Grove repair café to host first open day

VOLUNTEER repair experts are sharpening their tools and checking their supplies in preparation for the first repair cafe in Ocean Grove next month.

The event at Bellarine Training and Community Hub on Sunday October 14 comes after organiser Courtney Johnson took to social media to ask if anyone could help get the initiative off the ground.

The post attracted more than 220 responses in favour of the neighbourhood initiative that promotes repair as an alternative to throwing things out.

Ms Johnson said there would be experts on hand at Bellarine Repair Café’s first day who were familiar with the repair of most household items – and who were keen to pass on these skills to community members.

“With each repair completed, we hope to decrease the amount of waste our small community produces,” Ms Johnson said.

“It’s not always easy to live sustainably, but attending a repair cafe is a small step that we can all take.”

At the Repair Café, volunteer repair experts are available to help make repairs free of charge. People visiting the Repair Café bring along their broken items from home and then work together with the experts to save an item from going to landfill.

Ms Johnson said Repair Café also connected neighbours with each other in a new way, and reminded locals that a lot of know-how and practical skills could be found in our community.

Repair Cafe Bellarine is looking for a volunteer with skills in the repair of computers.

If this sound like you, please phone Courtney at contact [email protected].

The Bellarine Repair Café will be held between 10am and 1pm.