We throw away vast amounts of stuff - stuff which could get a new lease of life after a simple repair. Lots of people have forgotten that they can repair things themselves or they no longer know how. Repair Cafés are free meeting places where people come together to repair things together. In a local Repair Café, you’ll find tools and materials to help you make any repairs you need on clothes, furniture, electrical appliances, bicycles, crockery, appliances, toys, etc. You'll also find expert volunteers, with repair skills in all kinds of fields. Visitors bring their broken items from home and in the Repair Café, they start making their repairs with the specialists. It’s an ongoing learning process.
Repair Cafés help people in the community whose skills may not always be valued to get involved again. It helps neighbours from different backgrounds connect with each other and allows valuable practical knowledge to be shared. Repairing things at a Repair Cafe means things are being used for longer and don’t have to be thrown away. This reduces the volume of raw materials and energy needed to make new products.
We throw away vast amounts of stuff - stuff which could get a new lease of life after a simple repair. Lots of people have forgotten that they can repair things themselves or they no longer know how. Repair Cafés are free meeting places where people come together to repair things together. In a local Repair Café, you’ll find tools and materials to help you make any repairs you need on clothes, furniture, electrical appliances, bicycles, crockery, appliances, toys, etc. You'll also find expert volunteers, with repair skills in all kinds of fields. Visitors bring their broken items from home and in the Repair Café, they start making their repairs with the specialists. It’s an ongoing learning process.
Repair Cafés help people in the community whose skills may not always be valued to get involved again. It helps neighbours from different backgrounds connect with each other and allows valuable practical knowledge to be shared. Repairing things at a Repair Cafe means things are being used for longer and don’t have to be thrown away. This reduces the volume of raw materials and energy needed to make new products.
Jeffrey of Tog Hackerspace (@TOG_Dublin) very kindly met us online last night to talk through his experience of running repair cafes - very practical advice about insurance, planning for and running the event, PAT testing and more. Very grateful for his insights.
An update on tonight's planning meeting for our repair cafe project. We are currently looking into potential venues, connecting with other Enniscorthy community groups to identify potential fixers, find out more about insurance needs and setting down in writing the who/what/when/how/where for our first event. We are aiming for a June repair cafe all going to plan!
The Northern Ireland Resources Network have put together a short video with hints and tips on running a repair cafe (see link) which has given us some inspiration! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7OMFnkP0rA
If any members would like to join our next catch up meeting (online) 8pm Tuesday 18 April let me know by posting here and I will share a meeting link
Thanks for the productive meeting this evening, it was great to get our initial Action Plan finalised. For those that could not make it, please see attached and we will regroup again next week to for follow up on actions.
Timeline: When will you be able to start your project? How often will your team meet? Are there any key dates to share for the project?
Budget: You don't need to share exact prices, but please share how you're planning to spend the seed funding & what costs you're anticipating to get your project up and running:
Impact: How will your community benefit from this project? Do you have any measurable goals for your project, such as the number of people that will participate? Are you hoping to spread knowledge or increase interest in a specific subject?
Location: If your project requires physical space, have you decided the location? Do you have all necessary permission and permits to carry out your project at the chosen location?