THE Camelford Community Network Panel are to look at the possibility of introducing a ‘repair cafe’ scheme to the area in an aim to cut down on waste and utilise people’s skills.

The idea was presented to the network panel at its meeting on Tuesday, January 28 by chair Claire Hewlett, who had recently visited Camelford’s closest repair cafe at Bude.

Repair Cafe Bude was set up by a group of volunteers in February 2019, and has since welcomed numerous people through its doors at Neetside Community Centre to have various items repaired — from broken zips and faulty watches to small household appliances.

The repair cafe is held once a month on a Saturday, and while the scheme is mainly to reduce the amount of waste that is created by households, people can indulge in delicious cakes, hot drinks and other refreshments while coming together with other people in their community, making it socially beneficial too.

Cllr Hewlett explained that she had attended the repair cafe on Saturday, January 25 with the headteacher of Sir James Smith’s School, Kristien Carrington, who had brought along an old clock that had stopped working.

“Three ladies who are a force of nature organise this repair cafe — they are phenomenal,” Cllr Hewlett said. “Kristien brought in a clock that wasn’t going. When you go in, someone triages you and asks what you have brought in. Everybody gets a number and the next key person is the runner, who is told by the people volunteering their skills and time that they are ready for the next person to come and bring their item over.”

Cllr Hewlett told the meeting that Mr Carrington had taken his broken clock to a volunteer named Al, who said it would be too complex for him to fix.

“If something is too specialised, they refer you to a business in town which is good because it utilises and promotes local businesses,” she continued. “If something needs a new part they tell you what to order and you bring it in to the next cafe, or they order it for you.

“When you have had something repaired, you have your photo taken and they ask for a donation.”

The meeting heard that a repair cafe runs off three main elements — volunteers, a runner and somebody running the cafe and serving refreshments.

“These people (the volunteers) are not professionals, they are from the community, so it’s another case of getting the community to step forward and share skills,” Cllr Hewlett said.

However, as with everything, there were a couple of things that might make it difficult to simply set up a repair cafe in Camelford.

She said: “You’ve got to have public liability insurance, and that can be hard to get, but I understand Cornwall Council is now supporting repair cafes, so that could be something to look into.

“Equipment also has to be PAT tested, so any electrical equipment the volunteers bring in has to be tested before it can be used to repair things. All of this comes at a cost, and it would be unfair to make the volunteers pay for it.

“Also, items are not left to the repairer, you stay with them while they look at it. The idea is that they pass on skills to you, so you know how to do things in future — it’s skill sharing.”

The meeting also heard that if an item cannot be repaired — and it is quite simply broken or unfit for use — volunteers will ensure the item goes into the correct recycling facility.

Bringing the presentation to a conclusion, Cllr Hewlett said: “The main thing that came about was, you’ve got to get your community involved, so you put out a plea on Facebook to see who would be willing to volunteer.”

The scheme relies entirely on volunteers from the community stepping forward — if not enough people step forward then the repair cafe would be unable to go ahead.

For more information about the repair cafe and potentially starting a cafe in Camelford, email Cllr Hewlett on [email protected].