MEMBERS of the Winchester community have seen a gap for a repair café in the city, fixing anything from clothes to electrical items and everything in between.
A group of community workers have clubbed together to bring Winchester Repair Café to the starting line. Before the café begins monthly repair sessions, at its venues in Badger Farm and Winnall, the charity is registering interest and seeing what the people of Winchester need help fixing.
Winchester Repair Café is hosting two information drop ins, coinciding with Winchester Green Week. The first session will be held on Sunday, September 25 at Unit 12 in Winnall, the second at Badger Farm Community Centre on Saturday, October 1.
The purpose of the meetings is to justify that there’s a demand for a repair café in Winchester, find potential funders and volunteers as well as understanding what it is that people need repaired or want to learn how to repair themselves.
Although still in the planning stages organisers Hannah Henshaw, Rebecca Hare and Ali Cochrane are hopeful that the repair café, alongside workshops, will help the people of Winchester to be more sustainable. The trio have a range of expertise and community ties with Ali being the centre lead at Badger Farm Community Centre, parish councillor and experience in the charity sector, Hannah working for Action Hampshire and Rebecca with a diverse background in software, teaching and now gardening.
In addition to people being able to fix their belongings, including items such as clothes, toys and furniture, the project aims to reduce social isolation by providing a space for people to chat, learn and enjoy tea, coffee and cake together.
So far, the repair café founders have circulated a questionnaire to people in the Oliver’s Battery area, where 80 per cent of respondents have said that a Winchester Repair Café would be useful.
Enterprise project lead at Action Hampshire and former centre manager at Unit 12, Hannah, said: “The questionnaire and information sessions will help us prove to potential funders that there is a need for a repair café in Winchester.
“Currently, there are lots of organisations where you can take specific items to be fixed and we don’t want to take away from these businesses.
“What we’d be offering is a more general repair café to which people can bring an array of items to be fixed by volunteer repairers. We’d also hope to offer the opportunity for people to learn how to make their own repairs, providing skills to use in the home for many years to come.”
Initially, the charity hopes to host monthly repair cafés at both Badger Farm Community Centre and Unit 12 beginning in early 2023. A volunteer session will take place before the new year to set the expectations of what’s needed and allow the repairers to have a say in how the café is operated.
From the Badger Farm area, the organisers have already received nearly 20 repair volunteers and are optimistic this number will increase from the information sessions and by broadening their outreach.
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Fellow organiser Rebecca said: “We’re very hopeful but equally realistic. We’re starting in Badger Farm and Winnall but we’re very much open to expanding to other areas where there’s a space or demand for it. It will be a hub for everyone wanting to create a more sustainable planet."
Volunteer director at Unit 12 and Winchester City Councillor John Tippett-Cooper said: “The concept of the Repair Cafe is perfect as a way of addressing some of the most pressing challenges we face - namely the climate emergency and cost of living crisis . It promotes sustainability by supporting people repair and reuse items and saves the cost of having to purchase a new item. There’s already been a lot of interest in these Repair Cafes and the more these can be run, the better."
To answer Winchester Repair Café’s questionnaire and register what kind of items would be useful to have or learn how to repair go to docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdW7qum-sSCyoBpvxfVQQNQJ1x-TVcAEbGLw-erAP2UENG1UQ/viewform.
Or scan the QR code below.
For more go to winchesterrepairca.wixsite.com/winchesterrepairca.
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