The Repair Café Movement – the initial spark!
In October 2009, a Dutch journalist called Martine Postma ran an experiment in her home town of Amsterdam. She brought together a group of handy friends and ran what she called a “Repair Café” – an event where people could bring in their broken belongings and volunteers would help to try to fix them. In 2010, The Repair Cafe Foundation was created to help others to set up their own Repair Cafés. More and more people supported the idea of creating Repair Cafés in their own towns and so the Repair Café movement was born. Now, there are over 2500 Repair Cafes worldwide making our very own Repair Café – Faversham part of a much bigger international repair community!
Why repair at all?
Deciding to repair items means that items get fixed and kept in use rather than being thrown away. This reduces the amount of waste ending up in landfill which, otherwise, pollutes our air, soil, rivers and oceans affecting ecosystems and the ecological services that humans, animals and plant life benefit from. Fixing items means that people do not need to buy anything new because, by repairing your broken or faulty items, you can keep them in use for longer – so you don’t have to spend money on newly manufactured goods, the production of which increases carbon emissions that affect global warming and impact climate change. It’s got to be a win for the environment and, therefore, a win for every one of us!
Repair Café – Faversham – our history & operations
Repair Café – Faversham was set up as a sustainability project in Faversham in February 2020, just prior to UK lockdown at the start of the Covid crisis, by Coasts for Life, a Kent-based non-profit entity run by volunteers. While Coasts for Life’s ethos continues to focus on sustainability-led activities in coastal towns, including walking, cycling, sailing, education, crafting and circularity, Repair Café – Faversham has taken off and now stands on its own feet through its popularity with local residents who offer donations for the repair of their items. As a small non-profit entity, these donations help to keep our voluntary repair services going.
With the help of a volunteer manager, the repair team comprises around 12 volunteers. Everyone at Repair Café – Faversham gives their time and expertise freely at least twice per month – a Wednesday of every month at Macknade, Selling Road, Faversham and on a Saturday of every month at Age UK, Crescent Road, Faversham. While the Repair Café – Faversham team is aiming to offer an even wider variety of repair skills, our current range of repair services include:
• Bikes • Dolls • Clothing & Textiles • Computers & IT • Electronics • Jewellery • Leatherwork & Canvas • Mechanics • Small Electricals (PAT tested) • Soft Toys
We are always looking for new skills and expertise. What could you offer Repair Café – Faversham as a volunteer once or twice per month to help fix household items? We’d love to hear from you!
Why not just come to visit us to see what we do?
Looking forward to seeing you at one of our future Repair Café – Faversham events soon!