A Repair Café is a community meeting project that focuses on repairing items rather than throwing them away. The concept was developed by Dutch journalist Martine Postma to promote sustainability and combat the culture of waste. Her café idea quickly spread worldwide as a https://www.repaircafe.org/en/ grassroots movement towards sustainability.
Six months ago I couldn’t even wire a plug. Today, I still can’t wire a plug. However, I can point people in the direction of those who can, I’m happy to make tea and coffee, and I can book the Tregony Village Hall to do it all in – so I’m perfectly suited to be the first organiser/people wrangler/BDFN* of Tregony’s new Repair Café!
At its core, a Repair Café is a gathering where people bring broken items—from electronics and appliances to bicycles and clothing—and work collaboratively with volunteers to fix them. These volunteers are often skilled in various trades or hobbies, offering their expertise for free. The idea is for people to learn how to make repairs—or even wire a plug.
We’re launching the Tregony Repair Café at the Village Hall on the fourth Saturday of February 2024 (the 24th), from 1 to 3 pm, and continue monthly (skipping August and December). The café will be part of https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/rubbish-recycling-and-waste/recycling/repair-cafes The Cornwall Repair Café Network and the wider international Repair Café movement.
At the moment, the project is being led by me, Ian Hocking, a software developer living in Tregony. I was born and raised in Sticker and after being away for almost thirty years I’ve returned – largely because the broadband is faster.
The idea for the café was initially floated on Facebook’s ‘Tregony Community Events and Information’ group and received likes, thumbs-up, and generally positive vibes. As well as financial support from the Roseland Surgeries Social Prescribing Group and the Tregony Sports and Social Club, we’ve received encouragement from the Village Hall, Roseland Councillor Julian German, the Roseland Environment Action Community Team (REACT), the St Austell Repair Café, and, of course, informally from other members of the village and wider community.
As far as I’m aware, there are currently no other repair cafés on the Roseland of which we are aware. The closest are Falmouth, Penryn, Truro, and St Austell. The café, by its nature, encourages social interaction and community engagement, offering a welcoming space for people of all ages. You are welcome to drop in to have a look and a chat, even if you don’t need anything repaired.
To stay connected, discover more at our website https://www.tregonyrepaircafe.org and for any queries, feel free to drop us an email at contact@tregonyrepaircafe.org – at that email you can also ask to sign up to our mailing list. We do have a Facebook page too (search for “Tregony repair cafe”). It goes without saying that we need volunteers to help repair things, volunteers to help guide customers, and we’re looking for more sponsorship, and if someone could tell me how to wire a plug, that would be great.
* Benevolent Dictator for Now – but not forever! If you’d like to help out with some of the longer-term administration, please let me know.