Message forwarded by Oswestry Visitor Information Centre.
OsBorders Repair Cafe
The FIXPERTS had planned to have a rest over December but such is the call for their skills, Osborders Repair Café organisers have scheduled in an extra event in Oswestry.
The additional date will be Saturday, December 10th , again at the Senior Citizen's Club on Lorne Street, but with a slightly earlier finish (12 noon – 2pm) to allow fixperts a well-earned festive celebration.
The talented repair volunteers have given a new lease of life to hundreds of cherished belongings this year.
The volunteer group, a partnership between Extinction Rebellion Oswestry and BRACE, has expanded the range of skills offered to include horticultural advice, and website and software fixing as well as bikes, electricals, electronics, furniture and textiles - the service naturally varies month by month depending on the availability of fixperts.
OsBorders is affiliated with Repair Café Wales (RCW), a network which has grown to encompass so many towns that governments are consulting with RCW on build standards for new products.
The report forms filled out at the cafes are a treasure trove of useful information on how products can be designed better to make them easier to fix, and therefore save them from the scrapheap. As RCW tries to move to an online system for gathering this information, OsBorders Repair Café is seeking volunteer help to manage the extra administration.
Spokesperson Alison Alexander said: "There is normally a small percentage of objects we can't fix because manufacturers have deliberately designed them to be unfixable so you have to buy new.
"It can be because casings are so well sealed you just can't get inside without breaking them or because the replaceable parts are hidden behind layers of other fixed parts.
"The information RCW collects proves to law-makers which goods are problematic so they can insist manufacturers make products that are fixable.
"So when you come to a repair café you're not only having fun at a community gathering, eating some delicious home-made cake and learning new skills from the volunteer mending your belongings, you're also contributing to reducing waste and improving products for the future."
The repair café will return to the normal schedule of moving between Oswestry and Llanfyllin from January, starting off in Oswestry again and alternating thereafter between the two towns, apart from a break in August, and at the usual time of 12 noon-3pm.
To volunteer or to book an object in for repair (deadline – Sunday before each event) you can email osbordersrepaircafe@gmail.com or call Colin on 01691 239344.
