A hive of activity at All Saints’

All Saints’ church hall was a hive of activity last Saturday when the church hosted the first Repair Fair organised by the recently formed St Albans District Fixers. Some 40 attendees brought all manner of electrical and electronic goods including toasters, lamps, audio equipment, kitchen items and laptops for a skilled band of 8 amateur fixers to work their magic on. Bike repairs and servicing, and clothing and fabric repairs were also undertaken by other volunteers, skilled in their own fields. Meanwhile two members of the All Saints’ Catering Committee plied fixers and those awaiting a fix with teas, coffees and delicious home-made cakes.

A good number of items were fixed, to the delight of their owners, or declared fixable with more work. Only a minority were declared end of life, and even with these, the owners were generally content to have the assurance that there was no point in continuing to give their items house room. Feeding the results into the “Fixometer” maintained by The Restart Project, it appears that 21kg of e-waste may have been averted, as well as 225kg of CO2-equivalent emissions in the manufacture of replacement items – the equivalent of driving from Harpenden, to Madrid through the length of France!

Revd. James commented “I was delighted that the church could host the Repair Fair. All Saints’ is committed to its EcoChurch programme and to care for God’s world, and so to bring people together for this was a real joy. Huge thanks to all the fixers, hosts, and those providing refreshments.

Judging by the enthusiasm of the organisers and fixers and the highly appreciative response of all those attending, this will surely not have been a one-off.

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