By Juliet Merrifield
What a year 2023 was! Over 400 items were brought in for repair last year, double the number in our first year. In January we moved to our new location at Age Concern, linked with the Hassocks Village Market on the fourth Saturday of the month. We were blown away by the numbers of people bringing items for repair, and apologies to the people who had to queue a long time.
Our talented volunteer repairers managed to repair 75% of the repairs attempted. That’s a lot of items given life extensions and kept out of the landfill. Based on the Repair Café Carbon Calculator (using averaged data), these successful repairs will result in emission savings equivalent to more than 9000kg of CO2, equivalent to flying 60,000 miles (that’s three times round the world). Hats off to the team!
What can we work on? The answer is a very wide array of household items.
• mechanical and electrical items, such as vacuum cleaners, toasters, kettles, coffee makers, air fryers, radios, CD players, keyboards, lamps, clocks
• we can also PAT test electrical items to be sure they are safe to use
• wooden items, such as picture frames, chairs or tables with wobbly legs, knife handles
• garden tools ¬- we replace handles for forks or spades, secateurs, repair cords for hedge trimmers and lawnmowers
• treasured objects that need to be delicately glued like statues, toys
• textiles - repair or replace zips, sew up seams, replace buttons, stitch up little holes and tears
• sharpening knives, scissors, garden tools
• There are only a few things we don’t work on: microwaves, bicycles, pressure cookers, child’s car seats. If you’re not sure about something, just get in touch, as we may be able to help or refer you to a professional.
• items must be clean
• it must be something you can carry in
• if a part is needed, you need to purchase it (or refund us if we supply it) • you bring items for repair at your own risk, we can offer no guarantee for repairs
• repairers are entitled to refuse to repair items
The Repair Café Hassocks team are all volunteers, and we welcome new people to join our friendly group. It’s a free service and we are able to cover our costs like rent of the space, public liability insurance, special equipment and publicity costs through small donations.
You can bring items to the repair café at the Age Concern centre on Dale Avenue on the fourth Saturday of every month, except August and December. No booking needed, just bring items between 9.30 and 11.30 am. Small repairs can usually be done on the day. If parts or special tools are required, our repairers may agree to take an item home to work on and arrange collection later.
Contact us by email repaircafe@hkdtransition. org.uk, phone 01273 040110, or visit us onFacebook www.facebook.com/repaircafehassocks