Gravesham Repair Café

This was our last Repair Café in Vigo for 2024 hence the Christmas outfits. We had another successful event with plenty of items brought for attention.  So many that one of us was still reassembling a repaired vacuum cleaner after colleagues had cleared away the other tables and chairs. Record player, coffee grinder, music box, valve driven tape recorder, antique clock... you name it. As ever we captured some photos of the day. And some ladies returned to continue making emergency blankets from crisp packets.  How clever!

This was our first Repair Café at St George's Church Hall. Since first running our Repair Café events a year ago we steadily saw an increase in the number of visitors wanting things mended.  It reached the point where our previous venue in Northfleet could no longer cope so this month we relocated to larger premises.   It's as well we did relocate.  This was our busiest event ever.  At times there were people waiting up to an hour for attention, but at least they could sit and enjoy tea and biscuits (still free of charge). We were also joined by representatives of Ebbsfleet Development Corporation and Bellway Homes as a follow up to the generous support they have given us. As ever we gathered a number of photos from the day - here are just a few.  You may be able to guess what each item was that came in for diagnosis and repair. Time for a cuppa ! And finally some group photos while one member treated us to Christmas carols on his flute.

Gravesham Friendly Society has launched a community funding initiative. Our Repair Café is one of the local groups hoping to win a donation that will help us cope with more Gravesham residents wanting things repaired. You are invited to nominate us for the award for a chance to win yourself a prize .  It's only a few seconds effort. Follow the link below, click to nominate Gravesham Repair Café and fill in who you are so that you can receive the prize for the lucky winner. Nominate the Repair Café Gravesham Friendly has provided financial support to the community since 1877.  Member benefits include £100 a week payments when off work through sickness; plus other health related grants.  Learn more here . "I was in hospital this year and received £30 per night.  I also received £200 toward the cost of my last pair of glasses."   M.A. (member)

It was another busy day at Vigo Village Hall.  Two Vigo residents have now joined the group as repairers.  Many thanks - you were very helpful.  See you next month. We also had strong interest from a couple of other potential repairers.  The Vigo Repair Cafés are slowly becoming staffed by local residents which was always the goal.    And what did visitors bring for repair?  See for yourself: Air purifier Clock   CD player   Coat   Radio   Hair drier   Bike There we other items successfully repaired such as a vacuum cleaner and a record player, but we didn't photograph everything.  It was a bit busy.

This was our last Repair Café at Northfleet Veterans Club.  We've steadily received more visitors since we started a year ago and there is no longer sufficient parking to cope.  For this reason we are relocating to Gravesend - St George's Church Hall. Future Repair Cafés will be at St George's on the first Thursday of the month.  The Vigo Repair Cafés will continue as now on the second Saturdays. We also enjoyed a visit from representatives of Ebbsfleet Garden City who have provided some social funding for our endeavors to help the local community. Let's see some other photos of this November at Northfleet ...    

On our second event at Vigo we had several electrical items as expected. First for attention was a vacuum cleaner which turned out to have a broken cable so no power reached the machine.  Luckily the damaged section was near the plug so it was cut off and a new plug fitted.  Then it was safety checked with our PAT tester. One of our sewing experts brought back a teddy bear that had been worked on at home after our last Vigo visit. Also returning from a bit of "homework" was a battery powered horse racing game.  The motor needed lubricating and it required new drive bands.  The fun was back. A sewing machine had a faulty foot pedal.  This was returned to service with a temporary repair and safety test.  A new component will be obtained to effect a permanent repair. In addition we fixed a broken radio aerial, ascertained that a coffee machine required a deep clean of its filter and mended the switch of a solar-powered lamp. We're also very happy to report tha...