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Repair Cafe Promotes ‘Fix Not Throw’ in Waterloo

Repair Cafe at The Goodlife Centre (3)

Third Repair Café at The Goodlife Centre Gathers Momentum

Last Saturday’s Repair Cafe at The Goodlife Centre in Waterloo was buzzing. Word is getting out that things can be fixed not thrown and we are here to help. With the support of the fabulous people at Restart, who fixed laptops and stereos, we opened our doors at 2pm and responded to the steady stream of beloved objects that were performing in a less than useful way.

Abigail brewed up the tea and served the home made cakes and breads that people brought as offerings. They kept up our spirits as the background jazz music reminded us that it was a temporary cafe as well.

Viv brought along a ‘Thonet’ like chair that required lots of gluing. It would need a new seat eventually which we couldn’t do as we offer ‘repair’ not ‘replace’ in our ‘fix it’ afternoons. Mary brought a food mixer that refused to mix. Scott also opened a Gaggia Coffee machine that gagged at the thought of working. We were less than successful with these beasts of ‘time saving’ as the component parts are just too hidden behind impenetrable screws. Despite every screw driver and screw remover, the inner sanctum of the machines stayed closed.

Orna from Streetbank stayed and met some new friends. Streetbank offer swap events to exchange goods no longer needed.  Sharon needed help with her gorgeous zipped bag. With needle and thread, and new found skills she stitched it back to loveliness and learnt how to sew on a coat button that wouldn’t budge. The final repair was to a pair of ‘Simple’ shoes. Sadly, the ethical footwear was starting to come adrift and was a perfect time for our favourite cordless glue gun to step up to the plate.

The next Repair Café will take place at The Goodlife Centre on Sunday 10th February, from 2pm – 5pm. If you would like help to fix something and have the patience to tinker, glue and screw with our assistance, let us know what you would like to bring and let the mending commence. The Goodlife Centre is just ten minutes from Waterloo, Borough and Southwark tube stations.

Click on the thumbnails below to access larger size images of Sunday’s Repair Café at The Goodlife Centre in Waterloo or visit here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8020gzpwmaowygf/rob28pr-wT

ENDS

About Repair Cafe

Repair Café is a community project first developed in Holland, which encourages people to repair, reuse and recycle their possessions to reduce waste and reverse the rise of a disposable culture. Londoners are encouraged to bring-in transportable broken household items to Repair Café for assessment, and if deemed repairable by the organisers, can start making their repairs in the Repair Café. DIY, carpentry and electrical experts from The Goodlife Centre are on stand-by to advise and a selection of tools and materials are made available for use. For full details of the Repair Café concept that originated in Holland go to http://repaircafe.org/.

About The Goodlife Centre

The Goodlife Centre is an independent learning space in Waterloo that offers daytime, evening and weekend courses in DIY, Upholstery, Decorating, Woodwork, Furniture Restoration and Crafts. Go to The Goodlife Centre’s website at /repair-cafe/ to learn more about the all upcoming events.

Contact:

Website: www.thegoodlifecentre.co.uk

Address: 122 Webber Street, London, SE1 0QL.

Call: Alison on 0207 760 7613 / Email: media@thegoodlifecentre.co.uk