As seen on TV
You've probably seen the hit TV series, The Repair Shop on BBC? Now that's if you are a UK citizen and I'm guessing it may be available in other parts of the World via iPlayer. It's a great watch, it's also filmed in a part of England that's not far from where we live, ok maybe a 50 minute drive but I consider that fairly close. It's a lovely place in a pretty part of the world.
They've been around for longer than they've been on the Telly
In recent years a number of "Repair Cafes" have popped up all over the UK, some are more frequent than others, they've become a movement, a thing and an organisation was formed to bring them together and to help raise awareness of these events.
It's a great idea and in these times, where more people are worried about money than ever before, plus the concerns over landfill, the environment etc. Why throw things away when you can, just repair them, make them good again. Why chuck away the vacuum cleaner when all it needs is a new motor? Bicycle front wheel buckled? There will be someone there who can probably sort that out for you? You can also enjoy a nice coffee and cakes whilst you wait and have a chat with the other people. So it's a great social opportunity plus you'll learn stuff too and to develop a different mindset. Your bank account will benefit too.
It's worth mentioning that most people who fix things at Repair Cafes don't repair family heirlooms like they do on the Repair Shop TV show! They're happy to fix your normal household products and nothing more than that.
Our local Repair Cafe
When we moved to Spencers Wood village last year, we got involved with the local village hall, it all started around the time of my 50th birthday, as the hall was the venue for my birthday party. We got to meet som of the people involved and throughout the rest of 2022, we had events such as the Queens Jubilee and Christmas carols. Slowly but surely we've got to know some of our fellow villagers. Things here are less fussy than where we used to live
We got to learn about the events they host here, there are weekly Yoga classes, a board games club and it's hired by many other people for their birthday celebrations and so on.
One of the events that caught our eye was of course, the Repair Cafe and my wife (being on the village hall committee) helps out there. I've not been down to one yet, so decided to pop on my shoes and take a walk down there with my iPhone for a camera.
Since I look after the village hall website, it's a nice easy Wordpress thingy, I thought it would be good to introduce myself to people and grab some photos for the website and this blog at the same time. Cunning little plan, Mr B (for those Blackadder fans out there).
What was going on today?
My wife was helping out on the cafe side of the Repair Cafe, she had been up early to bake 3 kinds of different scone!
It was nice and busy down there today with the main hall being used for the repairs area, split across several tables with each one being dedicated to certain things. One lady here was repairing a bag and other needlecraft. The man next to her was by the looks of things mending a clothing airer from what I could tell.
There were some mechanical repairs taking place too such as in the picture below, where this gentleman was fixing a wall mounted clock. He was talking to it's owner about how he proposed to mend it. People certainly learn a lot of skills here and make friends along the way. Great stuff.
Village life, a blog series
I'll add these to a CCC or whatever they're called on Hive, as there are a number of things coming up we are already involved with and may get involved with as it were. The biggest event this year will be the King's Coronation in May, so that will be something pretty epic here. The Queen's Jubilee last year was massive, 500 people were expected but we reckon in reality 1000+ arrived in the recreation park that day, all of them with a picnic rug, chairs, food and drinks.
The Village Life theme is a good one for the blog and for my photography practice, I'll pen a few more posts for this series over time.
Question for seasoned Hivers - can you start a CCC series with one post, even if the other posts aren't yet written and could be authored some time later? Can you amend posts later to make them ccc and can you title that ccc???