Whanganui Repair Café set for opening

If a favourite shirt is languishing in the wardrobe for want of a seam repair, or your childhood teddy bear has lost an ear – there’s a solution at the Whanganui Repair Café.

The new service will have its official launch at Harrison Street Community Church on Saturday.

“It’s not The Repair Shop,” project lead Margi Keys said.

“Our volunteers have particular repair skills but it’s not like the TV show.”

Keys said people who watch the popular BBC television programme might have unrealistic expectations after seeing the miraculous transformations performed on the show.

“The café offers a range of wonderful volunteers donating their time to help people fix repairable things,” she said.

“We have 16 volunteers lined up to help with repairs on Saturday. A new volunteer is coming from Foxton to help with sewing machine repairs.”

Keys said the largest items that can be submitted are bicycles and scooters which will be assessed by volunteers from Whanganui Green Bikes.

“We have volunteers who can repair ceramics, costume jewellery, clothing, hard plastics, musical instruments, wood, leather, or knives and tools that need sharpening.

“There will be a café serving hot drinks and home baking in exchange for donations.”

The donations will help to cover the cost of materials such as thread and glue.

“We have these wonderful people offering their time and skills for free so we need to ensure they are covered for those items.

“People need to bring any parts required for repairs and if they don’t know where to find them our volunteers can offer advice on where to go.”

Keys said although some volunteers can repair small electrical items such as toasters, a qualified electrician is needed to oversee the work.

“We haven’t got anyone who can do that yet and we’re very keen to find someone.”

The Whanganui enterprise is one of more than 50 not-for-profit Repair Cafés (RC) under the umbrella of Repair Café Aotearoa New Zealand (RCANZ) which sits beneath Repair Café International with 3000 different groups, most having at least one event a month

Whanganui district councillor Charlotte Melser will officiate at the café launch which begins at 10am and will be open until 1pm. Items for repair appraisal will be accepted until 12.30pm.

Liz Wylie is a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle. She joined the editorial team in 2014 and regularly covers stories from Whanganui and the wider region. She also writes features and profile stories.