New life brought to old things

The Ashburton Repair Workshop is now officially open where a team of skilled volunteers fix items that would otherwise end up in landfill.

Equipped with a bright, safe workspace and a wide range of tools, they can tackle anything that needs mending from toasters to toys; hi-fis to hedge trimmers; and chairs to china.

Fitting out the premises at the Old Umber Works, Chuley Road, Ashburton, has been funded by generous donations from sponsors Glendinning, Grey Matter, Tuckers, Howdens, Falcon Digital, Recycle Devon, Teignbridge District Council, and Devon County Council, whose representatives celebrated the opening on 14^th October, and had a chance to see some of the work that goes on.

Brian and Gill Raynor showed their intricate repairs skills on “Kathleen”, a beautiful 24” gaff cutter with fibreglass hull and plywood deck made by Albatross Model Yachts of Paignton. The exquisite pond yacht was brought in by Professor Tony Bolton, needing damage repairs to hull, rudder and mast, as well as re-rigging. Prof. Bolton then generously donated the boat for auction with the proceeds to go towards running the workshop.

“We are a charity and rely completely on donations from customers that bring in things for repair,” said Nigel Ward, chair of the Repair Workshop. “Some items only take minutes to fix, others can take days. It can be almost impossible for people to get domestic appliances fixed nowadays due to manufacturers’ deliberate policy of non-accessible construction. But our volunteers don’t give up easily, and we have a very high success rate!”   

Volunteer Charles Hill-Smith constantly pits his wits against the steady stream of toasters, kettles, and similar appliances that come into the workshop. “We have a large set of specialist tools which can be used to get past the ‘blocks’ that the makers put in,” said Charles. “If I can’t figure something out, one of the other repairers will help.”

The need for a workshop became apparent with the popularity of the once-a-month sessions that were not occurring regularly enough to cope with demand.

The volunteers needed somewhere to work and store the items brought in, and so a large, permanent space became critical.

“We are victims of our own popularity, but in a good way” said volunteer Michael Cranmer. “Since our first meeting in 2018, we have dealt with thousands of items that would now be in landfill; an achievement that gives me great satisfaction.” The sentiment was echoed by Roger Croad, chair of Devon Authorities Strategic Waste Committee, Devon County Council, who said “What the team are doing here is truly inspirational.”

The Ashburton Repair Shop is open every Wednesday, from 3pm-6pm, and the Repair Café opens on the first Saturday of each month at St Andrew’s Hall. Customers are encouraged to chat over a tea or coffee and learn how their repair is being done. More volunteers of all ages are welcome too!

See www.ashburtonrepaircafe.org.uk for all information, where items can be booked in a specific time slot and their progress tracked, and donations and Gift Aid can be made.