Cafe brings new life to old stuff

PEOPLE who want to save gadgets and clothes from landfill are being encouraged to bring them along to the Fishponds Repair Café.

Part of an international movement, the group's volunteers get busy mending, darning and gluing things for local people twice a month.

Sessions are held at All Saints Church in Grove Road on the first Saturday of the month, from 10am until noon, and every third Saturday of the month at the Vassall Centre, from 10am until 2pm.

Volunteer Kate Brooks said: "The idea behind the cafes is that people will be encouraged to reuse and recycle things, and not throw them away.

"The team of volunteers currently includes experienced engineers, gardeners, electrical and computer experts and knitters and sewers.

"Their highlights so far have been an old Singer sewing machine, with its original 1918 instruction booklet, and a vintage, much loved bear, who was gently restored to her former glory."

Alongside five or six friendly experts, who try and mend items and advise and guide people on how to make repairs themselves, the Repair Café at the Vassall Centre also has a shop of restored, cleaned items courtesy