Friday 02-02-2024 - 13:08

Following its previous success, the Repair Café is returning to Undeb Bangor as part of Volunteering Week, which will run from the 5th to the 11th of February. Events are planned throughout the week, organised by students, and Undeb Bangor is encouraging the local community to attend the 'Repair Café' to extend the life of their cherished items.

The Repair Café, hosted by students at Undeb Bangor, Bangor University's Students Union, will take place on Wednesday, the 7th of February. The café will be open from 1-4 pm, focusing on repairing everyday objects such as clothes, bikes, and small electrical devices.

Josie Ball, who is Undeb Bangor's Volunteer and Community Coordinator, says, “We ran our first successful Repair Café in October 2022, with the support of Repair Café Wales. Our Repair Café reflects our ethos and values as an organization. Aside from encouraging sustainability and waste reduction, they enable our student leaders to develop their skill set and experience through organizing and delivering them. Not only that, but we’ve really enjoyed nurturing our relationship with the local community through them. We’d love to build on this and facilitate skills sharing between members of the local and student community. If you have any repair experience or would simply like to bring an item in, we’d love to see you at our next café!”

Held at the Undeb Bangor offices on the 4th Floor of Pontio, the event is fully accessible via lifts and is open to both students and the local community. The Repair Café will provide assistance with:
• Clothing repairs
• Laptop/IT support and fixes where possible
• Bike repairs
• Small electrical repairs

Volunteers' Week is an annual celebration of the millions of people contributing through volunteering in their communities. The Repair Café collaborates with Repair Café Wales. Charlie Jones, Marketing and Communications Lead at Undeb Bangor, says, “Having both the Repair Café back at the Students' Union is fantastic. It benefits both students and the community, allowing us to give a second life to our items.”

Will Gallon is a regular volunteer at the repair café, and he says, “I have had a keen interest in repair since I got my first laptop. I began working on it to upgrade components and this eventually evolved into building my own desktop computer which opened more avenues of repair. I got involved with the repair cafe when I received an email about it during my second year at Bangor; it caught my interest as it seemed like a good opportunity to practice repair on some items that I may not typically have access to.”

Volunteers will be on-site from 1 pm to 4 pm in The Foyer at Undeb Bangor, 4th Floor of Pontio. If you have an interest in volunteering at this event, please email repaircafe@undebbangor.com. For more information, please visit: https://undebbangor.native.fm/event/repair-cafe-clothes-swap-re-usable-period-giveaways/214542