Sustainable Enniscorthy hosted the town’s inaugural Repair Café in the Presentation Arts Centre on Saturday 17th June between 10.30am and 1.30pm. The event was attended by over 50 people, with 34 repairs carried out by the dozen repairers that volunteered their expertise on the day.
Promotion has started and registration opened for a second Repair Café on Saturday 2nd December 2023, and planning is underway for a third repair café (evening event) in March 2024.
There have been many positive impacts from the project, including an increase in the members of the Repair Café project group, increased engagement on Sustainable Enniscorthy social media platforms, and new connections made with repairers and other community groups involved in running repair cafés around the country. We supported a series of ‘Sew Saturdays’ events for teenagers on clothing repairs/sewing skills which we are hoping to extend due to the positive feedback, and looking at the potential for running adult sewing skills classes in the New Year.
Registration is now open on eventbrite for our next repair café on 2nd December. Please register whether you have are coming to get something repaired, or volunteering your repair skills, or just coming for a look. By registering you are helping us to plan for numbers attending and the types of items coming for repair. Look forward to seeing you there!
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/enniscorthy-repair-cafe-december-2023-tickets-747639799767?aff=oddtdtcreator
Update on my ottoman! Got an end of a chipboard sheet from the hardware shop (free!), and my 15yo sawed it down to size. The Men's Shed guys suggested I buy stronger wheels, which I did, and they nailed the board & screwed in the wheels (4 screws for each). I was seriously considering throwing the ottoman out because the wheels kept falling off.
Too much information on one ottoman? Probably, but here's one happy customer.😁
Enniscorthy has officially held it's first Repair Café!! Thanks for the help and engagement from everyone today. We had lots of repairs and lots of positive feedback, not to mention a few cups of tea for good measure too!
More photos and a full count of the repairs to follow.
Here is a photo of our ottoman in our sitting room. It's upside down! The little wheels underneath keep coming off. I need to get a board nailed to the underside, visible here & then have the wheels screwed onto that. Much better idea. I hope the skilled Men's Shed carpenters can help at our Repair Café on Saturday! I'll let y'all know how I get on :)
Preparations for Enniscorthy's first Repair Café are moving along nicely and it was great to meet last week to move things along. Registering on the Eventbrite Page is recommended but we will be welcoming walk-ins on the day too!
