Repair Café Wales leads the way to a more sustainable lifestyle

‘A society empowered to work together to reduce waste, share skills, and strengthen our communities’ is the vision of Repair Café Wales.

With a planned series of pop-up events at venues across the county borough, Repair Café Wales offers training and advice to local communities, with the aim of creating a culture of repair and recycling – quelling the need for waste and landfill.

Repair Café Wales, a Community Interest Company, helps to repair items ranging from toasters to jeans or dresses.  Volunteer repairers will attempt to fix any damaged or broken item at no cost, whilst visitors can watch and learn relevant skills, or simply enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and a chat!

Hilary Edwards, Operations Manager at Repair Café Wales, said: “We already support five pop-up Repair Cafés in Bridgend County Borough and welcome other people who may be interested in getting involved, either through volunteering at an existing event, or thinking about starting their own, to get in touch with us at info@repaircafewales.org. 

“We can provide information, support and practical help with setting up a new repair café - it’s free to join, and we’d love to have you on board. 

“All our events have three common themes: waste reduction, sharing skills and community cohesion.”

In the county borough, the café is hosted at Bryncethin Community Centre, Bridgend College, North Cornelly, as well as Caerau Menshed and the Old courthouse, both located in Maesteg.

Aiming to develop practical skills as much as a community spirit, Repair Café Wales encourages people to come together, communicate and learn from each other in a safe, secure and inclusive environment.

What is offered by the café is also an antidote to the cost-of-living crisis - helping people to avoid buying new, by learning and developing new skills to recycle and repair what they already have.

In addition, these pop-up events challenge a throw-away society and help move towards a sustainable way of living, by enabling local people to play their part in addressing climate concerns.

Councillor John Spanswick, Cabinet Member for Communities

For further information about Repair Café Wales, including its events, please visit the website.