Havant's 'thriving' Repair Cafe celebrates first birthday after proving to be hit

The Pallant Centre was packed full of people including the mayor Diana Patrick on Saturday as Repair Café Havant marking its first year helping residents go green.

Operated by around 35 volunteers, the monthly pop-up repair event aims to keep items out of landfill and in use for longer, and has proved to be a hit with locals.

In the first year, the cafe team has fixed 116 devices and has prevented 580kg of waste.

Their work has prevented 4,793kg of CO2 being emitted into the atmosphere – the same as driving for 39,942km.

Assistant co-ordinator Catherine Billam said: ‘It’s brilliant because people bring their broken things and volunteers attempt to mend them which saves money and having to buy new things.

‘It helps keep stuff out of landfill and there’s a real community. It’s fantastic.

‘It is our first birthday. We started it before lockdown and it took a while to get going but is now thriving. There’s been lots of people learning skills and getting stuff repaired.

‘We are keen for people to set up their own repair cafe so every town has their own.

‘We’re also looking at other projects such as a library of things where people can borrow rather buy things.’

The novel repair centre has held various events in the past including a bicycle session to make checks on safety. Bikes had their gears, brakes, chain and tyres checked to make sure they were in full working order.

The cafe meets at The Pallant Centre on the first Saturday of the month from 10am-1am.

Visit their website.