Repair Café launches in Port with great success

A REPAIR Café recently launched in Portarlington, with locals bringing in everything from toasters to broken stools.

Tim Sheed lives on the Bellarine, is an Australian Bush Poet and local Handyman by trade.

He recently spotted an advertising flyer in a small country town supermarket window promoting a Repair Café they were running and thought it was a great idea.

As an ex Riverina farmer, nothing was ever wasted on the farm, and you fixed everything yourselves.

Tim is a very practical man and learnt to fix most things with a pair of pliers and a bit of fencing wire, so he approached the coordinator of the Portarlington Neighbourhood House to enquire about the availability of their outdoor shed, roped in a couple of practical fellows that he knew and on Saturday May 11 launched the first Repair Café, which was a great success with locals bringing everything from toasters to broken stools.

Coincidentally, the Portarlington Produce Tree Swap was happening on the same day in the grounds of the Neighborhood House so as small items were repaired and produce swapped, the two groups came together to share tea, scones and conversation.

The Repair Café is all about reducing waste and stopping things going to landfill, teaching new skills by repairing things together, connecting people and building community.

It was decided that the Repair Café would join forces with the Portarlington Produce Tree Swap group and will be run fortnightly on the second and fourth Saturday (April-August) from 10am-11am, then weekly from September-March on Saturdays from 9am-10.30am.