Stratford repair cafe to fix and give life to broken items

Repair cafe volunteer Ray Wales repairs an antique toy.

Stratford’s popular repair cafe is returning.

Residents are being asked to save their broken items from a trip to the landfill and instead take them to the repair cafe, taking place at Stratford’s War Memorial Centre.

Stratford District Council waste and water education officer Peter McNamara says there will be a team of skilled volunteer repairers ready to do the job for free.

“There’s no booking required, just turn up. 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.

The 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.

Peter says there were over 60 free repairs, with electrical, furniture, sewing, mechanical and bike repairs being the most popular.

“It’s now an event for the community, run by the community.”

The Details:

What: Stratford Repair Cafe

When: Saturday April 29, 11.30am- 3pm.

More information: Stratford.govt.nz/RepairCafe. Volunteers can email wasteminimisation@stratford.govt.nz.