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Jun 2024
Repair café launches this week in Harrogate
The first session of a new repair café in Harrogate will take place on Saturday following the success of a call-out for volunteers.
People will be able to take along their household items and clothing to be repaired on the spot for free by a team of volunteer ‘fixers’.
The Harrogate group is part of an international movement which promotes repairing items as an alternative to binning them. It is the first of its kind to set up in the district.
In a post on the repair café’s Facebook page, organiser William Sanders said he had been "blown away by the response" to the initiative. More than 30 people attended an initial meeting for volunteers last month, and a £60 donation was received to enable the café to get off the ground.
The Facebook page itself, set up just a few weeks ago, now has more than 450 members.
Mr Sanders told the Stray Ferret:
Repair cafés are on the rise across the UK as more people recognise the impact of waste and the ‘throwaway society’ on the environment.
TV programmes such as the Repair Shop have also raised awareness of the value of fixing cherished personal items, while the cost of living crisis has brought about a shift in attitude to repairing rather than replacing items.
Speaking earlier this month, Mr Sanders said he was excited to add Harrogate to the network of repair cafés. It follows the success of the initiative in Leeds, where he has volunteered as a fixer of electrical items. He said:
We’d love to stop things going to landfill by helping the community to get things fixed, as well as giving volunteers the rewarding opportunity to meet like-minded people and share their skills.
The Harrogate Repair Café will run on the third Saturday of each month. The first session takes place at the Friends Meeting House on Saturday, June 15, from 12pm to 4pm.
Anyone interested in getting involved or making a donation can email harrogaterepaircafe@gmail.com.
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