I woke early on Sunday morning and switched on the radio as usual. It’s has been part of my early morning routine for 30 years, and usually offers a bit of a background to getting up. A catch-up on news. Music maybe. This Sunday, the “getting up” bit was delayed by a new programme on BBC Radio Scotland called It’s a Small World. You can find it on Sounds.
Presenter Anna Massie visited The Repair Cafe at Boat of Garten “to find out how it’s blossomed and brought a real sense of community to the village”. It was so optimistic with a wonderful sense of community. People had travelled miles to volunteer their skills or to bring something broken. A simple, positive, brilliant idea.
We have a superb culture of repair at MADE in East Lothian with Upcycling and Repair, and Sewing and Mending drop-in groups every Thursday and Friday mornings. (These are DIY groups, you do your own repair.) There’s a workbench with donated tools for our community groups to use. We run Saturday workshops in Decorative Mending (next date tbc) and Furniture Upcycling. By necessity, the Arts Hub and Gallery itself is an ongoing homage to repair and reuse :). And I hear we’re hoping to start the Shed group again soon. Watch this space. There a many opportunities for you to learn something useful with us.
FYI East Linton Tool Library restarted their Repair Cafes last month; the next one is in May.
Written by Nicky, Ecommerce Coordinator