Whanganui’s Repair Cafe gearing up for sustainability events in March and April

Repair Café Whanganui project lead Margi Keys. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui’s Repair Cafe is gearing up for its first event at the Gonville Community Centre, with clothes and soft textiles the first things on the list.

Members of the public can bring items that need repairing and an expert will get to work on them.

Project lead Margi Keys said many people had the skills and tools required to fix, mend or patch, and time on their hands to do it.

Skilful repairers were needed, from qualified electricians to DIY woodworkers to bookbinders, bike mechanics, darners and people who could sew, she said.

Under the Repair Cafe Aotearoa New Zealand (RCANZ) model, repairers volunteer their time during each two-hour session.

To help cover venue hire, a donation is requested from those who arrive with items to fix.

While waiting for a repairer, visitors can socialise over coffee and home baking.

More than 20 repair cafes operate around the country under the RCANZ banner.

“Fixing clocks, plastic and wooden toys, electrical appliances, ceramics, clothes and costume jewellery used to be how we extended the life of our damaged items, but somewhere along the line consumerism got in the way,” Keys said.

“For decades it has often been cheaper to replace items rather than fix them but this wastes valuable resources and increases the pressure on landfill sites.

“Things are changing.”

Repair cafes have popped up occasionally in Whanganui over the past few years at various venues. For two consecutive years, Peter Watson operated a mobile plastic repair stand during Plastic Free July.

“Our vision is a community which shares its repairing skills. It is part of the Sustainable Whanganui Trust kaupapa,” Keys said.

The group had found “lots of keen local menders and fixers”.

‘It’s encouraging to know these valuable skills are alive and well in Whanganui.”

The next two events will be held at the Gonville Community Room behind the Gonville Library in March and April.

“These will just be for mending clothes and other items made of soft textiles,” Keys said.

A free two-hour training session is being held on March 13 for volunteers and supporters before the first cafe on March 24.

For more information, email whanganuirepaircafe@gmail.com or go to the Repair Cafe Whanganui Facebook page.