Canterbury Repair Cafe

Press Release

7 February 2023

Canterbury Repair Café is returning for its spring programme of events on Saturday 11 February 2023. We are very grateful to all our amazing volunteers for making Canterbury Repair Café such a success in 2022. We receive positive feedback at each event, people saying ‘friendly atmosphere’; ‘lovely people’; ‘knowledgeable, kind, good range of expertise’; ‘a wonderful place – everyone so helpful and kind’; ‘Absolutely brilliant!’ etc.

In September we were winner of the Canterbury Climate Action Award for best community organisation — which is testament to all the valuable work of our volunteers.

In 2022 we repaired 325 items for 246 customers, mending items ranging from an Edgar Allen Poe mechanical crow, a hookah pipe and a cactus lamp to sewing in new zips, mending clothes, punctures on bicycles and wheelbarrows, repairing hedge trimmers, CD players, radios and jewellery … as well as providing the clothes swap, free energy advice and free coffee and cakes too! At the November Children’s Books, Games and Toys Swap items were given to 88 children and three whole school classes.

In our spring 2023 schedule we have three outreach events — one at the University of Kent in February, another at the Northgate Community Centre in March and the third at St Peter’s Anglican Church in April.

Repairs are done free of charge by volunteer repairers and include everything from sewing and ceramics, electrical goods and computers, to fixing bicycles and phones and more… we also host an energy help desk where householders get practical advice on how to save energy in their homes.

In addition to the repair café there is a clothes swap — people donate unwanted clothes that are clean and in good condition and swap them for something else! Again, it is all for free!

The benefits of repair cafes are huge — and especially important now with the climate emergency, a cost-of-living crisis and when energy bills are rocketing. Repairing old things helps to reduce waste which, in turn, reduces carbon emissions, helping to mitigate the climate and extinction crises. Reusing things also saves money, which then reduces poverty. People make new contacts at the events and take great pleasure in helping each other, all of which helps in building communities. It is a win, win, win activity!

* If anyone would like to help Canterbury Repair Café as a volunteer or wants to host a repair cafe event at their community centre or church hall let the organiser, Keith Bothwell, know at canterburyrepaircafe@gmail.com

Our next dates are (all Saturdays):

9 September at Hub Cafe

30 September (at St Dunstan’s Church Hall)

14 October at Hub Cafe

11 November at Hub Cafe

9 December at Hub Café