June Repairs: Toasters, Trimmers, Laptops and a Mountain of Mending

Our June repair café took place on Saturday 27th June at Tregony Village Hall, and it was one of our busiest and most varied afternoons so far. There were small electricals, garden tools, clocks, laptops, chairs, sewing jobs and plenty of careful mending.

As always, not every item can be fixed in a two-hour session. Sometimes the useful outcome is a working repair, sometimes it is a diagnosis, and sometimes it is advice about a spare part or what to try next. All of it helps keep useful things out of the waste stream for longer.

A busy afternoon of repairs

Among the items repaired this month were a toaster, a fan with a loose nut, an extension lead, a sander, a hedge trimmer, two dining chairs, a sewing machine, a garden umbrella, a paper guillotine and a Christmas decoration with a loose bulb.

There was also plenty of diagnostic work. A large wall clock had a faulty motor, with a possible replacement found online. A radio/CD player could not be fixed this time, and an illuminated sign appeared to need a new USB plug.

Laptops and useful second lives

The laptop table had three machines to look at. One could not be fixed because of a power-cable problem, another was fixed by showing the user how to set up their screensaver, and a third was updated to Ubuntu so it could carry on being useful.

These are exactly the sorts of repairs we like to see: not glamorous, perhaps, but very practical. A working laptop can be kept in service for years with the right software, a bit of patience and a realistic view of what the machine can still do well.

Textiles: more mending than could fit into the afternoon

The textile table was especially busy. In fact, our textile repairer did not record any completed fixes on the day because she was busy taking in more and more mending. She went home with 16 pieces to work on afterwards.

Since then, she has already fixed the gems on some jeans, shortened a pair of trousers, patched another pair of trousers and replaced two jacket zips. That is a lot of clothing given a better chance of staying in use.

Small jobs matter too

Some of the most satisfying repairs are not dramatic. A loose screw, a missing fixing, a realigned part, a cleaned pair of glasses, or a chair back glued securely into place can make a real difference to whether something gets used again.

That is one of the pleasures of a repair café: the small practical jobs sit alongside the more complicated investigations, and both are worthwhile.

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who came along, brought something in, volunteered at a repair table, helped with the welcome desk, made tea, filled in forms or supported the afternoon in any way. Feedback included “very happy”, “fantastic”, “great”, “very pleased” and “lovely idea”. We also heard that several visitors had found us through the Roseland Magazine, which is good to know.

We are always glad to hear from new volunteers. Sewing, electrical and mechanical repair skills are all useful, but so are people who can help with greeting visitors, making tea, taking photos, filling in forms, or keeping the afternoon friendly and organised.

Our next repair café is on Saturday 25th July, 1-3pm at Tregony Village Hall. Bring along something broken and we will see what we can do.