PEASEDOWN Repair Cafe has recently celebrated its fifth birthday having been used by more than 300 people since its inception.

The cafe is led by volunteers who mend cherished items brought in by locals in an attempt to move away from the ‘buy it and chuck it’ mentality.

The team at Peasedown Repair Cafe, who marked the occasion on Saturday, June 22, has seen all sorts of items pass through its doors over the years.

A spokesman for the team said: “We have seen all sorts of things brought in for repair – a treasured wooden cat, a sledge hammer used down the pits, many, many toasters and vacuum cleaners, bikes, a play teepee – the list is endless. 

“Within nine months of opening the cafe was closed down by Covid but things began to ease. Although it wasn’t possible to resume serving coffees and doing the repairs in an enclosed space, we started a ‘take away’ service where people brought items in, we logged them in, took them to our repairers and then returned them. 

“Thankfully for the last three and a half years the repair café has been back in business and seen a steady flow of items for repair.”

Repair Cafes started in Amsterdam and have spread across the world.  The idea is simple, people who have treasured items, an electrical appliance, an item of clothing, a clock or more can bring them to the cafe where a group of volunteers with a range of skills are available to try and repair them.

Those wanting repairs done can have a coffee while they wait and there is always the possibility of learning how to do make repairs themselves.

Sometimes volunteers have to break the bad news that the item is beyond help, but they normally go home home fit for use.

The Peasedown Repair Café started in 2019 at the Methodist Church in the middle of the village. Since then, more than 700 items have been brought in for repair, 425 have been mended and only 158 were beyond repair (the rest were either be brought back when a part was available at a later date or the owners were told what they could do to make the repair themselves.  

The next Repair Cafés in Peasedown are on Saturday, July 27, and Saturday, September 28.  (The High Littleton Repair Café is on the first Saturday of every month and the Farmborough Repair Café is on the second Saturday.)