Teddy bear Roosevelt was the first item to be repaired when Taunton Transition Town volunteers launched their first Repair Café at Moose Hall on 15 January.

The Roosevelt bear needed a major operation to fix an amputated leg and owner
Olga said it was “fantastic when Sue did what was nearly impossible with Roosevelt’s leg repair”.

A steady stream of customers arrived with their broken items and within two hours 21 items were fully repaired, including computers, a wide variety of electrical goods, clothing and
two teddy bears. Some notable fixes was a ceramic crab that had his claws glued back on
and a 70 year old doll that had her arms and legs fixed back on with rubber bands.

Electrical repairs were especially in demand. Despite the absence of one or two key electrical repairers due to illness, the remaining repairers fixed numerous items. When repairs could not be made, customers were told what parts were required or advised that the item was beyond economic repair or inaccessible in a sealed unit. Unfortunately, it is not possible to repair everything.

Customers were also able to enjoy a cuppa and a biscuit provided by volunteers from Moose Hall and the profit from refreshments will go to their chosen charity, which for this year is the Samaritans.

Taunton Transition Town were very pleased with the feedback from many very happy customers and grateful for the generous donations which will help cover the costs of putting on the next Repair Café in March. We would like to thank all the volunteer repairersfor their great work in providing fixes or advice and the volunteers who helped with running the event and providing refreshments.

We hope to run the cafe approximately every two months. The aim is to reduce the landfill waste and help people to save cash by re-using broken items. It is part of the push for a bigger local ‘circular economy ‘

Jean Watson, Taunton Transition Town and Repair Cafe Coordinator

If you have a skill that you are willing to share for free, or if you would like to help with the running of the repair café, you can get in touch with the organisers at
tauntontransition5@gmail.com .