Sidmouth Repair Cafe holds its first session of the New Year

As usual, it will be at the Manstone Lane Youth Centre, open from 10am until 1pm, with fixers on hand to mend all kinds of household items and appliances, electronic devices, clothes, toys and garden equipment.

The Repair Cafe is now something of an institution in Sidmouth, but it's only been running since 2018. With the new year beginning, the Repair Cafe's co-founder Angie Carney has looked back on the early days of the initiative, and what led up to its creation.

She recalls: "In the summer of 2016, when I starting working in the community of Manstone and Woolbrook for The Salvation Army, I really began just by listening to people and spending time thinking about what was happening - what issues people were thinking about, and seeing if there were places where these things fit with The Salvation Army’s vision for our little corner of Sidmouth.

"I feel quite passionately about the Church being involved in community and action, and had been thinking about the idea of a Men’s Shed for some time but, frustratingly, it didn’t come together.

"Then one Saturday in 2018, my husband and I were in Exmouth. We could smell bacon and coffee coming from the big old church building in the centre of town so went to investigate – and that’s when we first discovered a Repair Café. Right away I realised that this is actually what we needed rather than a Men’s Shed.

"I took the idea and presented it to the Sidmouth community via Facebook to see if there was any interest. There were about eight people at that initial meeting and together we formed a core organising team. I was able to use our Sidmouth Salvation Army budget to get Sidmouth Repair Cafe off the ground as we had no idea whether it would make a profit, break even or run at a loss. In our beginning stages we also made contact with Community Action Groups Devon about insurance. It was especially useful having support from these two organisations in the early days."

From the start Sidmouth Repair Cafe was intended as to be a social centre as well as a workshop. People bringing items for fixing are encouraged to have a cup of tea or coffee and chat to the volunteers, creating a sense of community, and attracting more people to join the team.

Angie said: "The strength of our Repair Cafe is in the good Core Team relationships and the various gifts each of us brings to the mix. Sidmouth is a really well networked community so finding volunteers to come along and help hasn’t ever been a problem. Volunteers naturally bring their friends and neighbours along.

"People love to share their skills, helping each other in practical ways and making a tangible difference in reducing waste, saving money, building relationships and learning to value our belongings more.

"Each Repair Cafe has its own character, and ours really has become remarkably sociable. Some people will come just to have coffee and cake, and when people bring their stuff, there's conversation, chat, and refreshments. It’s an environment that allows people to be with one another and feel included; part of the wonderful community story."