Volunteers gathered last Saturday at a Farnham church for a special celebration.
Farnham Repair Cafe has hosted monthly gatherings at Spire Church but this was the 100th session.
The event, organised by the Centre for Sustainable Design at UCA, sees visitors bring broken and damaged items to be fixed. So far, the organisers estimate they have repaired goods worth at least £220,000 and saved more than 67 tonnes of waste from ending up in landfill.
One volunteer said: “If you go to the local tip there are hundreds of items, if not thousands, which could be repaired here.”
In attendance were some special guests including MP Greg Stafford, Cllr John Ward, Leader of Waverley Borough Council, and Farnham’s own Will Kirk, star of the BBC’s The Repair Shop.
Kirk chatted with repairers and volunteers about the work they were doing and posed for selfies.
Events such as the Bourne Show donated £250 to the organisation after it helped repair seven gazebos damaged in bad weather.
Volunteer Peter Dobson took on the task of fixing the seven gazebos at home using his technical knowledge and specialist machinery
Roger Goscomb said: “We are absolutely delighted it has saved us a fair amount of money and it has enabled us to have a bigger surplus this year to put back into the community.
“The variety of products that are coming through the door today is awesome and I don’t think enough people locally know this fantastic facility is here.”
Dobson said: “As a repair cafe, we are extremely lucky we have got about 30 to 35 people on the team and they cover all kinds of disciplines, from clothes repairs right through to mechanical and electrical engineering.”
Volunteer Gillian Hyman also created two cakes to celebrate the century of events with gluten-free and vegan options.
Farnham Repair Cafe has hosted monthly gatherings at Spire Church but this was the 100th session.
The event, organised by the Centre for Sustainable Design at UCA, sees visitors bring broken and damaged items to be fixed. So far, the organisers estimate they have repaired goods worth at least £220,000 and saved more than 67 tonnes of waste from ending up in landfill.
One volunteer said: “If you go to the local tip there are hundreds of items, if not thousands, which could be repaired here.”
In attendance were some special guests including MP Greg Stafford, Cllr John Ward, Leader of Waverley Borough Council, and Farnham’s own Will Kirk, star of the BBC’s The Repair Shop.
Kirk chatted with repairers and volunteers about the work they were doing and posed for selfies.
Events such as the Bourne Show donated £250 to the organisation after it helped repair seven gazebos damaged in bad weather.
Volunteer Peter Dobson took on the task of fixing the seven gazebos at home using his technical knowledge and specialist machinery
Roger Goscomb said: “We are absolutely delighted it has saved us a fair amount of money and it has enabled us to have a bigger surplus this year to put back into the community.
“The variety of products that are coming through the door today is awesome and I don’t think enough people locally know this fantastic facility is here.”
Dobson said: “As a repair cafe, we are extremely lucky we have got about 30 to 35 people on the team and they cover all kinds of disciplines, from clothes repairs right through to mechanical and electrical engineering.”
Volunteer Gillian Hyman also created two cakes to celebrate the century of events with gluten-free and vegan options.
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NewsTranscript
00:00So, it's great here to be at the Farnham Repair Cafe. It's the 100th session.
00:07We've got a fantastic turnout from customers and volunteers here today.
00:13This is the first of a set of milestones that we're looking forward to.
00:18March next year we'll have the 10th anniversary and we are still continuing to have an impact.
00:265,000 people through the door. We've completed over 2,500 repairs which is about 67% repair rate.
00:35We're having big environmental impacts, reducing landfill by 7 tonnes and 70 tonnes of carbon
00:44and £220,000 back into the community through citizen savings for people not having to buy products.
00:53100th session, excellent turnout, looking forward to the future.