THE second venue for a Cafe where volunteers repair broken items for customers while they eat and drink has opened in Grangetown.
Called The Repair Cafe, the event was held in the Hideout Cafe in the Grange Pavilion on Grange Gardens on Sunday.
Local people brought broken items to the cafe to be fixed by volunteers who have expertise in that area. It is completely free and you can even get a bike service done by one of the volunteers.
On it’s debut in Grangetown, 37 items were brought through the door and the cafe was a hive of activity.
Cerys Jones, 36, of Arabella Street in Roath, is one of the founders of Repair Cafe Wales, explained the benefits of the project.
“Three things, really, one is reducing landfill, avoiding buying new things all the time and consumerism because if we can fix up something that somebody may not have the skills to do, it doesn’t go into landfill,” she said.
“The second thing is places like this bring the community together. People from different backgrounds, different ages, everything.
“They’re coming together as a volunteer and a customer and having conversations that they just normally wouldn’t.
“I think the final thing is sharing skills. We will always encourage our customers to sit down with a fixer and a volunteer and they will show them how to fix the item they brought in.”
Moseem Suleman, 36, of Ludlow Street in Grangetown is a local resident who pushed for a Repair Cafe to open in his area.
He spoke to me about his vision for the project to expand over the coming months.
“In Grangetown I’d love it to be really big because obviously you’ve seen the garden, we’ve got a big garden, big space,
“I’d love it to have stalls, can you imagine like an antiques roadshow kind of set up but with repairs?”
The Grange Pavillion, where the cafe was set up this weekend, has had plans approved for a renovation so this would surely help the Repair Cafe project once it is completed.
The Grangetown Repair Cafe will be held on the last Sunday of every month.
