Repair Café FAQs

We throw away vast amounts of stuff. Even things with almost nothing wrong, and which could get a new lease on life after a simple repair. The trouble is, lots of people have forgotten that they can repair things themselves. Especially younger generations no longer know how to do that. Knowing how to make repairs is a skill quickly lost. This is a threat to a sustainable future and to the circular economy, in which raw materials can be reused again and again.

That’s why there’s a Repair Café! People with repair skills get the appreciation they deserve. Invaluable practical skills are passed on. Things are being used for longer and don’t have to be thrown away. This reduces the volume of raw materials and energy needed to make new products. It cuts CO2 emissions, for example, because manufacturing new products and recycling old ones causes CO2 to be released.

The Repair Café teaches people to see their possessions in a new light. And, once again, to appreciate their value. The Repair Café helps change people’s mindset. This is essential to kindle people’s enthusiasm for a sustainable society.

But most of all, the Repair Café just wants to show how much fun repairing things can be, and how easy it often is. Why don’t you give it a go?

The Repair Café was initiated by Martine Postma. Since 2007, she has been striving for sustainability at a local level in many ways. Martine organised the very first Repair Café in Amsterdam, on October 18, 2009. It was a great success.

This prompted Martine to start Repair Café International Foundation. Since 2011, this non-profit organisation has provided professional support to local groups in the Netherlands and other countries wishing to start their own Repair Café.

Repair Café International Foundation sometimes gets asked whether access to free repair get-togethers is competing with professional repair specialists. The answer is; quite the opposite. Repair Cafés focus attention on the possibility of getting things repaired. Visitors are frequently advised to go to the few professionals still around.

Furthermore, people who visit Repair Cafés are not usually customers of repair specialists. They say that they normally throw broken items away because they find a professional repair too expensive. At the Repair Café they learn that you don’t have to throw things away; there are alternatives.

The first Repair Café will be opening for business on Saturday 13th April from 10am to 1pm in All Saints Church

From April this year we shall be opening on the second Saturday of the month from 10am to 1pm

You will need to queue at reception. Once you meet the receptionist you will need to either show them your pre-booked repair request, or fill in and sign a form. You will then be directed to a waiting area for the repairer that will be dealing with you.

The range of items we can are willing to try to repair will depend on the types of skill our volunteer repairers have, but we hope to be able to tackle any small repair jobs:

• Electrical – e.g. Kettle, Iron, table lamp, food mixer, electric drill
• Mechanical – e.g. Cooking pans, ironing board, child stairgate
• Electronic – e.g. Radio, television
• PC/Laptop/Smartphone – e.g. change a hard drive, fix a software fault.
• Clothing/Textiles- e.g. Repair a tear, sew on a button, change a hem, put a hole in a belt
• Furniture – Char, table, bookshelf
• Toy – Teddy bear, model car, board game
• Bicycle – e.g Change a puncture, fix the gears, adjust the saddle or handlebar height
• Costume Jewellery – e.g Neclace, bracelet, ring
• Clocks/Watches – e.g. Replace a battery, clean the works
• Sharpening – knives, gardening implements, mower blades

We cannot attempt repairs on anything still within its warrenty period.

We do not make any garauntees or warrenty about our work

We do not work on anything that could be dangerous to either the customer of the repairer

You can see us on this map: Where to Find Us

If it is something simple like a fuse or puncture repair patch we may be able to provide it, otherwise we will advise on where to buy the spare part. If you are subsequently able to obtain it and bring the part to the next repair café we will attempt the repair.

If you still have any instructions or manual for the item it may be helpful to bring it along. However if you don’t we may be able to find the information online.

If we attempt a repair it will invalidate any warranty, so unless you are sure the damage or breakage would not be covered by the warranty (if it has been misused for example) then it would be better to return it to the retailer.

If you bring it along and we can repair it, you could then advertise it as free to take away on a site such as Wokingham Freegle or Freecycle, which aims to find homes for items that may otherwise go to landfill.

If we undertake to attempt a repair, then the item should be taken away at the end of the session and returned for further work at the next session. Alternatively, the repairer may offer to take it away and work on it away from the Repair Café and bring it along to the next session. Contact details should be exchanged so the repairer can update you on progress.

If you can bring the item to the Repair Café session in your car then we will assess it and maybe able to attempt a repair. If it is not feasible to transport it then you could show us photos and we may be able to advise on a repair.

To keep the threshold for visitors to a bare minimum, advice and help from experts in the Repair Café is free of charge. But a voluntary donation is appreciated! In the Repair Café, tip jars and piggybanks are on a table so satisfied visitors can make a donation. The organizers can use these donations to cover some or all of their costs.

We can take a look at almost anything you are able to bring along to the repair session, although we would avoid anything that is too heavy or bulky. We will not repair items that could be dangerous. Electrical items will be PAT tested to ensure they are safe to plug-in.

We categorize items into a number of areas to enable us to assign them to a repairer that has the right skill to help you.

The Catergories are:

• Electrical – Kitchen appliances, lamps, vacuum cleaners, electric garden utensils, etc.
• Mecahnical – non-electrical applicances, kitchen, garden and household utensils, mechanical lawn mowers, items that need sharpening etc.
• Electronic – radios, musical equipment, digital clocks, printers, etc.
• Clothing/textiles
• Furniture – chairs, cupboards or any furniture that can be easily carried.
• Toys
• Bicycles
• Costume Jewellery – we will not try to fix anything that is very valuable, but normal day to day items we will assess.
• PCs/Laptops/Smartphones – we will do simple physical repairs , or help sort out software issues.
• Clocks and Watches

All iems are repaired entirely at the customer’s risk. We so not garaub=ntee that an item can be fixed, and we provide no warrenty on the work acrried out.

We will need to set up the area for repairers, so we ask volunteers to be there from 9am

If you want to help with the Repair Café you can register using the form on the website: Volunteer Registration | Wokingham Repair Café (wokinghamrepaircafe.uk)

You will need to agree to the Volunteer Policy