November 2019, Clockfest!

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.

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.

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.

Brian said that he was ‘over the moon’ when John fitted a new part to his fibre optic Christmas tree base.

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.

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”.

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”.
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!”

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.

Ros Dean

Making progress October’s Repair Cafe

 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.

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.

‘Thank you Phil, so happy to have the music box working. Very happy memories the box holds for me, it is well loved’ Jayne Fletcher

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. 

‘Thank you Robert for fixing my granddaughter’s reading light, she is very pleased and thankful’ ­- Jacqui Gisborne

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.

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.

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. 

He will try to come next month on 9th November when a more experienced Clock repairer will be with us.  We hope it gets fixed – what a fantastic Christmas present that would make.

December’s event will be on the first Saturday of the month, 7th 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.

By Judy Luffman and Bernie Searle

Best ever after a summer off

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.

Carla

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

We look forward to seeing you at our next event.  Our Repair Café events generally take place on the 2nd Saturday of the month (apart from July and August) and you’ll find us at the Palm House Café in Weymouth.

Rob Cheeseman

Thank you to repair cafe volunteers

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.

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.

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.

Carla

We’re still learning

 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Carla

Repair Cafe off to a flying start.

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. 

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”.

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.
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”.

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.

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”.

“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”

Other repairs included a Grandmother Clock, bracelet, mobile phone battery replacement, games console, laptop, i-pad, Bike and secateurs sharpened. 

“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”.

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.

Anna

11 April, 2019 - Friends and Family trial launch

 

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.

Some items that were repaired:

• secateurs sharpened
• advice about a new i-phone battery
• clothes altered
• a cracked freezer box glued
• a carpet washer than needed a new cable
• a bicycle
• a lawnmower that needed its blades sharpening
• some sound equipment that needed soldering
• a sewing machine to be set up properly and a bit of tuition
• an iron
• a toaster
• a clock
• magnifying mirror
• 3D spectacles to be glued

Repairer Steve Fox said ”I haven’t stopped all morning”

It was a fantastic morning, with all these items being saved 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.

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!”

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”

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.

Volunteers outside Palm House Cafe

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.

Ros xx

Starting Repair Cafe Weymouth

Do you know what a Repair Café is?

 I didn’t until my daughter in Australia sent me this link www.repaircafe.org/en/about/, 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.

Ros xx