Stratford’s popular Repair Café is back!
Repair Café volunteer, Ray Wales, repairs an antique toy
Stratford residents are being asked to save their broken items from a trip to the landfill. Organisers of Stratford’s Repair Café have announced they’re opening their free pop-up repair service in the Stratford War Memorial Centre on Saturday 29 April from 11.30am to 3pm.
Peter McNamara, Stratford District Council Waste and Water Education Officer, encourages everyone to look in their homes and garages and bring in one or two items that need some TLC.
“We’ve got a great team of skilled volunteer repairers who’ll do simple jobs on the day for free. There’s no booking required; just turn up,” says Peter.
“We want to show our community that you don’t need to chuck out items if they’re broken. Repairing items is often cheaper than replacing them and it’s better for the environment too.”
The Stratford Repair Café has skilled repairers for electrical goods, mechatronics, clothes and fabrics, bikes, tools, jewellery, furniture, and more.
Simple repairs at the café will be free. If it looks like a job will take over 30 minutes, the repairer can give a quote and timeframe for the repair. Any money collected for a quoted job will go to the repairer. There may be a charge for special parts or materials, but no mark-up will be added. More information is available at Stratford.govt.nz/RepairCafe
Stratford District Council organised the last Repair Café in December 2022 to test the idea and promote waste minimisation in the community. Peter says it was such a success that the organisation of the Café has been taken over by the community repairers with support from the council.
“The last Café was incredibly popular. We had great feedback and completed over 60 free repairs, with electrical, furniture, sewing, mechanical and bike repairs being the most popular,” says Peter.
“It’s now an event for the community, run by the community. Please get in touch at wasteminimisation@stratford.govt.nz if you want to join in on the fun, share your handy-person skills with your neighbours, and volunteer.”
