It’s essentially a place where people can bring their items that are broken and get them repaired. They are encouraged to stay and learn about how to repair things themselves in the future if they wish. All for a donation to the running costs.
In Kington we started one with some help from the Malvern Repair Café group in June 2016 and its been going well since then. (We first checked with a couple of local businesses to make sure we did not conflict too much) We have synchronised with the Arts and Craft market that runs for 9 months of the year from April to December on the 3rd Saturday of the month in the Market Square.
We started off with a core team of specialist volunteers and support from KLEEN and have grown this to a team of 7 to allow some flexibility as to who helps each month. We are always interested in finding more people !
We will have a go at fixing a wide range of items that can be hand carried to us, including electrical appliances, mechanical, tools, textiles, clothing repairs, computers, crockery, jewelry, toys, musical instruments, furniture. Almost anything in fact that could ideally be repaired in about 30 mins.
We bring all the tools and materials needed for a safe and successful repair in as many cases as possible.
Since starting in Kington we have been successful with returning over 300 items to use. A recent study showed that on average the carbon saving per fixed item was 24kg CO2e .
And we are repairing an unusually high number of toasters, so I’m not sure what that says about the region….?
Our Repair Café info is also at : https://repaircafe.org/en/location/kington-kleen-repair-cafe/
Gordon Coppock Chair of Kington Local Environment and Energy Network , Kington,
Website :
http://www.kingtonkleen.org.uk/
Email : Kleen@live.co.uk
Facebook : Kington.Kleen
Kington KLEEN Repair Café
Twitter: @KingtonKleen
https://twitter.com/kingtonkleen?lang=en