Thank you to everyone who supported our third Repair Cafe on
Saturday, 7 February 2026!

We saw 97 items, fixed 87 and saved 184 kg from going to landfill, as well as preventing 1366 kg of CO2 emissions.

Out of the 71 unpowered items (many of which were tools to be sharpened), 68 were fixed, 2 were end of life and 1 needed a spare part. Out of the 26 powered items, only 2 were end of life, 5 were repairable with spare parts. This was probably our best yet in terms of fewest items going in to the e-waste bin!

We had a VIP guest in the shape of Ian Sollom MP, who was conducted around the Repair Cafe by some of the younger SOW members, and who stopped to talk to repairers and visitors about the Repair Cafe and other issues.

Here are just some of the comments left by visitors:

“Lovely cafe, successful fixing and repairs. Well organised team.”
“Brilliant repair, Helen fitted a zip to my husband’s jeans. Repair indetectable!”
“Chris was very patient and competent. Great job. Saved my old lamp from waste. I am very grateful.”
“Brilliant knife sharpening, helpful advice on how to do it myself.”
“Thank you so much for organising this. The repair was successful. Everyone was very friendly. The cake was delicious.”
“Robert was extremely kind and knowledgeable and fixed something I thought was broken beyond repair.”
“Simon was brilliant, he showed me how to remove the back wheel of my bike and how to change the inner tube. Brilliant job. Now I will drive less and cycle a lot more.”
“It was well organised with food and drink whilst we were waiting and a progress board so we could see where we were in the list of jobs”
“Halina gave great maintenance advice and was able to fix the tiniest repair.”
“Absolutely fabulous. I learnt a lot and now my 100-year-old sewing machine will be back in action. Thank you!”
“Fantastic – very friendly and helpful, repairers super-knowledgeable and patient.”
“Mardie showed me how I could repair the holes in my jumpers in the future if it happens again. She was very friendly.”
“Thank you for offering the repair cafe, a great service. It was a very pleasant experience and good opportunity to get some expert advice on my repair item rather than resorting to replacing the item because I was unsure.”

Thank you so much to everyone who helped –
runners and desk staff, the amazing kitchen crew,
all the people who baked fabulous cakes, and
especially to the wonderful repairers who give
their time and skills so generously.

If you missed it, there are lots of other Repair
Cafes in Cambridgeshire this year – listed on the
Cambridge Carbon Footprint website.
(https://cambridgecarbonfootprint.org/visit-a-
repair-cafe/) Or you could try the ifixit resource –
a website (https://www.ifixit.com/) dedicated to
preventing broken things from being thrown
away, with manuals, step-by-step guides and
spare parts. And we’ll be back on Saturday 6
February 2027!

Over our last three Repair Cafes: