Fixing is on the menu at new repair cafés in Oswestry and Llanfyllin

Extinction Rebellion, Oswestry and Llanfyllin community group Brace (Building Resilience Against Climate Emergency) are organising monthly repair cafes that will alternate between the two towns on the first Saturday of the month from 12-3pm.

Tomorrow the cafe will be held at the Memorial Hall in Oswestry.

Volunteer repair experts will be available to mend items free of charge. People visiting the Repair Café can take along their broken items from home to be fixed and sit with the experts and learn how to make the repair themselves.

There will be 19 'fixperts' at the Memorial Hall this Saturday offering their skills in repairing clothing/ textiles, electrical appliances, bicycles, computers, furniture, musical instruments, clocks, watches, phones, ceramics and sewing machines.

The Repair Café concept originated in the Netherlands. Amsterdam-based journalist/publicist Martine Postma created the Repair Café Foundation in 2010 to provide support to local groups around the world wishing to start their own café. Oswestry and Borders Repair Café is part of the network.

Habit

Bonjo Evans of XR, Oswestry and Borders said: "There is so much unnecessary waste. Reducing consumption is a way every one of us can save precious natural resources and do our bit to tackle the climate emergency.

“People have got out of the habit of repairing things. Many people are struggling financially, so not spending a lot of money unnecessarily on new products can really make a difference,”

The aim is also to share repair skills.

Brace’s Rhian Davies said: "If you repair a bike or a pair of trousers together with someone you perhaps haven’t spoken to before, you look at that person in a different light the next time you meet them in the street. Jointly making repairs brings people together.”

Home-made cakes will be available while people wait.