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Repair Cafés are free community events that bring together volunteers skilled in repair and mending, to fix household items that are brought in by members of the community. The skilled repairer works with the owner of the goods to help them fix their item, whilst sharing skills and knowledge in the art of repair – often over a cup of tea or coffee, and yes, there will be cake.Saturday 18th October is International Repair Day and we are hosting this repair event in tandem with hundreds of other repair events around the world.
What can be repaired?
Items repaired are varied however usually include; clothing and textiles, low voltage and battery electronics, toys, fashion/costume jewellery, small timber items and furniture, picture frames, clocks, minor bicycle services, and virtually any household item that can be carried in. We allow a maximum of 25 minutes per repair so please consider if your repair is suitable for this time window. One repair item per person, however you may join the back of the queue if time allows.
The type of repairs offered depends on the volunteers we have on the day and details will be posted in the discussion tab closer to the event date. A voluntary donation is greatly appreciated to help cover event costs.
There is no cost for the repair work, however spare parts are the owner’s responsibility. If you know your item requires a replacement part please bring it with you, or we are happy to offer advice and you can return at a future event.
Exclusions.
We will not be offering repairs to 240V plug in appliances as due to Qld legislation these repairs can only be conducted by a licensed electrician. We are still on the hunt for a volunteer electrician for future events.
Whilst textile repairs are welcome, complex and time consuming repairs like zipper replacements or alterations are not possible during the timeline of these events.
Shoutout to Councillor Doran.
A big thank you to our Councillor Dan Doran Div 11 CoGC for your support of this event.
Volunteer with us.
Would you like to join in the fun and volunteer at one of our Repair Café events? Please get in touch as we welcome fixers and menders with a wide variety of skills and expertise, as well as non-repairers to help host the day and keep the event running smoothly. Complete our super easy volunteer online interest form, and one of the team will be in touch. https://forms.gle/5XfRZKwvKSQ9pt6f9
A bit more about Repair Cafes.
There are over 3600 Repair Cafes around the world and this number is actively growing as people embrace a more sustainable way of living, aiming to keep their belongings in use for longer and out of landfill, as well as the opportunity to make new friends and build connections in their community.
We throw away vast amounts of stuff, even things with almost nothing wrong, and which could get a new lease on life after a simple repair. The trouble is, lots of people have forgotten that they can repair things themselves or they no longer know how. Repair Café changes all that, but most of all, Repair Café just wants to show how much fun repairing things can be and how easy it often is.
So come and join us, bring in your busted item and together we will have a go at repair. If you don’t have anything needing repair you are very welcome to drop in and see what we do.
House Rules
The work carried out in the Repair Café is performed free of charge on a voluntary basis by the repair experts at hand.
Your item must be small enough to carry through the doors.
We are not a drop off service. We are here to help visitors repair your item together with advice and lots of help from the volunteer repairer.
Clothing repairs are most welcome however we do not offer an alterations service. There are many businesses who can assist you in this area.
We cannot offer specialised repairs to items like sewing machines, or those requiring specialised diagnostic equipment.
The repair of smart phones and tablets we leave to the repair services as they are licensed to work under warranty and they have the proprietary tools required. ( this is a big point of the 'Right to Repair' movement.)
To cut down on unnecessary waiting times during busy periods, a maximum of ONE broken item at a time per person to allow everyone the opportunity to participate. If you have more than one item you may re-join the queue after your first item has been attended to.
The fact that the repairs are being performed by unpaid volunteers reflects the allocation of risks and limitation of liability: neither the organisers of the Repair Café nor the repair volunteers are liable for any loss that may result from advice or instructions concerning repairs, for the loss of items handed over for repair, for indirect or consequential loss or for any other kind of loss resulting from work performed in the Repair Café. This includes the loss of any data stored on an electronic device.
The limitations set forth in these house rules shall not apply to claims declared justified on the basis of liability arising by virtue of applicable consumer protection legislation which cannot be lawfully superseded.
Visitors offering broken items for repair do so at their own risk.
Volunteers making repairs offer no guarantee for the repairs carried out with their help and are not liable if objects that are repaired in the Repair Café turn out not to work properly at home.
Repair volunteers are entitled to refuse to repair certain objects, and are not obliged to reassemble disassembled appliances that cannot be repaired.
Visitors to Repair Café are solely responsible for the tidy removal of broken objects that could not be repaired.
A voluntary donation to help cover the event costs is greatly appreciated and will earn you good karma with the repair gods 🙂
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Varsity Lakes Community Resource Centre, Varsity Lakes, Australia
