Sept 2020 - Call for Repairs

Published in Charlbury Chronicle September 2020

The Climate Emergency Workshop held last February in Charlbury highlighted difficulties people have in getting things repaired and having to throw too many things away. Charlbury Green Hub had been thinking about holding Repair Cafés in Charlbury along the lines of others being held by community groups in Oxfordshire but the Covid-19 restrictions have made us rethink what might be possible.

First of all, we wouldn’t want to take work away from people who currently do repairs as a living and so we would help publicise people and companies who take on repairs locally. We do, however, want to help people get things repaired that they can’t otherwise get fixed.

We know there are several people in Charlbury who are good at fixing things – and there are probably a lot more, but we just don’t know who to contact and so end up throwing things away that could be repaired. I am quite lucky with my partner who has recently mended a broken glass photo frame for me, an old Sony Walkman, an old travelling alarm clock, and he even 3D printed the cogs for my broken Braun hand wand blender.

If you are good at fixing things and might have time to fix a few more things, then please get in touch with us at repairs@charlburygreenhub.org.uk or phone me on 01608 811057. Also please contact us about things you need repairing so we can get a feel about what sort of demands there are out there.

We would hope to have a small group of people with a variety of skills and when someone needs something repaired we could find the person with the best skillset to see if they could repair it. The people doing the repairs would have their own equipment and facilities to carry out the repair in their own homes; they would be able to take the time needed for background research, obtain spare parts etc and agree with the owner what would be possible and how much any materials might cost. In some cases, they might be able to show the owner how to do the repair themselves, thus sharing their skills.

We all love The Repair Shop on the BBC, this was originally shown to a small daytime audience but now reaches millions in a primetime slot each week. This is more about restoration by experts than simple repairs but it does highlight the emotional connections we have with our possessions and just what can be done. What strikes me is that the skills these experts show are fast disappearing and wouldn’t it be marvellous if such skills were able to be passed on to other generations.

CE
Charlbury Green Hub