CHISWICK’S Repair Cafe

It used to be considered shameful to get things mended. Having shoes re-heeled or clothes patched and darned was the sort of thing poor people did. Now it is considered a badge of honour to pass on stuff you no longer need to others who can make use of it, or to get something mended rather than just throwing it out.

In a bid to do their bit to save the planet, by working towards a sustainable future rather than contributing to the throw-away society the baby boomer generation have become used to, four women in Chiswick started up the Repair Café six months ago, once a month in Christ Church on Turnham Green.

“It has been a tremendous success” Charlotte Bullock tells me, so much so that they now have 30 or 40 volunteers on their books who are willing and able to mend things and they have to tell people not all to come at 10.30 when they open, as they have had queues of people down the road, waiting to get in. People bring chairs, picture frames, coffee machines, Hoovers, jumpers, teddy bears… “if you can carry it, bring it” says Charlotte. Unlike charity shops, their insurance covers electrical goods.

“We have a brilliant group of volunteers. The men have bonded, which is lovely. There are some younger men who tend to do the computers. There is rather an embarrassing gender divide, in that the men tend to do the gluing and fixing and the women the sewing and darning, but we have one

Volunteer Who Crosses That

gender divide.”

The four organisers met through Hounslow Council’s initiative to create ‘environmental champions’. “None of us can fix anything” she says, “but we met at a webinar, realised we were all from Chiswick and decided to meet up to see how we could support each other.” chiswickrepaircafe.com

Charlotte at that time was working with an eco start-up, Kate Hollis was a clean air campaigner, Jill Spencer was organising litter-picking, and MarieClaire Meisels trying to organise the planting of a ‘Great West hedge’ along the A4.

The four of them sought the advice of the ‘Six Dads’, who had set up a repair café in Twickenham a few months earlier and joined the Repair Café Foundation, a worldwide network of repair cafes started originally in the Netherlands some 20 years ago, with members in New York, cities in India, all over the world. They received a £1,000 ‘Thriving Communities’ grant from LB Hounslow and rented the space from the church.

Six months later they now have their own website, where they are promoting existing businesses in the area which already mend things. If you would like to get something mended, the dates in April and May are Saturday 22nd April and Saturday 20th May, 10.30am – 1pm. Donations encouraged (a suggested sum of £5 - £10 per item).