The Birkenhead Repair Cafe was held on Saturday. It was my first time as a volunteer, but I’m going to be a regular fixer.

I was confident about fixing things like toasters, kettles and sandwich makers, and we had some of these, also had a rice cooker, vacuum cleaner (which needed a hard-to-get spare part so it isn’t fixed yet) and two sewing machines, I could fix one but not the other, I think it needs specialist expertise. I’ll be doing some homework on fixing these before the next cafe.

Was hoping someone might bring a typewriter… I love fixing them.

We also had a woodworker, a jewellery repairer, a woollen-knitting fixer and a couple of sewing experts. There was a bike repairer set up outdoors.

It’s a great initiative. A lot of the repairs are trivial, things might have loose wires or need new plugs. But there were some challenges too… which keeps me on my toes.

The repair cafe is a brilliant idea, it’s important right now wth all the cost of living pressures, but it’s equally important not to send things to the land fill when there can be a simple fix. m