A NEW monthly cafe is coming to Stoke Climsland to help the community to learn invaluable life skills and come together to combat our throwaway culture.

The Stoke Climsland Repair Cafe is starting this month at The Old School with the aim of helping people to repair their broken items, whilst sharing skills as a community.

Ruth Nevill, Trustee at The Old School expressed that the idea for the repair cafe came from seeking to reduce waste and landfill, and encouraging people to repair items to promote sustainability and to help people to save money in light of the current cost of living crisis.

Ruth said: ‘As a family, we try not to waste stuff and try to repair it.

‘Recently people are becoming more aware of repairing things, but there are still a lot of people who just buy new because they either can’t fix it, or they don’t want to fix it.

‘I think the idea for the repair cafe has come from a place of trying to reduce waste and save money. Making things more sustainable, and encouraging people to think differently.

‘Then there’s also the social side of bringing people together whether they want to have something fixed or not.’

A workshop event held at the start of the year saw over 40 people come together to express their support for the cafe. Over 20 people offered their services as repairers who will be able to provide a range of services including bicycle repair, jewellery repair, needlework and sewing skills, and electrical repair and testing. With others offering to bake cakes for the cafe.

The new monthly repair cafe will promote intergenerational sharing of skills to enable people to have items fixed and be able to learn the skills to fix items on their own.

‘My parents’ generation didn’t throw anything away’, said Ruth.

‘Then there was our generation where everything was so widely available that you didn’t have to keep stuff and it’s even more widely available now and is cheap and throwaway.

‘The older generation have got skills that we need to capture otherwise people won’t have those simple repair skills or maybe won’t even think about repairing something because it’s beyond them.’

The first official Stoke Climsland Repair Cafe will be held on Saturday March 18 from 9am until 1pm in The Old School.

All are welcome to bring their broken items and enjoy refreshments within a relaxed and welcoming community space.

The cafe will be run on a donation basis and anyone wishing to volunteer is encouraged to chat with the team. To get in contact with the team email: [email protected]