Volunteering

[lexin]

I spent yesterday volunteering at the local Repair Cafe. It was quite fun, everyone was welcoming, and I even got some sewing work in, which I almost finished. Next month I will remember to bring some sewing needles. I took my sewing machine, but it wouldn’t cope with sewing the fur side of the fur layer.

Thinking about it, I should have sewed the the other side, but that never occurred to me at the time. I just hope no-one ever turns up wanting something lined. That would take too long.

But I will go along next month.

Comments

[watervole]

Sounds really interesting!
What sort of things do people bring? Do they try and learn some skills, as well as getting things fixed?

[lexin]

It looked as if people brought a variety of different items. Two ladies brought in lamps, one of them very pretty. A bloke brought in his granddaughter’s cuddly blanket which had fallen into bits - that was one thing I was repairing.

We looked at a few things which had been waiting for parts, these included a hedge trimmer and a 2 litre crock pot.

Most of the things which needed a part the really clever people could make one using 3D printing. The place we use has access to four 3D printers. We also have access to a printer which prints any size up to A1. It’s a complete beast.

The other thing I repaired was an A1 size cloth green screen, which had been supplied without a hole to hold it up.

So not that much to show for a day, but it was fun. The volunteers are aged between 18 (a fresher at the university) to 80, a chap who worked as an engineer for international charities. None of the people who brought things stayed long enough to learn a new skill.