My Uncle Dave’s kettle is over 40 years old. He refuses to buy a new one. Each time it springs a leak he carefully welds a little metal patch over the hole. Even some of the electrical wiring has been renewed. It looks more like a patchwork quilt than a kettle and it weighs a ton! “Why should I buy a new one? There’s nowt wrong with it. Anyway I quite like the challenge of trying to fix it,” he smiles. “Fancy a cuppa?”
Once upon a time there was a mender for everything. A Mr or Mrs Fixit for all sorts of problems. Every high street had an electrical repairs shop, shoe repairs, a D.I.Y. workshop with spare parts for everything. Everyone knew somebody who could repair things. My Mum made my jumpers and Dad made bits of furniture. How times have changed – it’s now cheaper to buy something on-line than it is try and repair it. What a waste of resources.
But good news! Frome now has it’s very own ‘Remakery’. This is a brand new, monthly making and mending get together. If you’ve got anything you need fixing, bring it along and skilled fixers will do their bit while you can enjoy some drinks and nibbles. Last Sunday afternoon at least thirty-two items were given a new lease of life. This included a vacuum cleaner, a dementia clock, coffee grinder, various toys and clothing items, even a hedge trimmer. My two guitar leads proved a bit tricky to fix up (due mostly to my own botched attempts) but in the end I saved about £25 on the cost of new ones.
This lovely opportunity is made possible thanks to the brilliant crew at SHARE. Find details at www. sharefrome.org or pop into the SHARE shop. Can they fix it? Yes, they probably can!
