Shirley Repair Café

St James by the Park has been hosting and supporting the Shirley Repair Cafe for 3 years. Led mainly by a Cell group, we host, provide free hot drinks and homemade cakes for the people attending and also have 2 regular engineers from our Church congregation. Together with the Repair Cafe volunteers from across the city, we aim to keep as much as we can out of landfill.

A typical morning might see broken vacuum cleaners, food mixers or lawn mowers coming in for repair. Torn clothing or small fabric repairs are seen by the sewers, who have sewing machines on site. We have a jewellery repairer, a knife sharpener, a laptop specialist and lots of very handy people who enjoy a challenge. We also have a bike enthusiast who will make small repairs or carry out a service on brakes etc. All this is done for free, “while you wait,” with only a request for donations which are reinvested back into the Repair Cafe.

Whilst St James only hosts every other month, there is a Repair Cafe happening every first and third Saturday of the month somewhere across the city.

There are so many reasons to support the Repair Cafe concept. Besides the cost of replacing items that could be repaired, the most important benefit is to stop perfectly good items ending up in landfill, where they will sit for years and years, if not forever. As Christians we are instructed to be Guardians of God’s creation and as a Cell, we feel passionate about protecting the Earth and the consequences of unnecessary waste.

If you want any more information about our Repair Cafe here or general information about dates or where else they run, please come and speak to Jo or Mark Hilliard. Or check out Facebook or come along to our next Repair Cafe on Saturday 7^th March from 10.30 until 12.30.

(This will be in the Church building due to the parish hall renovations)