We’re a group of people passionate about prolonging the life of household items and helping Winchester become more sustainable! We’re proposing the launch of a Repair Cafe in Winchester and would love you to come along to our drop-in events during Winchester Green Week at Unit 12 CIC and Badger Farm Community Centre. The purpose of the meetings is to justify that there’s a demand for a repair café in Winchester, find potential funders and volunteers as well as understanding what it is that people need repaired or want to learn how to repair themselves.

Read more: New sustainable charity Winchester Repair Café gauges public need and interest ahead of 2023 launch

Come along to the next drop-in event at the Community Centre on Saturday 1 October between 10.30am and 2.30pm.

Tell us what you think

We’d be so grateful if you could fill in our questionnaire to help us decide the next steps for a Repair Café in Winchester. You can click the link here or scan the QR code below.

Volunteers needed!

We are looking for volunteers not just to repair, but to run the session (there is always admin!) on the day and help run the Café long term. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to get involved in a project which helps the environment, reducing waste and the consumption of new materials. As well as saving the planet it also saves money and gives fresh lease of life to often much-loved items of sentimental value. This is an opportunity to share and invest your time and skills for the benefit of our community and all of us in Winchester.

Having visited a number of Repair Cafés I have seen the camaraderie of the repair volunteers, enjoyed a cheery bacon roll from the refreshment volunteers and been overwhelmed by the goodwill of those giving and receiving help. Vital to this is the support of volunteers. People are needed to repair, facilitate and manage so if you are interested in sharing your knowledge and experience or your enthusiasm do come along and see us on Saturday. You can also email us at bfobrca.manager@gmail.com.

More about Repair Café

The Repair Café is an international movement which started in the Netherlands and now spans Europe, the UK, the US and Asia. Rather than throwing away items like small electrical goods, furniture, clothing, bikes or other things, volunteers will help try and repair and share their skills. At the same time people can also enjoy a cup of tea and some homemade baking and meeting others of the same mind.

There are several Repair Cafés running in Hampshire, but coincidently we have a namesake in Winchester, MA in the USA who have been up and running since 2021 (pandemic allowing) so if you Google Winchester Repair Café be prepared for a trip across the ocean.