENvHTZGNFQVGbyyOx-thzUSzhCAfRU3u3sDofJgcqmsSMOiFWkvcfpG0Eegs9N8JivKui9N-rDbYnbqMRvm9j/s4000/20220311_181242.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZPbxFY8M_-Fv4Iyhz7saOINvMheT5K6l9jYU9hUOPYW8EzlXYpo0XVRDOokFwQCGmw8A6FMQ8MZclSi9fNaEsdGtWUnTEdONQb8QENvHTZGNFQVGbyyOx-thzUSzhCAfRU3u3sDofJgcqmsSMOiFWkvcfpG0Eegs9N8JivKui9N-rDbYnbqMRvm9j/w176-h132/20220311_181242.jpg" width="176" /></a></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%;">Would people be able to find Top Club? Our previous
location at the Palm House was an iconic landmark and central. We had 1400 followers
on Facebook but we needed to appeal to new audiences. The Dorset Echo published
a short article and BBC Radio Solent and Keep 106 radio helped to spread the
word.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%;">We had a lost a few volunteers who had become involved with
other activities, or moved away or were still being cautious about venturing
into potentially crowded places. We recruited new ones, glued the new address
onto posters, flyers and business cards, got as much publicity as we could and
we were thrilled to have our first event at Top Club on Saturday 12 March. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">At first, it looked like we were not going to be busy but
we quickly dismissed that idea. Both visitors and volunteers had been saving up
their repairs for 2 years. All our repairers were kept busy. We saw vacuum
cleaners, record players, computer gaming devices, garden shears and secateurs
for sharpening, lawn mowers, lamps, toasters, clocks, bread-makers, a laptop,
drill, garden statue, jewellery, music box, curtains, remote control car,
sewing machine, leather sofa cushion cover, jeans, tent, bag, tent, ornaments
etc.</span><o:p style="font-size: 12pt;"></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-insideh: none; mso-border-insidev: none; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.4pt;" valign="top" width="301">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype
id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t"
path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f">
<v:stroke joinstyle="miter"/>
<v:formulas>
<v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"/>
<v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"/>
</v:formulas>
<v:path o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"/>
<o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"/>
</v:shapetype><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_5" o:spid="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75"
style='width:217.2pt;height:162.6pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'>
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/Ros/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.jpg"
o:title=""/>
</v:shape><![endif]--></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ESStPildrVaIlpNR4wFNVi7ZqGICVavt36_S51sQIlaUGyhN-w2DIhTAOelVogLjKtQ1UYnk4DPgLWp9L3L12CDnQdAbWH7yiHo24DV5dD0XNlO0XugeOcXdXOjQtgugjoExwYK7Ppio3HNn4AGYuIx4x0DIJ9ye_V0jFBB5rCnq562LVuqvQSCY/s784/Dansette%20radio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="784" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ESStPildrVaIlpNR4wFNVi7ZqGICVavt36_S51sQIlaUGyhN-w2DIhTAOelVogLjKtQ1UYnk4DPgLWp9L3L12CDnQdAbWH7yiHo24DV5dD0XNlO0XugeOcXdXOjQtgugjoExwYK7Ppio3HNn4AGYuIx4x0DIJ9ye_V0jFBB5rCnq562LVuqvQSCY/w297-h223/Dansette%20radio.jpg" width="297" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidlVvC_O1ov24D7FCkm76rVFXeoyeHFTg2mt_feLPHqIxh_nj9IOV5zrEtlhO4t9SmQ38styE3cADGiMSq5q3UKdO2DM2Y2v9YAwNabWuyF-Sj3yaHmX59FGsKhsePUaxysuDKk_Vk59_gqD_7vJfcwW3KzDnj6Y1Ro_WAKCZlJvFIVWZB_8RLPpcr/s395/Glass%20lampshade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="296" data-original-width="395" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidlVvC_O1ov24D7FCkm76rVFXeoyeHFTg2mt_feLPHqIxh_nj9IOV5zrEtlhO4t9SmQ38styE3cADGiMSq5q3UKdO2DM2Y2v9YAwNabWuyF-Sj3yaHmX59FGsKhsePUaxysuDKk_Vk59_gqD_7vJfcwW3KzDnj6Y1Ro_WAKCZlJvFIVWZB_8RLPpcr/s320/Glass%20lampshade.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUxlyYHGjMjVcO5G0K_UWv5dedDo3Thzxl651OJjNQ8pO2CSErwi_No3v_uDAz6Xz1wZlvA4HeqyYYRjLsgpeybHC_LSGetgoYdj-TawJrSkctJ0L1hk82kmqnb54EF1vkLCxnhad6DrDpI29CWRLgT5bFGBTZTcoDZycSi7Ov5S4rqbAQ_XGB0dh4/s1048/Avrylic%20lampshade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="686" data-original-width="1048" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUxlyYHGjMjVcO5G0K_UWv5dedDo3Thzxl651OJjNQ8pO2CSErwi_No3v_uDAz6Xz1wZlvA4HeqyYYRjLsgpeybHC_LSGetgoYdj-TawJrSkctJ0L1hk82kmqnb54EF1vkLCxnhad6DrDpI29CWRLgT5bFGBTZTcoDZycSi7Ov5S4rqbAQ_XGB0dh4/s320/Avrylic%20lampshade.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
</td>
<td style="padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.4pt;" valign="top" width="301">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">We fixed a Dansette
radio from the 1950’s.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">One of our
electronics repairers, Robert, prefers to fix things in his workshop at home.
Most of my repairs went to Robert. </span><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;">A lady brought in 2
lampshades with holes in them.</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Phil can work magic. He glued the missing piece in to the
Tiffany lampshade and rebuilt the missing piece in the acrylic lampshade with
superglue. The photos show work in progress prior to the polishing stage.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVkD7jNyArO6i3g6sxp6YeZeenhULuHOirOOdE-Ui_gZzed2UMiMV0vA3D9h-6m0OdkHsvkmdqYGGdDZlIVFeRpcQ9JldB2beYxMPztQZO6hGI0wSZG77Ck7nNqP0B7RZL0RnN7LwOBov29ZVVpBNZCSSCaqUAx1L7nPacf5I1IPcm-jtAv-NstFOA/s1679/Tiffany%20lampshade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1151" data-original-width="1679" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVkD7jNyArO6i3g6sxp6YeZeenhULuHOirOOdE-Ui_gZzed2UMiMV0vA3D9h-6m0OdkHsvkmdqYGGdDZlIVFeRpcQ9JldB2beYxMPztQZO6hGI0wSZG77Ck7nNqP0B7RZL0RnN7LwOBov29ZVVpBNZCSSCaqUAx1L7nPacf5I1IPcm-jtAv-NstFOA/w316-h217/Tiffany%20lampshade.jpg" width="316" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-insideh: none; mso-border-insidev: none; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.4pt;" valign="top" width="301">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrNMcABemMnCRh8t9Ik5Ce7Rd8te3Zmdn6KGmtyEldMAtHjGaLaDlgWFQuIWlFbfnz68I4BeD-dWCUgDSwWrNv1Zi-zTRucoQyf2ZhBgJiXe511KFb8j9dAES4JbIMLPTWXljEuHPt1UrqnAMJeP8Ccy-qAFN_7WIanfe_bWW5VIqebKcfig54OwPb/s3999/20220322_144538.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2572" data-original-width="3999" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrNMcABemMnCRh8t9Ik5Ce7Rd8te3Zmdn6KGmtyEldMAtHjGaLaDlgWFQuIWlFbfnz68I4BeD-dWCUgDSwWrNv1Zi-zTRucoQyf2ZhBgJiXe511KFb8j9dAES4JbIMLPTWXljEuHPt1UrqnAMJeP8Ccy-qAFN_7WIanfe_bWW5VIqebKcfig54OwPb/w319-h218/20220322_144538.jpg" width="319" /></span></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
</td>
<td style="padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.4pt;" valign="top" width="301">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">Carol wasn’t at the
event but she gleefully agreed to work on a Western leather gunbelt, complete
with holster and bullet loops.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-family: arial;">The lining leather is
glued on and the owner would like it stitched. Carol has a diamond tipped awl
and a template to make the holes evenly all the way around the thick leather belt.
She will sew it by hand and clean the belt with a home-made leather balm. It’s
a very long job but she’s a leather enthusiast. </span><o:p style="font-size: 12pt;"></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table></div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-insideh: none; mso-border-insidev: none; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.4pt;" valign="top" width="301">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOun-NDOt_EYllbgKbrOtd5dQNvT2tPrbMN_law1SBjVUpbN3argl3o9N4tDgdnkxWt6vfzVyCeLbtwXku77fhzxkwE0KFCknAgF0IpH6LXbGFuVu-RVDm-Wg6sNH2hwNFp0iW24LMxkK3bCg0v96HWpZMuvMKWpWh7UsveN214rFrdkTGGwNIvelI/s777/Dalek.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="777" data-original-width="731" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOun-NDOt_EYllbgKbrOtd5dQNvT2tPrbMN_law1SBjVUpbN3argl3o9N4tDgdnkxWt6vfzVyCeLbtwXku77fhzxkwE0KFCknAgF0IpH6LXbGFuVu-RVDm-Wg6sNH2hwNFp0iW24LMxkK3bCg0v96HWpZMuvMKWpWh7UsveN214rFrdkTGGwNIvelI/w317-h337/Dalek.png" width="317" /></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
</td>
<td style="padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.4pt;" valign="top" width="301">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">The remote-controlled
dalek was another job repaired by Robert. Apparently, it had never worked. It
does work now and frantically orders “Exterminate!”. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.4pt;" valign="top" width="301">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjft3LP8m6nMbYWzE48fin7cRPLW8fHRRx2iXh_z_4pshy-NZUpnbtW_74UT_H_yn92AjDtXfChUcYlUrTwuHPqDGhjwXPaO8Zt9H-7ZQKK25eRxVyK4_hL7FuxVlcGPZk_w912RYePyRl8M2byfaW5PDutNP-2eQugIGfxrLIxvAqwvlGcX2nk8Kph/s598/Example%20of%20B&O%20Beogram.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="598" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjft3LP8m6nMbYWzE48fin7cRPLW8fHRRx2iXh_z_4pshy-NZUpnbtW_74UT_H_yn92AjDtXfChUcYlUrTwuHPqDGhjwXPaO8Zt9H-7ZQKK25eRxVyK4_hL7FuxVlcGPZk_w912RYePyRl8M2byfaW5PDutNP-2eQugIGfxrLIxvAqwvlGcX2nk8Kph/s320/Example%20of%20B&O%20Beogram.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-TOFwvCrVOULALNMXxWDSyDXmUpaHkw-UzPhfWDbvnvPqWpdHd7ld_5IeX1VUoMuz5CYZYPMu6ete738AloTZ2ZO6-JjSBekU0gtjTIkmLJiaNT1UEkWVJbLm1dVXLbYTX1faPxkQiqeCNkmRUaVvSe4PvDWWPLSphlwT8spryPkgiSbSj0NgoEJc/s940/Donation%20to%20the%20Ukraine.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-TOFwvCrVOULALNMXxWDSyDXmUpaHkw-UzPhfWDbvnvPqWpdHd7ld_5IeX1VUoMuz5CYZYPMu6ete738AloTZ2ZO6-JjSBekU0gtjTIkmLJiaNT1UEkWVJbLm1dVXLbYTX1faPxkQiqeCNkmRUaVvSe4PvDWWPLSphlwT8spryPkgiSbSj0NgoEJc/s320/Donation%20to%20the%20Ukraine.png" width="320" /></a></div></td><td style="padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 225.4pt;" valign="top" width="301"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There was
a B&O Beogram too. Do you remember B&O hi-fi equipment? It was very
stylish and they are now collectors’ items. A B&O Beogram something like
this one was brought in. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We love a good story. Peter told us that it was presented
to his father when he retired in 1973. He had been the Director of the Atomic Research
Establishment at Winfrith. That was a very valuable gift. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">We were using the SumUp card payment machine for the first
time. Britain was also doing all it could to support the displaced people of
the Ukraine. When we spotted that SumUp would double any donations made to the
Ukraine through their website, we agreed to give all we could spare from the donations
from this event to support the Red Cross efforts there.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">People were very generous. We started the event with a
balance of £26 in the bank. There were a lot of things we need for the Repair Café
but we decided they could wait. We donated £430 to the Ukraine and SumUp
doubled it so we raised £860. Fantastic!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghmEPQZWY7FCNOyALxsQMuJgSxNLwdqSmPrqFLZsP-Fo-dKspckIzWi_xwj6n-1DtCkyKd16tEkDbTkMhbIXUyoaNxr2-ON6hmj-3riAG4xa4hisHusLCWpCjMNyVNj5sOfSZm1uDqXdOABTtIhuHqpphLcxjDScNZnGAtdHOaIi36QMeP7gnihpwn/s4000/20220319_113637.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghmEPQZWY7FCNOyALxsQMuJgSxNLwdqSmPrqFLZsP-Fo-dKspckIzWi_xwj6n-1DtCkyKd16tEkDbTkMhbIXUyoaNxr2-ON6hmj-3riAG4xa4hisHusLCWpCjMNyVNj5sOfSZm1uDqXdOABTtIhuHqpphLcxjDScNZnGAtdHOaIi36QMeP7gnihpwn/s320/20220319_113637.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We
also sent a shoe box full of mobile phones to the Ukraine. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span>We saw 91 repairs. 5 are still being worked upon. Of the 86
completed repairs, 83% were fixed or partly fixed and advice was given. We
also sent a shoe box full of mobile phones to the Ukraine.</span></p></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span>We saw 91 repairs. 5 are still being worked upon. Of the 86
completed repairs, 83% were fixed or partly fixed and advice was given. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The committee, Ros, Bernie, Judy and Audrey, are really
proud of our volunteers and our visitors. Thank you all! </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ros Dean</span></p></div><p></p>RepairCafeBloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17804608482069312545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-61546123624410070142020-11-02T20:02:00.000+00:002020-11-02T20:02:16.479+00:00Restoring memories - Grandfather's Wooden Toolbox<p> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I never met my grandfather. He was a ‘Leading Seaman on HMS Hood’ when he married my grandmother in 1922. He died of TB when my father was just 5 years old. You may recall that HMS Hood was a battleship sunk by the Bismarck in 1941. I hoarded the filthy, oil and paint covered toolbox that I found under mounds of tools in my father’s shed 10 years ago, and finally got around to restoring it during the Coranavirus lockdown. </span></p><p><span style="border: none; clear: left; display: inline-block; float: left; height: 276px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 277px;"><img height="237" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/XAHXHTP1eC6T2tfObRgf3l4jphTcnDVSjE8Lrpfs2fmqBMHagnfQykGim-K8jbK7_ZcAW6DHu4JOdTDp2pd4AV9mOyMnvhtxTnwjEek9eXuU1ozjEUcrTeVx8PoXUnUwPvjy3LUR=w238-h237" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="238" /></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-752958c5-7fff-d71a-b3e1-37b770a8ff68"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In scrounging old furniture and as part of my upholstery hobby, encouraged by a Dad who could fix anything, I had gained the confidence to tackle restoration projects. I unscrewed the little brass knobs from the drawers and the handle and removed the remnants of felt drawer liners. Stage 1 was the cleaning. I found my aunt’s secret recipe “from the Victoria and Albert Museum”, for cleaning antique furniture “To be taken only if you are antique and made of wood”. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is it:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1 part White Spirit</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1 part Methylated Spirit</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1 part white vinegar</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1/2 part Linseed Oil.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I planned to give a first coat of diluted varnish, rather than wax or oil, I omitted the Linseed oil. I shook the ingredients together in a plastic bottle. I used very, very fine wire wool ‘0000’ grade to apply small amount of the cleaning liquid from a margarine tub, working in the direction of the grain. As the wads of wire wool became filthy, I replaced them with clean ones. There were small particles of wire wool and concealed dirt left in the box and drawers, so I first brushed the surfaces then vacuumed them. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I should have brushed on a first coat of clear varnish diluted with white spirit to all surfaces. I had learned from stripping wooden doors that this helps to protect them from stains. Unable to easily find a container, I applied a coat of neat varnish. The coats of wax subsequently applied would have bonded better onto a thinner coat of varnish. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="border: none; clear: right; display: inline-block; float: right; height: 470px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 252px;"><img height="410" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/y8iUDjDbCZe8ct6rC1NBz8jRaw0eLTr3yr8mDyQdQBF2SaJTqxKOOGmGgk2IRo6NRQYgP9fE9EUI12SKENA7Yapmw7GIiPynch_12q4d6u1Cst4qppO2bQtRIBtGniHX1ySDJthV=w220-h410" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="220" /></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The box is probably oak. Unable to get to shops during lockdown and wanting to use products that had been in the shed for many years, I used a ‘Mahogany’ coloured wax. I applied the first two coats using a pad of ‘0000’ wire wool, working in circles in a small area at a time, and then finishing in the direction of the grain. I worked at it until there was no hint of wax or red stain, and a shine started to build up. Allowing a day or two between coats, I applied more layers of wax using a ‘rubber’ made of lint-fee material – a wad of fabric from an old tea towel. I applied it to the inside and outside of the drawers and the door of the box too. After eight coats I was happy with the shine and thought my father grandfather would be proud. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I cleaned the brass knobs from the drawers and their screws. First I soaked them I Coca Cola. It had little effect. They were tarnished but not rusty. I used brass cleaner and fine wire wool on both knobs and screws. That worked. All that was left of the handle were the steel fixings and a blue metal strap. One of our volunteers suggested that this could be all that was left of an original leather strap. Our volunteer specialising in leather repairs suggested a website for leather straps and I found a suitable replacement.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A wooden door slots into a groove in the bottom of the frame and is held in place only by turning the key in the lock. But I had no key. Seeking help from our antique restorer volunteer again, he had a key made to fit the lock.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It still wasn’t finished. This tool cabinet had held precision tools like calipers and micrometers. I bought some sticky backed green felt (online) and there was just enough to line all the drawers. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="border: none; clear: left; display: inline-block; float: left; height: 276px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 277px;"><img height="224" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/hL9Zgpazqym_F0haSLYBhtz3ZmwcxL3uyYrWMU3_Y-zMo1LPXFP4nizvT03l7EtrfuPw64qMp9RzIm9741P1fi4CWQBDiH2nifSe3J7uAWjwGbTXQR6bhQXRPqu2i3cdvet5RyRN=w225-h224" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="225" /></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I never met my grandfather but I feel we have got to know each other quite well now, through a shared memory. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can watch the videos we made about the restoration here:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><a href="https://youtu.be/qwAJDjMB56U" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cleaning and waxing grandfather’s wooden toolbox</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><a href="https://youtu.be/ii6i53jHwOU" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The restoration of Grandfather’s toolbox is complete!</span></a></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ros Dean </span></p><br /></span>RepairCafeBloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17804608482069312545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-46375113895095942662020-03-27T21:16:00.000+00:002020-10-19T20:55:18.768+01:00March 2020, Repair Cafe<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #495762; font-family: Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">We had initially thought that our March event would be really busy, building on the success and the publicity we had for our participation in the Big Fix 2020. A few days before the event, we learned that our two IT repairers and our Jewellery repairer couldn’t come. We’d already taken the decision to cancel our April 2020 in the light of the Coronavirus threat. That threat was building exponentially and had the event been one day later, we would probably have cancelled it. Would anyone come?</span></p><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; font-family: Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.6em 0px 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">As if by magic, just the right number of people came to keep us occupied. We saw 64 repairs – we usually get 75 – 90. We had quite a few new volunteers ‘in training’ in the café area, giving out forms and helping people to fill them in. We had new volunteers on Mechanical, Electrical and Sewing repairs too. Bernie’s husband Paul stepped in make tea and coffee for us as we are lacking a volunteer in that role. “Steve the Treasurer” had admitted to having media studies skills and camera and video equipment so he recorded some video clips, with a view to eventually making a documentary about Repair Cafe Weymouth. </p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">We love the stories around the items that people bring for repair. One gentleman had brought a metal detector that had cost him £400 20 years ago. A silver engraved hairpin he had found was now in a museum and both he and the landowner had been handsomely rewarded.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Phil had worked on a fish-shaped glug jug at our last few events and I caught him using a hairdryer that volunteer Maggie had brought in for repair, for another stage in the invisible repair process. I knew that Phil built models but I didn’t appreciate the extent of his skills until I saw him repair a resin model of a waiter.</p><div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile" style="box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: grid; grid-template-columns: auto 42%; grid-template-rows: auto;"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; grid-area: 1 / 2 / auto / auto; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Lady holding repaired waiter model" class="wp-image-349 size-full" data-attachment-id="349" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Lady holding repaired waiter" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/lady-holding-repaired-waiter-e1585345862423.jpg?w=812" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/lady-holding-repaired-waiter-e1585345862423.jpg?w=284" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/lady-holding-repaired-waiter-e1585345862423.jpg" data-orig-size="812,857" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.wordpress.com/2020/03/27/march-repair-cafe/lady-holding-repaired-waiter/" sizes="(max-width: 812px) 100vw, 812px" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/lady-holding-repaired-waiter-e1585345862423.jpg?w=812" srcset="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/lady-holding-repaired-waiter-e1585345862423.jpg 812w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/lady-holding-repaired-waiter-e1585345862423.jpg?w=142 142w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/lady-holding-repaired-waiter-e1585345862423.jpg?w=284 284w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/lady-holding-repaired-waiter-e1585345862423.jpg?w=768 768w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: unset; vertical-align: middle; width: 426.031px;" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; grid-area: 1 / 1 / auto / auto; padding: 0px 47.0625px; word-break: break-word;"><p class="has-normal-font-size" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">It had a big hole in the elbow. Phil put him on the operating table, masked off the area around the hole and somehow fixed a bit of card under the hole. I saw him sprinkling his magic black fairy dust into the hole. He must have melted that and shaped it. Our visitors described the repair as “Absolutely amazing!”.</p></div></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Jim had taken home a model boat after our previous event, to untangle the ropes, add more eyelets and fix the ropes in the right places, make a copper strap for the boom and make a stand for the whole thing!</p><div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile" style="box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: grid; grid-template-columns: 1fr 50%; grid-template-rows: auto;"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; grid-area: 1 / 2 / auto / auto; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Match box sized music boxes" class="wp-image-352 size-full" data-attachment-id="352" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"CLT-L09","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1584182081","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.95","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.004931","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="IMG_20200314_103440 – Copy" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200314_103440-copy.jpg?w=900" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200314_103440-copy.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200314_103440-copy.jpg" data-orig-size="2736,1301" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.wordpress.com/2020/03/27/march-repair-cafe/img_20200314_103440-copy/" sizes="(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200314_103440-copy.jpg?w=900" srcset="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200314_103440-copy.jpg?w=900 900w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200314_103440-copy.jpg?w=1800 1800w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200314_103440-copy.jpg?w=150 150w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200314_103440-copy.jpg?w=300 300w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200314_103440-copy.jpg?w=768 768w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200314_103440-copy.jpg?w=1024 1024w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: unset; vertical-align: middle; width: 507.188px;" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; grid-area: 1 / 1 / auto / auto; padding: 0px 40.5625px; word-break: break-word;"><p class="has-normal-font-size" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">A lady had brought in 4 tiny music boxes that had been given to her children. They are smaller than matchboxes. Our clock repairer Alan has an eye for ‘fiddly’ jobs, and he quickly got 3 of the 4 working. </p></div></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Our visitors seem to love come to our events. One gentleman said it was his third visit. I hope we will soon be back together in the Palm House. Meanwhile, both repairers and people looking for advice on repairs can join the virtual <a href="https://fixitclinic.blogspot.com/2020/03/new-virtual-fixit-clinics.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; font-weight: 700; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.1s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Fixit Clinic</a></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Stay safe!</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><b>Ros Dean</b></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-54728366556696598912020-03-06T21:08:00.000+00:002020-10-28T21:15:34.272+00:00The Big Fix 2020 – Blog 2<p><span face="Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #495762; font-size: 16px;">We had invited the Councillors of Weymouth, Portland and Dorset councils to attend The Big Fix 2020. Five or six came and one brought a chain saw for repair. Councillor Jon Andrews is also the mayor of Sherborne and he plans to start a Repair Café. When interviewed by Peter Lythgoe for our live Facebook video he said he has premises and he can ensure free parking. We discussed parking for Repair Cafe Weymouth events with Weymouth and Dorset councillors and they approached Dorset Highways on our behalf, but they feel they cannot set a precedent. We also sowed the seed of a “Library of Things” for Weymouth with the councillors. Donated tools could be hired out at minimal costs, because we do not all need a shed full of ‘stuff’.</span></p><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; font-family: Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.6em 0px 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Councillor Giovanna Lewis is keen to start a Repair Cafe on Portland and two ladies from Winfrith came along with a view to starting one there. Just the result we had hoped for! We are happy to help.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">So what interesting items were fixed? A lady had contacted us about an old wooden doll, now in pieces and sadly missing two feet and leg. A picture on eBay showed us what the feet should look like.</p><div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile" style="box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: grid; grid-template-columns: 1fr 50%; grid-template-rows: auto;"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; grid-area: 1 / 2 / auto / auto; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Wooden Doll Repaired and repainted" class="wp-image-331 size-full" data-attachment-id="331" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.4","credit":"","camera":"iPad Air 2","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1582110970","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.3","iso":"32","shutter_speed":"0.03030303030303","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="wooden-doll-repaired-and-painted" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/wooden-doll-repaired-and-painted.jpg?w=900" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/wooden-doll-repaired-and-painted.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/wooden-doll-repaired-and-painted.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,2448" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.wordpress.com/wooden-doll-repaired-and-painted/" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/wooden-doll-repaired-and-painted.jpg?w=1024" srcset="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/wooden-doll-repaired-and-painted.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/wooden-doll-repaired-and-painted.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/wooden-doll-repaired-and-painted.jpg?w=150 150w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/wooden-doll-repaired-and-painted.jpg?w=300 300w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/wooden-doll-repaired-and-painted.jpg?w=768 768w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: unset; vertical-align: middle; width: 507.188px;" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; grid-area: 1 / 1 / auto / auto; padding: 0px 40.5625px; word-break: break-word;"><p class="has-normal-font-size" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Our dedicated PAT tester and electronics expert Jim responded to my email and offer to whittle parts in between jobs. We didn’t expect it to be so tiny – about 4 inches high. He did it and sewing volunteer Jane managed to restring the doll. The happy visitor subsequently painted the feet red and sent us a photo.</p></div></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">The jury was out among our electronics volunteers about whether a Binatone games console circa 1980’s could be adapted to play ‘ping pong’ on a modern TV. I often consult our volunteers in advance by email for jobs we have been contacted about, to ensure we assign them to the most appropriate repairer, in this case, Robert.</p><div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile" style="box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: grid; grid-template-columns: 1fr 50%; grid-template-rows: auto;"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; grid-area: 1 / 2 / auto / auto; margin: 0px;"><img alt="1980s Binatone TV master games console" class="wp-image-332 size-full" data-attachment-id="332" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"FIG-LX1","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1581773376","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.46","iso":"320","shutter_speed":"0.03","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="binatone-tv-master-games-console-ping-pong" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/binatone-tv-master-games-console-ping-pong.jpg?w=900" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/binatone-tv-master-games-console-ping-pong.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/binatone-tv-master-games-console-ping-pong.jpg" data-orig-size="4160,3120" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.wordpress.com/binatone-tv-master-games-console-ping-pong/" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/binatone-tv-master-games-console-ping-pong.jpg?w=1024" srcset="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/binatone-tv-master-games-console-ping-pong.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/binatone-tv-master-games-console-ping-pong.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/binatone-tv-master-games-console-ping-pong.jpg?w=150 150w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/binatone-tv-master-games-console-ping-pong.jpg?w=300 300w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/binatone-tv-master-games-console-ping-pong.jpg?w=768 768w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: unset; vertical-align: middle; width: 507.188px;" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; grid-area: 1 / 1 / auto / auto; padding: 0px 40.5625px; word-break: break-word;"><p class="has-normal-font-size" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">“All I had to do was connect a coaxial cable to the summing point of the diodes to provide a composite video output, compatible with a modern television. Luckily the sound uses an integral speaker, so I didn’t have to worry about that.” Our happy visitor is now playing ping pong with his sons.</p></div></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">We have a new clock repairer Nicholas, who can also advise on antique furniture restoration. His partner Jeanne offered to repair a gold picture frame on which the moulding was cracked and had bits missing. We were amazed at the result –the moulding repaired and gilded using a range of gold paint hues to recreate shades. New volunteer Audrey discovered the moving story of the chocolate coloured labrador that was the subject of the picture. The owners Issy and Rod made a generous donation online.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Jason West of Weyforward brought donated smart phones for Repair. They are for a Social Learning Club project that teaches people from disadvantage backgrounds to use smart phones for learning. Luckily reporters from community radio station Air 107.2 were keen to record an interview with him. They were broadcasting live from the Repair Cafe and as their appeal is generally to the under 25s, we hope for more young people at our next event!</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><b>Ros Dean</b></p></div><footer class="entry-footer clear" style="background-color: white; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #495762; font-family: Montserrat, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0.8em 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"></footer>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-41190882178597836152020-03-05T21:14:00.000+00:002020-10-19T20:53:51.476+01:0015 February, 2020 - The Big Fix<p><span face="Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #495762; font-size: 16px;">The Big Fix 2020 was a national event in which 74 Repair Cafes in the UK planned to participate to collectively smash the record for the number of items fixed in a single repair event. They were all to hold Repair Cafes on the same day – but Storm Dennis, bringing floods and high winds, meant that some had to cancel and some will hold their session on a different date. The aim was to encourage lots of press and media coverage to raise awareness of repair cafes, encourage more to open, increase footfall and promote the repair culture. It was organised by Catherine Causley of Devon County Council, and the record to beat was 268, set by Devon Repair Cafes in 2019.</span></p><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; font-family: Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.6em 0px 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">We’d like to give a big shout out to BBC Radio Solent (103.8FM in Dorset) who interviewed me (Ros) and a visitor, turned volunteer, Jacqui Gisbourne just prior to our January event. A few days before the Big Fix, reporter Laurence brought along a clock that had belonged to his father. He recorded 4 interviews with some of our volunteers Alan (clocks), Andrew (gluing), Steve Fox (Mechanical and sharpening), me Ros (founder and Chairman), and Colby, whose family have recently taken over the Old Ship Inn in Upwey, Weymouth, complete with a mantle clock of local interest. The interviews were broadcast on Friday 14 February. Another reporter subsequentlyrecorded an interview from which ‘soundbytes’ could be broadcast during new bulletins on Saturday 15<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span>.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Wessex FM promoted the Big Fix both in the radio programmes on Saturday and on their website and we were in the Dorset Echo on 2<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12px; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">nd</span> February. That’s not all… We worked really hard to promote the event to local Facebook groups we had not used before and delved into Instagram and Twitter posts a little. We are now being followed by Repair Cafes in Sydney Australia and Paris … Well we needed to be sure that our repairers would be fully occupied during our double length event! The day came – and we were ready for it. 34 volunteers of which 19 were repairers and 15 were putting our usual processes in place to make it run smoothly, with no queues.</p><div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-image-fill is-stacked-on-mobile" style="box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: grid; grid-template-columns: 1fr 50%; grid-template-rows: auto;"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media" style="align-self: center; background-image: url("https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200212_130411.jpg?w=1024"); background-position: 50% 50%; background-size: cover; box-sizing: inherit; grid-area: 1 / 2 / auto / auto; height: 250px; margin: 0px; min-height: 250px;"><img alt="Repair cafe volunteers look at a fixed clock" class="wp-image-319 size-full" data-attachment-id="319" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"CLT-L09","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1581512651","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.95","iso":"400","shutter_speed":"0.04","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="IMG_20200212_130411" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200212_130411.jpg?w=900" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200212_130411.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200212_130411.jpg" data-orig-size="2736,2736" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.wordpress.com/2020/03/05/the-big-fix-2020-15-february/img_20200212_130411/" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200212_130411.jpg?w=1024" srcset="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200212_130411.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200212_130411.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200212_130411.jpg?w=150 150w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200212_130411.jpg?w=300 300w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_20200212_130411.jpg?w=768 768w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; max-width: unset; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: middle; width: 1px;" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; grid-area: 1 / 1 / auto / auto; padding: 0px 40.5625px; word-break: break-word;"><p class="has-normal-font-size" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">By 40 minutes after we officially opened at 10:30, over 100 items had come through the door. Our repairers were fully occupied and despite, howling winds and lashing rain, 152 of the 156 items were seen.</p></div></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">We witnessed some amazing repairs – a new foot and leg for a tiny wooden doll, a ‘ping pong’ games console from the 1980’s was adapted for display on a modern TV, a gold photo frame with cracks and chunks missing was fully restored, and a plastic ‘Tetley’ teapot clock with sentimental value was repaired.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">I am amazed at how far smoothly it all went. We achieved our aims and got new volunteers, and the possibility of 3 more Repair Cafes opening soon. A little more detail follows in Part 2.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><b>Ros Dean</b></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-677204069397214302020-02-19T21:04:00.005+00:002022-09-12T00:30:59.665+01:00The Eagle (was fixed and) has landed<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #495762; font-family: arial;">OK, so it is not an eagle, but we could not resist the heading. Phil explains what he did ‘There were many faults with this tricky little project. The marble base was broken with chunks missing and an attempted previous repair to a corner that had been glued back in misalignment. The taxman – err sorry, I stand corrected – the vulture also had loose metal dowels drilled into the bottoms of the claws that were being used as fixing pins to the base. These had broken the claws apart and the back part of one of the claws was completely missing…</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; clear: right; float: right; grid-area: 1 / 1 / auto / auto; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-286 size-full" data-attachment-id="286" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 5s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1578741716","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"40","shutter_speed":"0.01","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="phil-hughes-vulture-1-jan-blog" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/phil-hughes-vulture-1-jan-blog.jpg?w=768" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/phil-hughes-vulture-1-jan-blog.jpg?w=225" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/phil-hughes-vulture-1-jan-blog.jpg" data-orig-size="2448,3264" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.wordpress.com/phil-hughes-vulture-1-jan-blog/" height="581" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/phil-hughes-vulture-1-jan-blog.jpg?w=225" srcset="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/phil-hughes-vulture-1-jan-blog.jpg?w=225 225w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/phil-hughes-vulture-1-jan-blog.jpg?w=450 450w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/phil-hughes-vulture-1-jan-blog.jpg?w=113 113w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: unset; vertical-align: middle; width: 507.188px;" width="434" /></figure></div><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; margin: 1.6em 0px 0px;"><div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile" style="box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: grid; font-family: Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; grid-template-columns: 50% 1fr; grid-template-rows: auto;"><div class="wp-block-media-text__content" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; grid-area: 1 / 2 / auto / auto; padding: 0px 40.5625px; word-break: break-word;"><p class="has-normal-font-size" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><br /></p></div></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Quick thinking of how to rebuild the missing part of the claw and looking around to see what was at hand that could possibly be utilized – I decided to use the stirrer to get the basic shape of the missing part then build up in layers with a compound until it looked similar to the other foot.<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />The marble base was filled and smoothed with the same compound to neaten it up and give it strength ready for refitting the bird…</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Some glues can take an age to set, but the potions I use are fairly instant. You will have to visit the next meeting and physically read the label to find out what they are..’</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Judy and Bernie</span></b></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-3467160009377513652020-02-18T21:06:00.000+00:002020-10-19T20:53:17.290+01:00January 2020 Repair Cafe<p><span face="Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #495762; font-size: 16px;">Volunteers Judy and Bernie would like to share with you their thoughts and feelings about our January Event. Bernie role was to distribute jobs to the Electrical, Electronics and IT repairers and Judy was on Reception with Jane.</span></p><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; font-family: Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.6em 0px 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">We have a lot of happy repairers, form fillers, team runners etc. volunteering with us and here are a few of the things that our amazing repairers fixed.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"></p><div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile" style="box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: grid; grid-template-columns: 1fr 50%; grid-template-rows: auto;"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; grid-area: 1 / 2 / auto / auto; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Musical toy box" class="wp-image-305 size-full" data-attachment-id="305" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"CLT-L09","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1575721259","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.95","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.00491","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="blog-musical-toy-box" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/blog-musical-toy-box.jpg?w=900" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/blog-musical-toy-box.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/blog-musical-toy-box.jpg" data-orig-size="3648,2736" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.wordpress.com/blog-musical-toy-box/" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/blog-musical-toy-box.jpg?w=1024" srcset="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/blog-musical-toy-box.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/blog-musical-toy-box.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/blog-musical-toy-box.jpg?w=150 150w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/blog-musical-toy-box.jpg?w=300 300w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/blog-musical-toy-box.jpg?w=768 768w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: unset; vertical-align: middle; width: 507.188px;" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; grid-area: 1 / 1 / auto / auto; padding: 0px 40.5625px; word-break: break-word;"><p class="has-normal-font-size" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Steve Fox ‘of the cheeky face’ had taken a musical toy box home to work on it under less pressure. The doll had toppled and was preventing the moving parts from turning. He cleaned it up and reassembled it. The doll revolves, the soldiers march around the fort, and the top spins!</p></div></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Although we don’t have the tools to dismantle and reassemble watches, Alan, one of our valued volunteers repaired a Garmin Sportswatch which had been used in the sea. He cleaned the badly corroded contacts and hey presto, his delicate touch paid off!</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">We saw a Panasonic personal radio cassette player, like the ‘Walkman’ that was fashionable in the 1980’s. Our visitors really like cassette players because you can easily record on them, pause them and resume where you left off. Sadly it had been designed to be unrepairable and our repairer couldn’t open the case without risking breaking it.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">The Electrical area was becoming really cramped and busy. Nigel, who runs The Palm House, changed the arrangement of tables which made a huge difference, and Mel, our PAT tester, has now got his own table, in the main repair area.</p><div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile" style="box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: grid; grid-template-columns: 1fr 50%; grid-template-rows: auto;"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; grid-area: 1 / 2 / auto / auto; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Mel the PAT rester" class="wp-image-307 size-full" data-attachment-id="307" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 7 Plus","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1578739318","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.99","iso":"20","shutter_speed":"0.00625","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="img_0802" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_0802.jpeg?w=900" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_0802.jpeg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_0802.jpeg" data-orig-size="4032,3024" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.wordpress.com/img_0802/" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_0802.jpeg?w=1024" srcset="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_0802.jpeg?w=1024 1024w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_0802.jpeg?w=2048 2048w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_0802.jpeg?w=150 150w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_0802.jpeg?w=300 300w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_0802.jpeg?w=768 768w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: unset; vertical-align: middle; width: 507.188px;" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; grid-area: 1 / 1 / auto / auto; padding: 0px 40.5625px; word-break: break-word;"><p class="has-normal-font-size" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Mel also enjoys carpentry, fixing bikes, tinkering with electrics and is great at fixing vacuum cleaners.Here he is happily mending a fire.</p></div></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Everyone likes a cuppa, and our fixers are no exception (Andrew admits to being a tea bucket). We now have dedicated drinks makers who keep our volunteers happy and the fixers fixing.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><b>Bernie Searle and Judy Luffman</b></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-24765744765169078602020-01-18T21:12:00.001+00:002021-03-03T13:54:05.880+00:00December 2019, Repair Cafe<p><span face="Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #495762; font-size: 16px;">Hi, this is Bernie, chief cook and bottle washer at Repair Cafe Weymouth. My daughter Samphyre, visiting from America, was excited to be involved, so she joined me in managing the flow of Electrical, Electronic and IT repairs from visitor, through the repairer, PAT tester, reception and then out of the door. This always seems to be the busiest area, with myself and 1 other looking after 7 repairers. We had 14 repairers in all, and another 11 volunteers, all in Christmas jumpers and many in reindeer antlers, making everything run smoothly.</span></p><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; font-family: Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.6em 0px 0px;"><div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile" style="box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: grid; grid-template-columns: 1fr 50%; grid-template-rows: auto;"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; grid-area: 1 / 2 / auto / auto; margin: 0px;"><img alt="A mixer being fixed" class="wp-image-297 size-full" data-attachment-id="297" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"CLT-L09","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1575715213","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.95","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.003379","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="img_20191207_104011" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_20191207_104011.jpg?w=900" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_20191207_104011.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_20191207_104011.jpg" data-orig-size="3648,2736" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.wordpress.com/img_20191207_104011/" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_20191207_104011.jpg?w=300" srcset="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_20191207_104011.jpg?w=300 300w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_20191207_104011.jpg?w=600 600w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_20191207_104011.jpg?w=150 150w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: unset; vertical-align: middle; width: 507.188px;" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; grid-area: 1 / 1 / auto / auto; padding: 0px 40.5625px; word-break: break-word;"><p class="has-normal-font-size" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">This month 15 and 47 year old mixers came in, both with smoke coming out of them. Samphyre had been making ice cream with hers at the time! After being given some tender loving care by Robert Hunt both are as good as new. Yayy!! Samphyre said that she would never have thought of having it repaired, so it was a win-win.</p></div></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">During the last year, I have been much more aware of the damage our throw-away society does to the environment, and hope that the ever-increasing numbers of Repair Cafés that are opening up across Europe, will start bucking the downward trend.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">This event was as busy as anything, however we were really well organized. Mel is our dedicated PAT tester for all electrical items, so everything is tested for safety before it leave the Repair Café. We needed to re-organise this area, so watch this space to find out what we did.</p><div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile" style="box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: grid; grid-template-columns: 1fr 50%; grid-template-rows: auto;"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; grid-area: 1 / 2 / auto / auto; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Musical Bing Crosby" class="wp-image-295 size-full" data-attachment-id="295" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"CLT-L09","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1575717285","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.95","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.005415","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="img_20191207_111445" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_20191207_111445.jpg?w=768" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_20191207_111445.jpg?w=225" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_20191207_111445.jpg" data-orig-size="2736,3648" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.wordpress.com/img_20191207_111445/" height="614" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_20191207_111445.jpg?w=225" srcset="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_20191207_111445.jpg?w=225 225w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_20191207_111445.jpg?w=450 450w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/img_20191207_111445.jpg?w=113 113w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: unset; vertical-align: middle; width: 507.188px;" width="461" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; grid-area: 1 / 1 / auto / auto; padding: 0px 40.5625px; word-break: break-word;"><p class="has-normal-font-size" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">73 tickets were given out, 7 jobs not done. Some items were taken home by repairers to finish – the visitor is then contacted to collect said item.</p><p class="has-normal-font-size" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">We repaired things like a fibre optic Christmas tree and snowman, and a much loved singing Bing Crosby too!</p><p class="has-normal-font-size" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">The happy customer said about the Bing Crosby model from her youth “Amazing! Never thought I’d see it working-made me cry!”</p><p class="has-normal-font-size" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Samphyre also joined us all at the Marquis of Granby, where 30+ volunteers shared a Christmas meal and celebrated all their hard work since we started in May. It was a good atmosphere and we took the opportunity to get to know one another.</p></div></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Next month, it will be a year since we suggested this crazy idea of holding a monthly Repair Café. Here are some comments from our supporters:</p><ul style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em 2.4em; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">Fantastic – Community leading environment and recycling</li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">Very good. Very impressed (Golf umbrella re soldered)</li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">Excellent advice – will get part and return in January! (Corrode cigarette lighter plug)</li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">Fantastic and I’ve learned how to repair things too (Necklace and bracelet)</li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">Thank you to Jane for repairing the zip on my golf bag today</li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">Thank you very much for repairing plate today very happy indeed</li></ul><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">I look forward to talking with you after the January event.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><b>Bernie</b></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-46534721220642037632019-11-20T21:12:00.000+00:002020-10-19T20:50:43.315+01:00November 2019, Clockfest!<p><span face="Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #495762; font-size: 16px;">We’ve had our first AGM, which was a jolly affair, despite the fact that I was totally out of my comfort zone. But I was able to report that we have a ‘Volunteer Group of the Year’ award! We’ve come so far since our ‘kick-off meeting’ in February and starting our Trial Run just seven weeks later with a full complement of highly skilled volunteers. In November we had 2 new volunteers – Jon, who runs Fancy’s Farm, on IT, and Ruth on Sewing. I hope they come back. We need more volunteers to help people fill in forms and maybe on Reception, even if just to cover absences. It’s all very high energy and it’s fun! I was able to get my own repairs done this time, Lelly fixed my ring and has taken my bracelet home to silver solder in a less pressured environment.</span></p><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; font-family: Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.6em 0px 0px;"><p class="has-text-align-left" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Our regular 2 volunteers, who have had success in repairing clocks, were not at our October event so the clocks had a party on 9 November.</p><div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile" style="box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: grid; grid-template-columns: auto 27%; grid-template-rows: auto;"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; grid-area: 1 / 2 / auto / auto; margin: 0px;"><img alt="A wooden mantle clock with repairer." class="wp-image-260 size-full" data-attachment-id="260" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 7 Plus","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1573295312","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.99","iso":"40","shutter_speed":"0.03030303030303","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_0643" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_0643.jpeg?w=731" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_0643.jpeg?w=214" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_0643.jpeg" data-orig-size="2508,3511" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.wordpress.com/2019/11/20/november-event-clockfest/img_0643/" sizes="(max-width: 731px) 100vw, 731px" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_0643.jpeg?w=731" srcset="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_0643.jpeg?w=731 731w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_0643.jpeg?w=1462 1462w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_0643.jpeg?w=107 107w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_0643.jpeg?w=214 214w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_0643.jpeg?w=768 768w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: unset; vertical-align: middle; width: 273.875px;" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; grid-area: 1 / 1 / auto / auto; padding: 0px 59.2344px; word-break: break-word;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">It was a first appearance for an Art Deco clock that was going too fast. Alan adjusted the chiming mechanism of a Smiths mantle clock and gave advice on how to move a grandfather clock. He found that a Victorian mantle clock had a broken spring and could recommend a solution. An ornate clock we had seen before needed fine adjustment to the escapement mechanism. Steve fixed a clock that was gaining time.</p></div></div><blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 1.6em; quotes: "" "";"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Brian said that he was ‘over the moon’ when John fitted a new part to his fibre optic Christmas tree base.</p></blockquote><div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile" style="box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: grid; grid-template-columns: auto 33%; grid-template-rows: auto;"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; grid-area: 1 / 2 / auto / auto; margin: 0px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-261 size-full" data-attachment-id="261" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"CLT-L09","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1573295916","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.95","iso":"160","shutter_speed":"0.01","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="IMG_20191109_103835" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_20191109_103835.jpg?w=900" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_20191109_103835.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_20191109_103835.jpg" data-orig-size="3612,2339" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.wordpress.com/2019/11/20/november-event-clockfest/img_20191109_103835/" sizes="(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_20191109_103835.jpg?w=900" srcset="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_20191109_103835.jpg?w=900 900w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_20191109_103835.jpg?w=1800 1800w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_20191109_103835.jpg?w=150 150w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_20191109_103835.jpg?w=300 300w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_20191109_103835.jpg?w=768 768w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/img_20191109_103835.jpg?w=1024 1024w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: unset; vertical-align: middle; width: 334.734px;" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; grid-area: 1 / 1 / auto / auto; padding: 0px 54.3594px; word-break: break-word;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">I loved the string puppet that Bev had bought in Prague in the 1970’s. It had huge hands and was a caricature of a washer-woman. The strings were tangled.</p></div></div><blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 1.6em; quotes: "" "";"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Kerry found the polarity was reversed on a paging system and the owner reported “I was told this would have cost £300 to repair by the manufacturer. I am pleased”.<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /></p></blockquote><p class="has-text-align-left" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Not all repairs are successful. Robert on Electronics said that the Makita BMR104 radio had a screw down a very deep narrow hole. He is ordering some special long screwdrivers “so we will not be beaten like that again”.<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />A Philips toaster had special tamper-proof screws. “I think I have worked out that they are ‘external Torx’. I am ordering a set of sockets. Philips will not win!”</p><p class="has-text-align-left" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">We’ll be in Christmas mode at our December 7 event. See you there! And some of our volunteers will be Santa’s helpers, fixing toys at the Victorian Christmas Fayre in the Palm House on December 14.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><b>Ros Dean</b></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-67744594360349804742019-11-02T21:14:00.002+00:002020-10-28T21:42:29.242+00:00Making progress October’s Repair Cafe<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> <span face="Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #495762;">When we first heard about Repair Cafe Weymouth, I offered to make the tea and Judy offered to be a gofer. If we knew then, what we know now, would we have opened our mouths? Well yes, actually! We had no idea what we were letting ourselves in for, but wouldn’t have it any other way.</span></span></p><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; margin: 1.6em 0px 0px;"><div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile" style="box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: grid; grid-template-columns: auto 36%; grid-template-rows: auto;"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; grid-area: 1 / 2 / auto / auto; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><img alt="1960's music box" class="wp-image-244 size-full" data-attachment-id="244" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"CLT-L09","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1570878433","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.95","iso":"160","shutter_speed":"0.022222","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="IMG_20191012_110713" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/img_20191012_110713.jpg?w=900" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/img_20191012_110713.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/img_20191012_110713.jpg" data-orig-size="2560,1920" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.wordpress.com/2019/10/30/best-ever-after-a-summer-off/img_20191012_110713/" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/img_20191012_110713.jpg?w=900" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: unset; vertical-align: middle; width: 365.172px;" /></span></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; grid-area: 1 / 1 / auto / auto; padding: 0px 51.9219px; word-break: break-word;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This 1960’s music box from Singapore was brought in for repair. It had previously been over wound. The Rickshaw, Tree and Lace all needed gluing. Now it is fixed, the Rickshaw wheels turn while Swan Lake plays.</span></p></div></div><blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 1.6em; quotes: "" "";"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">‘Thank you Phil, so happy to have the music box working. Very happy memories the box holds for me, it is well loved’ <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">Jayne Fletcher</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">At the October event, a day when the heavens opened, we still had 71 items come through the door. We had two new volunteers, Maggie and Dee helping more people to fill out registration forms. Myself, Bernie, Steve and Jose, facilitated the electrical team as a new role which reduced wait times and no one was turned anyone. </span></p><blockquote class="wp-block-quote" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 1.6em; quotes: "" "";"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">‘Thank you Robert for fixing my granddaughter’s reading light, she is very pleased and thankful’ - Jacqui Gisborne</span></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Lisa visited from Dorchester Repair Café which has started on the last Sunday of each month at Sunninghill Community Center, (behind the prep school), South Court, South Walks, DT1 1EB. You will see some of our fantastic volunteers there too.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We have a fantastic sewing team, with manual and sewing machine skills, to deal with anything from a button on your favourite shirt, mending a pocket, fixing a zip to upholstering your favourite foot stool. They needed more repairs at this event, but enjoyed the camaraderie.</span></p><div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile" style="box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: grid; grid-template-columns: auto 24%; grid-template-rows: auto;"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; grid-area: 1 / 2 / auto / auto; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><img alt="Jim Hadwyn's ornate wooden clock" class="wp-image-243 size-full" data-attachment-id="243" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"CLT-L09","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1570881300","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.95","iso":"64","shutter_speed":"0.011111","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="IMG_20191012_115459" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/img_20191012_115459.jpg?w=768" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/img_20191012_115459.jpg?w=225" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/img_20191012_115459.jpg" data-orig-size="1920,2560" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.wordpress.com/2019/10/30/best-ever-after-a-summer-off/img_20191012_115459/" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/img_20191012_115459.jpg?w=768" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: unset; vertical-align: middle; width: 243.438px;" /></span></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; grid-area: 1 / 1 / auto / auto; padding: 0px 61.6719px; word-break: break-word;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We also witnessed a charming visitor with his dog and historic clock. It belonged to the last coastguard at Osmington Mills – Jim Hadwyn, who had died a year ago, in his 90’s. He was a fireman before he was a coastguard. His neighbour called on him a lot in his latter years. When he died, she saved the clock as it was going to be thrown and gave it to Kevin our visitor. He wanted it fixed, to return it as a gift. </span></p></div></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">He will try to come next month on 9<span style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span> November when a more experienced Clock repairer will be with us. We hope it gets fixed – what a fantastic Christmas present that would make.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">December’s event will be on the first Saturday of the month, 7<span style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">th</span> December as on the second weekend 14th-15th December the Palm House are holding its first ever Victorian Christmas Fayre with Santa’s workshop – where some of our volunteers will be repairing toys! If you have any old fashioned looking or wooden toys that need repairing, contact the Palm House about taking them in in advance so they can be repaired in Santa’s workshop.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><b>By Judy Luffman and Bernie Searle</b></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-28936766954707988252019-10-30T21:00:00.001+00:002021-03-03T14:02:26.822+00:00Best ever after a summer off<span style="color: #666666; font-family: arial;">After 2 months off for an amazing summer of sun, sea and sausages, Repair Café Weymouth returned on Saturday 14th September for its best ever repair event. We had an amazing 93 items brought in for repair that may otherwise have ended up in landfill or, at best, left languishing unused in a loft. So popular were we that we had to politely turn people away by 11am – just 30 minutes after we opened. We repaired or provided repair advice for a massive 83% of items including sewing zips and handbags, clocks, laptops, plates, hoovers, necklaces and much more. This is an amazing achievement and we are forever grateful to our wonderfully talented volunteer repairers.</span><div class="entry-content" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.6em 0px 0px;"><div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile" style="box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: grid; grid-template-columns: auto 37%; grid-template-rows: auto;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img alt="Carla in a pink hat" class="wp-image-242 size-full" data-attachment-id="242" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"1.8","credit":"","camera":"CLT-L09","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1570878549","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.95","iso":"64","shutter_speed":"0.011111","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="IMG_20191012_110908 – Copy" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/img_20191012_110908-copy.jpg?w=900" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/img_20191012_110908-copy.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/img_20191012_110908-copy.jpg" data-orig-size="1374,1172" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.wordpress.com/2019/10/30/best-ever-after-a-summer-off/img_20191012_110908-copy/" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/img_20191012_110908-copy.jpg?w=300" srcset="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/img_20191012_110908-copy.jpg?w=300 300w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/img_20191012_110908-copy.jpg?w=600 600w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/img_20191012_110908-copy.jpg?w=150 150w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: unset; vertical-align: middle; width: 375.312px;" /></span></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Carla<br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #666666;">We trialed a new process to encourage our visitors to chat sociably at a table in the café area, instead of queuing. The lovely ‘Carla in the pink hat’ gave them numbered tickets as they arrived and our Triage volunteers came to them to register their broken items. </span></span></div><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">At this event we welcomed some amazing new volunteers. José, a drug and alcohol councillor, did a great job of organising our visitors as they arrived ensuring we tracked their wait in the café area. Steve, with his common sense approach, made the decision that incoming forms should by-pass Reception, helping us to get forms to repairers more efficiently and we hope he will join the committee. Rick helped for the first time as a Mechanical repairer and Jane on Sewing.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We always welcome new volunteers so do please contact us. We need repairers to cover absences and we always need volunteers to help make events run smoothly or help with admin tasks in the background.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you’ve been to one of our repair events we hope that you were able to get your item repaired. We are continually improving our whole process of receiving visitors and repairing items but are always happy to hear positive feedback and suggestions for improvement.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Otherwise do spread the word about Repair Café Weymouth. We throw away vast amounts of stuff, which could get a new lease of life with a simple repair. One repair can save up to 24 kilos of CO2 going into the atmosphere, by preventing the need to recycle old items and manufacture/ transport new ones – and it will save you money and help save our planet.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We look forward to seeing you at our next event. Our Repair Café events generally take place on the 2<span style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 0; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">nd</span> Saturday of the month (apart from July and August) and you’ll find us at the Palm House Café in Weymouth.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Rob Cheeseman</span></b></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-80732761187947407942019-08-06T20:45:00.001+01:002021-03-03T14:06:02.553+00:00Thank you to repair cafe volunteers<p><span face="Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #495762; font-family: arial;">Repair Cafe was the idea of Martine Postma who held the first ever event on the 18th October 2009 in Amsterdam. Jump forward nearly 10 years, and I saw a Facebook post from Ros, that she was thinking of starting up a Repair Cafe in Weymouth. So I did what most people do these days, I googled it to find out what a Repair Cafe was. I was intrigued and wanted to help but I can’t fix anything – my brother likes to remind me of the time I tripped the electrics in our childhood home when I was trying to change a plug. After meeting Ros and a few other volunteers I knew this would be a great benefit to the town, I sign up to volunteer thinking I would just be spending the 3 hours once a month on this project. How wrong I was. The following day Ros called and asked if I’d like to be on the committee as secretary, I jumped at this opportunity – I’d never done anything like this before, so every day I’m learning, we all are.</span></p><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; margin: 1.6em 0px 0px;"><div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-image-fill" style="box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: grid; grid-template-columns: 1fr 50%; grid-template-rows: auto;"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media" style="align-self: center; background-image: url("https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115112.jpg?w=900"); background-position: 50% 50%; background-size: cover; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; grid-area: 1 / 2 / auto / auto; height: 250px; margin: 0px; min-height: 250px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-182" data-attachment-id="182" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"GT-I9195I","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1557575471","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.3","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.0043859649122807","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="20190511_115112" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115112.jpg?w=900" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115112.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115112.jpg" data-orig-size="3264,1836" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.org/20190511_115112/" sizes="(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115112.jpg?w=900" srcset="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115112.jpg?w=900 900w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115112.jpg?w=1800 1800w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115112.jpg?w=150 150w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115112.jpg?w=300 300w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115112.jpg?w=768 768w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115112.jpg?w=1024 1024w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; max-width: unset; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: middle; width: 1px;" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; grid-area: 1 / 1 / auto / auto; padding: 0px 24.25px; word-break: break-word;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I’d like to thank all the fantastic volunteers that attend our event. They have given all their time, skills and have had to pay for their own parking at each event. The Repair Cafe would be an empty room without them.</span></p></div></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I’d also like to thank Nigel at The Palm House for allowing us to take over his main cafe area as well as the function room we hire, and finally, anyone that’s visited repair cafe or read this post – THANK YOU. Our next event is on 14th September 2019 after a Summer break to refresh and improve upon how we run Repair Cafe Weymouth.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Carla</b></span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-54448089173717751702019-07-23T20:15:00.002+01:002021-03-03T14:08:03.698+00:00We’re still learning<p><span style="font-family: arial;"> <span face="Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #495762;">Weymouth’s Repair Cafe continues to go from strength to strength. In June we had our second event at The Palm House Cafe. It was fantastic see the local community turn out in force with broken items they would like to save from landfill. We were busy from before we opened to long after we should have closed. It’s pleasing, in our modern day throwaway society, to see so many items, from a Spectrum computer to musical instruments, from tools to clocks, being given a new lease of life.</span></span></p><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; margin: 1.6em 0px 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />The first two events have been outstanding, but it has also come with inevitable teething issues. We are all new to this and will continue to improve with every event.</span></p><div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile is-image-fill" style="box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; display: grid; grid-template-columns: 1fr 50%; grid-template-rows: auto;"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media" style="align-self: center; background-image: url("https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115507.jpg?w=572"); background-position: 0px 15.949%; background-size: cover; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; grid-area: 1 / 2 / auto / auto; height: 521.594px; margin: 0px; min-height: 250px;"><img alt="A grandmother clock that was fixed" class="wp-image-183" data-attachment-id="183" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"GT-I9195I","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1557575707","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.3","iso":"64","shutter_speed":"0.0083333333333333","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="20190511_115507" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115507.jpg?w=572" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115507.jpg?w=168" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115507.jpg" data-orig-size="1824,3264" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.org/20190511_115507/" sizes="(max-width: 572px) 100vw, 572px" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115507.jpg?w=572" srcset="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115507.jpg?w=572 572w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115507.jpg?w=1144 1144w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115507.jpg?w=84 84w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115507.jpg?w=168 168w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115507.jpg?w=768 768w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; max-width: unset; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: middle; width: 1px;" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content" style="align-self: center; box-sizing: inherit; direction: ltr; grid-area: 1 / 1 / auto / auto; padding: 0px 24.25px; word-break: break-word;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I like numbers so I’d thought I’d share a few with you. The first event saw 85 visitors arrive with items they hoped could be saved. 12 volunteer repairers manned the tables, eager to fix the items brought in. Divided equally, each volunteer would have seen 7 items and had 17 minutes to work on it. However, it’s not as simple as this. Different volunteers specialise in different areas. You wouldn’t expect a sewing volunteer to be able to fix an iron (yes we’ve had irons… we’ll try and fix anything after all). Also, some repairs needed longer than 20 minutes to complete. Sometimes just getting the cover off proved to be the hardest part of the repair process.</span></p></div></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Part of the ethos of a Repair Cafe is about local people gathering together to learn how to repair broken items which prevents items being sent to landfill. If an item can’t easily be repaired the visitor would be advised to see a professional. We’re not here to take work away from local trade’s people but about taking on the smaller jobs, and anything which is beyond our skills we want to be able to point you in the direction of a professionals that can help.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Over the summer the committee will work hard on ideas for improving visitor experience, including for people who arrive early, and how Repair Cafe benefit everyone in Weymouth. Our next event is on 14th September 2019. We hope to see you there.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Carla</span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-51707124292836599282019-05-23T20:14:00.001+01:002020-10-28T21:37:01.085+00:00Repair Cafe off to a flying start.<p><span face="Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #495762; font-size: 16px;">There was a buzz in the air at Palm House for Repair Cafe on 11 May. 85 items were brought in. Most were fixed and some would take a little longer to repair or needed extra parts. The repairers were enjoying the challenge. </span></p><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; font-family: Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.6em 0px 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">A hot tub pump was fixed saving £500 to replace. The owner popped out to get a seals and sealant needed and it was fixed. She said “it’s a wonderful idea to be able to repair and re-use rather than be a throwaway society. It gives you the opportunity to be as green as possible rather than put things in landfill. With our hot tub we did not know what else to do”.</p><div class="wp-block-image" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em;"><figure class="alignright is-resized" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: table; float: right; margin: 0.5em 0px 0.5em 1em;"><img alt="Repairer fixing a wooden baby walker" class="wp-image-187" data-attachment-id="187" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"GT-I9195I","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1557575944","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.3","iso":"50","shutter_speed":"0.0083333333333333","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115904.jpg?w=572" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115904.jpg?w=168" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115904.jpg" data-orig-size="1824,3264" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.org/20190511_115904/" height="225" loading="lazy" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_115904.jpg?w=572" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%;" width="130" /></figure></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">This ethos was in the minds of the repairers too. Phil, a window fitter by trade, had fixed a well loved wooden baby walker. And was moving on to a wooden push along toy. Both needed new wooden dowels.<br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />Phil said “I enjoy repairing things, I enjoy the challenge. Saving things from landfill. Proving things aren’t throwaway. Lots of these things have sentimental value, they can be kept in the family. You don’t need to buy a new plastic one”.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Kathleen was sat happily sewing. She had brought in a leather handbag that had been repaired with a new loop sewn on for the strap and was inspired by the atmosphere, and good lighting, so picked up a needle and thread and got on with another mending job she had not felt like doing at home. She has now volunteered to be a repairer.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Liz had been waiting for Repair Cafe to start after she first heard the idea. She brought a food processor which was found to have blown a circuit board fuse, not the sort that is usually replaceable. The repairer had one at home so will bring it next time. Liz said “I think it is lovely, what a great atmosphere. If it was not for repair cafe I would have just binned it”.</p><div class="wp-block-image" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em;"><figure class="alignleft is-resized" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: table; float: left; margin: 0.5em 1em 0.5em 0px;"><img alt="A toy Robot brought in to be repaired" class="wp-image-177" data-attachment-id="177" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="20190511_112351" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_112351-e1558645833335.jpg?w=796" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_112351-e1558645833335.jpg?w=233" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_112351-e1558645833335.jpg" data-orig-size="1665,2141" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.org/20190511_112351/" height="127" loading="lazy" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_112351-e1558645833335.jpg?w=796" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%;" width="150" /></figure></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">“Rolling Olli” a remote control Robot had been gifted to Charles by his granddad. This Robot was what dreams and Hollywood movies of my youth were made of, before the technology we take for granted today. Everyone who met Rolling Olli was rooting for it to have a second chance, especially the repairer. On opening him up and seeing his electronic brain and heart, it became evident one of the cables had a break in it. It was a long job, without the right cable to hand, but he has promised to have a second go at it next time. Fingers crossed for Olli. Charles’ Dad Paul said Repair Cafe was “A great idea. I’ve never seen anything like this before. It was brilliant – very quick to be served, and well organised”</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Other repairs included a Grandmother Clock, bracelet, mobile phone battery replacement, games console, laptop, i-pad, Bike and secateurs sharpened. </p><div class="wp-block-image" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em;"><figure class="alignleft is-resized" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: table; float: left; margin: 0.5em 1em 0.5em 0px;"><img alt="A bag printed "A bag forever"" class="wp-image-189" data-attachment-id="189" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_122009-e1558648335586.jpg?w=872" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_122009-e1558648335586.jpg?w=256" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_122009-e1558648335586.jpg" data-orig-size="1824,2141" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.org/20190511_122009/" height="229" loading="lazy" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/20190511_122009-e1558648335586.jpg?w=872" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%;" width="200" /></figure></div><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">“A bag forever” lived up to its name. Ruth said “you can’t get this bag anymore. I would not have had the right needle and thread to do it at home. It’s very kind of people to come and give their time like this”.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">It was a very productive couple of hours. Have a look in the back of your cupboards and see if we can bring something back to life. See you next time and spread the word. 8 June at the Palm House 10.30am – 12.30.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;">Anna</p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-39440510905670318712019-04-25T20:13:00.001+01:002021-03-03T14:11:58.508+00:0011 April, 2019 - Friends and Family trial launch<p> </p><header class="entry-header" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762;"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 15px; text-align: left;"><span face="Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-weight: normal;">To ensure we are ready for the launch of Repair Café Weymouth on 11 May 2019 we had a trial run for friends and family of volunteers on 13 April. We set up volunteer repairers at the right tables, introduced them to the key organisers, gave them freshly printed name tags, explained processes and safety, whizzed them outside for a group photo and then it was 10:30, time to start.</span></div></header><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #495762; margin: 1.6em 0px 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Some items that were repaired:</span></p><ul style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0px 0px 1.6em 2.4em; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: arial;">secateurs sharpened</span></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: arial;">advice about a new i-phone battery</span></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: arial;">clothes altered</span></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: arial;">a cracked freezer box glued</span></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: arial;">a carpet washer than needed a new cable</span></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: arial;">a bicycle</span></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: arial;">a lawnmower that needed its blades sharpening</span></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: arial;">some sound equipment that needed soldering</span></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: arial;">a sewing machine to be set up properly and a bit of tuition</span></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: arial;">an iron</span></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: arial;">a toaster</span></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: arial;">a clock</span></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: arial;">magnifying mirror</span></li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: arial;">3D spectacles to be glued</span></li></ul><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Repairer Steve Fox said ”I haven’t stopped all morning”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It was a fantastic morning, with all these items being sa<span>ved from landfill or languishing at the back of cupboards. For a small donation people have prevented the need for buying new, and the related environmental impact of producing and transporting these new goods. Visitors also picked up tips on how to make repairs on their own.</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Jill Hirons ”Garden shears, sewing machine and child’s bike sorted and donation made. Thanks guys, what a fantastic venture – got to be the way forward. Protect our planet, repair and re-use. Don’t just buy new!”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Maggie Stansfield who had her jeans taken in said ”It was a friendly and efficient service and I picked up tips to do similar on my own”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We needed more volunteers who could do sewing. We have a few already but for the first few Repair Café events, they will be fully occupied with organising. My prayers were answered and on the morning after the Trial Run, we had a lady who could do sewing and jewelry repairs including silversmithing, offering her services via Facebook message! If any other people with repairing skills would like to volunteer their skills, please get in touch. The more repairs we can make the better. It’s the generosity of the community in volunteering their services that has kept me fired with the passion to get this initiative up and running.</span></p><figure class="wp-block-image" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Karla, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 1em 40px;"><img alt="Volunteers outside Palm House cafe" class="wp-image-165" data-attachment-id="165" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="" data-large-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/img_20190413_101649-cropped-e1557086705418.jpg?w=900" data-medium-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/img_20190413_101649-cropped-e1557086705418.jpg?w=300" data-orig-file="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/img_20190413_101649-cropped-e1557086705418.jpg" data-orig-size="4022,2299" data-permalink="https://repaircafeweymouth.org/rrem/" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" src="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/img_20190413_101649-cropped-e1557086705418.jpg?w=1024" srcset="https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/img_20190413_101649-cropped-e1557086705418.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/img_20190413_101649-cropped-e1557086705418.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/img_20190413_101649-cropped-e1557086705418.jpg?w=150 150w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/img_20190413_101649-cropped-e1557086705418.jpg?w=300 300w, https://repaircafeweymouth.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/img_20190413_101649-cropped-e1557086705418.jpg?w=768 768w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; height: auto; max-width: 100%;" /><figcaption style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em;">Volunteers outside Palm House Cafe</figcaption></figure><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Repair Café Weymouth will launch to the public on 11 May 10:30 until 12:30 at the Palm House Café, Weymouth. We hope to see you there.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.6em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><b>Ros xx</b></span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5700018018568357792.post-16993405567528825512019-04-23T20:11:00.003+01:002021-10-20T22:44:17.814+01:00Starting Repair Cafe Weymouth<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Do you know what a Repair Café is?</b></span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> I didn’t until my daughter in Australia sent me this link <a href="http://www.repaircafe.org/en/about/">www.repaircafe.org/en/about/</a>, and said “Wouldn’t this be a good idea for Weymouth? Why don’t you put it on a Weymouth Facebook page?” I did, hoping someone else would pick it up and run with it. They didn’t, so I did. Visitors bring items to be repaired by volunteers. The lovely volunteers fix it in return for a small donation which funds the running of Repair Cafe Weymouth and materials and tools.
Our first meeting to assess interest and recruit volunteers was at the Kings Arms in Weymouth. They generously provided the space and teas and coffees for the volunteers to support the initiative getting off the ground. It was a lively and positive meeting, with volunteers offering their skills in fixing things, and organisation at the repair events and behind the scenes. Several local venues offered their space to hold the Repair Cafe and after visiting them we decided the Palm House would be just the right location, with good light, cafe facilities for our visitors and plenty for children to do to extend the trip out. It was all systems go to get organised for our first Repair cafe events that would be starting in the Spring.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Ros xx</b></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0