There is life beyond Oxfam and researching Victorian botanists (and their books) and various mutinies (in their books) see also another blog (or two) (this is by way of a break from that) – and one of those thing is the Repair Cafe.

So, we have a village(s) Repair Cafe. (Too many brackets perhaps…)

That means that once a month, we get together some fixers/tinkerers/repairers/sewers/menders and in comes everything from a broken purple parasol, a toaster, a jumper with moth holes in it, a lopsided chair, something needing special glue, children’s clothes with rips, a bit of your Mum’s old china with a broken handle, gardening equipment which needs sharpening….

(Well, it is a gardening area so we get a lot of those.)

A 1940s angle poise lamp, an electric guitar, a broken spear – yes indeed – a snapped handle on a saucepan, a small toy with its stuffing lost and an ear missing…..

There is tea/coffee and cake.

There are people who come frequently to just have a chat with other people whilst something is being fixed.

And that is an essential part of what we are about.

You can be told that your broken toaster is unfixable – but at least you know that you can take it to the dump with a clear conscience.

On the other hand, you can have your broken chair glued back together and take it home to use and enjoy it.

Your broken spear can be fixed – though I am not sure of how that will be used in our peaceful village(s).

There is a delicate bedspread which comes in every month for a little bit more of repairing – just a little bit every time.

There are collars turned, and I have to say, quite a lot of electrical appliances that just need a new fuse in the plug – but hey ho that makes them work.

The fixers chat about what they have been fixing in between times, the sewers patiently make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

Volunteers bring homemade cakes, make tea and coffee, take donations, log in the items to be fixed, sort out who is going to fix what, make sure we have a total of what has been repaired, fixed, and saved.

It is busy and chatty and yes, it is small beer when you think of what we all throw away but it is something.

We have an allied project to bring swallows and (no, not amazons) martins backs to the villages(s).

It is organised by an amazing sewer and organiser, the human-designed nests are helped to be built by an ex-surgeon – and volunteers.

Every month, people turn up asking for news on the project.

The Repair Cafe is a project which started with fingers crossed and a few volunteers.

There are Repair Cafes all over the place, we are certainly not the first.

But there is something special every month about what our fingers crossed achieved.

If you have something you need fixed and you happen to live near Petersfield you could do worse than spend a bit of your Saturday morning with us.