At our session in May we will be closing at 12:30 to allow us time for our Annual General meeting

Our session today (21 March) was our busiest ever, with record donations and cafe takings, so thanks to all concerned. Our eight repairers dealt with dozens of items.

The sewing team repaired a pair of shorts, shortened trousers for two customers, shortened the sleeves on a cashmere sweater, adapted a dog coat and replaced the elastic straps on a car cover.

Our mechanical and electrical team were kept busy too, cleaning and sharpening numerous secateurs, shears and loppers. They repaired two electric clocks, removed rust from a tin opener, and repaired:

1. an electric heater;
2. a metal detector;
3. a paper shredder;
4. a loudspeaker amplifier unit;
5. a desk lamp with a faulty switch;
6. a vacuum cleaner;
7. solar fairy lights amputated in a hedge-trimmer accident;
8. a stool with a wobbly leg; and
9. a child’s electric ride-on car

The only things beyond repair were a soup maker and a cuckoo clock.

Our thanks to today’s patrons for their generous donations.

We were able to repair four out of six items this month.

On the sewing front we replaced the pockets on a pair of trousers to make them bigger and more useful, shortened another pair of trousers and gave advice about a new zip.

An electrical cooler box (pictured) came in, reported as working on mains power but not on 12-volt supply. The fault was simply a broken solder joint on the 12-volt connector (soon repaired). Meanwhile a wooden stool had its loose legs reconnected firmly, but both a plug and a radio were considered not repairable.

A quiet month, but we will get busier as spring approaches.  Beat the rush and bring your gardening tools next time.

Repairers are everywhere

Short video clip from the BBC with volunteers from a Welsh Repair café.  It explains very clearly what we are all about, here in Newent too.

By Martin Roper

TIP: There are two types of cross-head screws. It’s important to use the correct screwdriver to prevent damage to the screw and possibly round it off. Note that the Posidrive has extra flutes on the screwdriver while the Phillips is plain