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Don't throw it away — fix it
On the first Saturday of every month, the hall behind St Mary's Church in Ashford turns into a workshop. Twelve volunteers sit at long tables with tools, glue and boxes of spare parts. This is the Ashford Repair Café, and the idea is simple: bring something broken, and someone will help you fix it for free.
«People used to throw away a toaster because one part had stopped working,» says Karen Hall, who started the café two years ago after a similar one in her sister's town. «Now they bring it here, and in most cases it leaves working.» Last year the volunteers repaired 640 items — lamps, bikes, jackets with broken zips, even a 1970s record player.
The café is not a shop. Visitors sit next to the volunteer and learn what went wrong, so that next time they can do it themselves. «The worst part for me was learning to wait,» laughs Tom Baker, a retired electrician. «At first I wanted to fix everything myself. Now I hand people the screwdriver.»
There are limits. Volunteers don't repair anything dangerous, such as gas heaters, and although they can look at phones and laptops, they can't promise a result. Visitors are asked to give a small donation to cover the coffee and spare parts — the average is £3.
The café is now looking for more helpers, especially people who can sew or who know about bikes. «You don't need any special skills,» says Karen. «Someone has to make the tea and keep track of the list. The point is to get people talking, not just fixing.»