REV TIM CLARKE: Sometimes valuing the simple things in life is all we need to increase our sense of community

I was really intrigued when a team of local residents contacted us at the start of the year, to ask if we’d be interested in being the venue for their new community project.

Repair Café Portsmouth is all about bringing people together to share skills, have fun and repair things.

They’ll be meeting in our church hall every third Saturday of the month, between 10.30am and 1pm, and people can bring along things that are broken, and their team of volunteer repairers will be on hand to help fix them.

They can help with bikes, household electricals, computers, phones, clothes, zips, even fairy lights.

The event is free, although they do ask for donations to keep running, and if you need spare parts you need to purchase them.

They organised a trial event in March to see how it went, and got some great feedback.

Andrew was taught how to darn by Meg, and has started to repair some holes in his favourite jumpers. Tamara managed to fix her favourite set of fairy lights with the help of Ming, and left delighted.

And Liz had the base of a much-loved lamp fixed with the help of Matthew. There was a great buzz and lots of happy people.

It’s good to see a project that helps us repair treasured things and challenges today’s throwaway society.

At Buckland United Reformed Church, we are continuously looking for ways to support our local community, helping us love each other as God loves us.

Sometimes valuing the simple things in life, such as replacing a lost button, helping someone repair a broken phone screen or simply having a cuppa and natter together, is all we need to increase our sense of community.

We also hold a monthly table top sale on the first Saturday of each month between 10am and 1pm, and our Community Café is open Monday to Saturday, providing an inviting place to have a chat and something delicious to eat and drink.

Repair Café’s next event is on Saturday, April 21, between 10.30am and 1pm, so come along if you have something that needs repairing, and you can find out more about it by visiting repaircafeportsmouth.org.uk.

Buckland United Reformed Church is at 174 Kingston Road, Portsmouth.