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Repair cafe teaching people how to fix things and reduce waste celebrates milestone
A city group teaching people how to fix things and reduce waste has just celebrated a landmark event.
The idea of repairing has grown in popularity, especially with the airing of popular television show, The Repair Shop.
And now Repair Café Norwich has recently marked hosting its 30th workshop - a clear sign of the rise in make-do and mend.
Directors Nick Warburton, Martin Sweet and Adrian Senior are all Norwich locals and first started the cafe to help their community.
Mr Sweet said: "I'm passionate about making Norwich a more sustainable place and think it's important to fight back against a growing reliance on replacing things that could easily be fixed with a little bit of know-how.
Norwich Repair Café marks its 30th free event, helping locals fix clothes, appliances and more to cut waste (Image: Supplied)
"Volunteers fix broken items, such as clothes, furniture, electrical appliances, bicycles, crockery and toys, with voluntary donations welcome but not expected or required.
"The café aims to help the people of Norwich keep things out of landfill, helping the environment and saving a lot of money.
"The volunteers are also happy to give tips and pass on skills so people can learn how to fix things in the future.
"We hope visitors are inspired to maintain and fix things first, rather than going straight to replacing them."
Norwich repair café celebrates its 30th event in August (Image: Supplied) The event usually gathers around 60 items that need fixing, with parents often bringing their children to learn about the process.
When speaking of the items brought in, Mr Sweet said: "We've had someone bring their whole oven, which we found had a loose wire, but which was an easy fix.
"We've also had some treasured heirloom children's toys that have been sewn up to give them more life."
Norwich Repair Café celebrates its 30th event since 2022 (Image: Supplied) Speaking about the volunteers who run the cafe, Mr Sweet added: "Heather and Kay do an amazing job with wrangling the volunteers and we have built a team of reliable, talented volunteer fixers who can fix almost anything thrown at them.
"We also have great cakes, bakes, teas and coffees available for sale while you wait, and our fixers are always up for a good chat about what they're up to, so you can learn a thing or two as they go."
The next event will take place on Saturday, August 16 from 9.30am to 2pm at St Mary Magdalene's Church Hall on Silver Road.
The cafe relies completely on donations, which can be made via
