Ngaio Repair Cafe Blue text = a clickable link. To highlight pictures please click them.Last Saturday morning, 18 November 2023, was the final Ngaio Repair Cafe for this year. Ngaio Repair Cafe is a great wee voluntary group. I'm the cordinator and I'd like tell you about it . Our motto is "Don't Chuck it. Fix it." Repair Cafes are best explained by pictures, so here is Ngaio Repair Cafe in action. More to knowAll the volunteers pictured in these photos, and another twenty whose pictures I don't have today, have become my colleagues and friends and I'm proud to be named among them. We have worked together once a month this past year or more, trying to create a welcoming place where people can come to bring household goods to be assessed and hopefully repaired. A real buzz of conversation develops while we offer free morning tea to owners while thay wait to have their items considered. Last Saturday morning 35 individuals or family groups brought 48 items, 75% of which were fixed. Numbers coming have varied with the seasons. Last Saturday was beautifully fine. One mid-winter Saturday we dealt with 100 items. Middle aged and olderYou'll probably have noticed from looking at the photos that we are mostly middle aged and older. Older people, I guess, have the time, the skills and experience to give this sort of service. Maybe we are also concerned at what sort of world there will be for our children, grandchildren and generations beyond. Not just what we see now, alarms and motivates us, but also what we fear. More than local?Local this story may be, but, hopefully, it will prompt individuals and groups all over the place to think about gathering together to create something similar. Repair Cafe Aotearoa New Zealand can help New Zealand groups wondering about beginning. Repair Cafe International will be able to point the way for groups in other countries. I'm sure the cause is worthy, and as is clearly evident, the means – willing volunteers – are nowadays, seemingly, also available. □ John McInnes Friday 24 November 2023 Picture credits: Creatif Kate - www.creatifkate.com - with grateful thanks __________ Postscript: This weekly blog began five years ago - Friday 24 November 2018 ##########
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