This is the report presented to the AGM on 20 June 2026
I would like to start by thanking our fantastic volunteer repairers, along with our catering and front-desk team, for their dedication during the course of the year, and in particular to acknowledge Martin Roper whom we lost this year and who was a stalwart of the project since its inception. Can I also record my thanks to Viv Price who although still with us is no longer able to be actively engaged with our sessions. We miss the contributions both made over the years.
This report covers the year to December 2025 and is the first chairman’s report since we put ourselves on a formal footing by agreeing a constitution, appointing a committee, and opening a bank account. Having a bank account and appointing a treasurer are important given that we are custodians of public donations.
Our formal constitution dates from 9 July when we appointed Howard Atkins, Catherine Mason, Martin Roper and me as our management committee. Among the first actions taken by the committee were to deposit our accumulated takings at the bank and to improve the front-desk procedures and record-keeping, including attendance at sessions as well as repairs undertaken. Because records prior to this are incomplete, I am only able to state the results from September onwards, during which period we attended to 52 items, of which 45 were successfully completed.
As a footnote I can report that since the end of 2025 we have also sharpened up our public-relations act with a small web site (NewentRepairCafe.org) where people can see our session dates, enquire about possible repairs, book session reminders and read illustrated case histories all in one place. We have stopped relying on a Facebook page, which had become cluttered with out-of-date material and made it too easy for readers to be lured away. We still use Facebook, but only to send people to the web site, where we can retain their attention. The web site has generally made it feasible to advertise our activities effectively. We have a standing small advertisement in the local free paper the NewAd, articles have been placed in parish magazines to good effect, and we have an entry in Newent Compass (a directory of voluntary groups) to name just some of the channels through which we are promoting ourselves. The impact has been marked and we have gone from having a session where we lost money to a situation where our repairers are kept busy, with donations and refreshment sales bringing in £100 per session (and even in April when we had to cancel for want to volunteers, we made £35 from customers who turned up anyway).
Once again my thanks to everyone involved.
Vilnis Vesma
Chairman, Newent Mend and Repair Café
19 June 2026
Version 3
I had to admit defeat with this electric-fence unit, which was showing no signs of life in spite of having had a new battery fitted. Having tested the battery and the solar panel which is meant to charge it, I was forced to conclude that the electronic control board was faulty – way beyond my capabilities!
Our sewing team are always up to a challenge, and volunteer Anne came up with the goods on 20 June when presented with this horse’s bridle with a dodgy strap, brought in by a travelling caravan dweller. She concluded that although badly cracked, the leather was basically sound and just needed restitching, which she was able to do on the day.