Meet the repair team - the volunteers giving broken household items a new lease of life

But there is a growing army of volunteers determined to tackle our throwaway culture - and help the planet in the process.

Many items destined for landfill could easily be given a new lease of life and carry on being used for years to come with just a simple repair.

Around the globe repair cafes have sprung up giving people the chance to share their skills and fix broken and damaged items.

At Telford Repair Cafe volunteer repairers help people to mend what they already own, saving them money and reducing waste.

It is part of an international Repair Café movement that was started by Martine Postma in Amsterdam in 2009 to fight climate change by bringing communities together.

Today, there are more than 2,200 Repair Cafes in dozens of countries worldwide including Belgium, Germany, France and the United States.

The Telford branch was set up as a community interest group in 2018, meeting once a month at a local café. Visitors bring their broken items for repair and the expert and enthusiastic volunteers fix them.

People can watch the repair taking place and even help so they can learn how to do it themselves.

If a part is needed to complete the repair, the repairer will give the owner the details of the exact part needed and likely cost so that you they order it and return on another date for the repair to be done.

Volunteers, including helpers from community group Men in Sheds, with wide ranging skills help to fix most items, such as broken vacuum cleaners, watches, jewellery, radios, furniture, hems and seams and blunt knives.

There is never a charge for a repair but those who can afford to do so are encouraged to make a small donation which goes towards the cost of hiring the venue.

Ann Johnson, who runs the project, says visitors bring an average of 20 items needing some TLC to each session.

The repair cafe meets on the last Saturday of the month at different venues around Telford.

"We will try to fix anything that has stopped working and is too good to throw away or anything that someone loves like clothing that they don't want to throw away," she tells Weekend.

There are financial and environmentally benefits to trying to mend items instead of discarding them before their time.

"It's saving people money and saving things from going to landfill. I think more and more people are seeing it as part of the big environmental challenge that's facing us all.

"It can be easy to think that saving the environment is such as a big challenge that it's bigger than what we can do as individuals. But there are small things that we can all do as individuals that all add up.

"We all know about recycling rubbish but no throwing away things that can be repaired is another thing we can do. "The repairs mean you can carry on using that item, it's keeping its life going.

"I took in a pair of jeans that I absolutely love but they were looking quite threadbare. They were patched for me so I could carry on wearing them.

"It's not just the repairs, the volunteers get a lot out of it and they enjoy fixing things. And I think people enjoy learning about the practical skills because not so many people know how to fix things these days," adds Ann.

Among the items brought along to a recent meeting at Donnington Community Hub were a chainshaw, a foot spa and a children's toy, which demonstrates the variety of repairs, which the team can undertake.

Last year, Telford Repair Cafe received a £2,500 cash boost from The EnviroGrant funding scheme run by Veolia in partnership with Telford & Wrekin Council.

"We bought lots of bits of equipment that people tend to need like fuses, tools and aprons to keep our volunteers safe. We also bought PAT (Portable appliance testing) equipment and also trained our volunteers so they can safely check electrical items," explains Ann.

Telford Repair Cafe is keen to help spread the word about the benefits of mending items rather than discarding them before the end of their useful life.

"Our hope is that we encourage more communities and neighbourhoods to start their own. We have lots of plans for the future, we would like to be able to go to schools to do uniform repairs so people don't have to replace them all the time," says Ann.

The next Telford Repair Cafe meetings will be at Brookside Central, Burford, Brookside, Telford, TF3 1LP on January 29 and February 26 from 10am until 2pm.

*The repair cafe team is always on the lookout for more volunteers. If you have a skill or love to fix thing and would like to help, they would love to hear from you. People can also help with organising, administration, marketing and welcoming visitors.

Email info@telfordrepaircafe.co.uk or fill out the contact form on the website telfordrepaircafe.co.uk