'Just neighbours trying to help neighbours' at Winslow's Repair Cafe

Bikes were fixed, clothing was stitched and vacuum cleaners were cleaned out at Winslow' s Repair Cafe on Saturday.

In addition, lamps were mended, knives, secateurs and loppers were sharpened, and there was even a knitting workshop for a six-year-old crafter.

Staffed by a team of willing volunteers, the monthly St Laurence Repair Cafe was set up in October 2021 by Rev Mark Nelson, the curate of St Laurence Church, with the aim of helping to keep broken and damaged items out of landfill.

Before coming to Winslow, Rev Mark, aged 49, was a head gardener at various National Trust properties.

And he said: "Working with machines, as you do, I've always been a tinkerer.

"And obviously, working in nature, I've always been interest in reducing an impact and actually reducing the waste that we produce and trying to live in a sustainable way.

"Sustainability's always been at the heart of what it is I've done."

Rev Mark had the idea for setting up the repair cafe when he first arrived in Winslow nine months ago.

"But then, of course, Covid came along and everything stopped dead," he said.

"And then towards the end of last year, we were trying to revive it.

"I had a few chats with people, and what I found was people got really excited."

The Repair Cafe movement began in the Netherlands in 2009 and now there are Repair Cafes worldwide.

Rev Mark said: "I visited one in Aston Clinton and it was wonderful.

"There were people coming into church and they were bringing all sorts, and it was full and people were drinking tea and chatting, and actually a real sense of community.

"So you're not just repairing things, you're also sort of allowing people to meet their neighbours and also get out the house and have a chat in a nice relaxed atmosphere."

The St Laurence Repair Cafe began with the question: "How can we stop things going into landfill?" Rev Mark said.

"Because a lot of things that break aren't serious, or they just need a clean-up or need sharpened or a lead has broken or something, so a lot of it is fairly simple.

"And so, when I talked to people, they were very responsive.

"I mean, everyone thinks it's a good idea and of course it also ties into this idea that we appear to have lost the skills that maybe our parents had.

"I know it's a bit of a cliche, but that whole idea of make do and mend."

And he added: "A lot of the people who are volunteering with us are retired and they've had a long and productive life, and actually they've got all these skills that they don't share.

"And so it's passing down knowledge from people who know and people who've learned."

The fixers include volunteers who specialise in sewing, electrical repairs and bikes, plus more generalist repairers who can turn their hand to a variety of things

Rev Mark himself - as a former head gardener - is happy sharpening knives and garden tools.

He said: "We don't call ourselves experts - we're not - we're just neighbours trying to help neighbours."

"We don't know what anyone's going to bring in from month to month," he added.

"We've had an old Dansette record player someone brought in and we got that up and running.

"Garden shears which, quite frankly, look like they've been left out in the rain for the last 20 years - that's quite common.

"Someone came in with an iron that was tripping all the electrics in the house so they fixed that for them.

"People bring in lamps and have the electrics checked on that.

"We've had people coming in with broken pottery, ripped seams in clothing, repairing holes in knitting."

But the Repair Cafe is not about taking trade away from local businesses, Rev Mark said..

"I don't want to rob business of business. I don't think that seems fair.

"And we don't guarantee that we can repair it - we're just having a go.

"Most of the things that come in just need a clean quite often. It's not as if you're taking it all apart down to the nuts and bolts - it's usually fairly obvious

"And from an environmental point of view, it's actually about saying it doesn't have to be about just throwing it out and buying new.

"There's all sorts of creative ways that we can approach this problem and do what we can to try and make it so that people can change how they look at these things."

And on top of stopping things going to landfill, Rev Mark said: "An important part of the Repair Cafe is actually trying to get the person who owns whatever it is to sit down and do it, and actually hopefully help them do it themselves.

"So the relationship they have with their object has changed. Because once you've taken something apart and repaired it, it actually becomes more yours."

The next St Laurence Repair Cafe will be on Saturday, February 1, at the St. Laurence Room, on Winslow's market square.