Hadleigh town councillors and staff ran the first Hadleigh Repair Cafe at the dining room in the Guildhall on Saturday 18 February, which has received some fantastic feedback from members of the public.

Hadleigh Town Councillors Huw Roberts and Angela Wiltshire were intrigued when they saw a sign in an independent electrical retailer's premises in North Wales inviting customers to bring in their items for repair rather than replace them, for no charge.

They discussed whether they could bring the idea to Hadleigh and investigated the 'Repair Cafe' organisation. There are several Repair Cafes across the region including those at Holbrook, Woodbridge and Stowmarket. 

Within a year of the council's Climate Change and Environment subcommittee recommending the idea to full council and agreeing to fund it from the subcommittee's budget, Hadleigh's own Repair Cafe has launched.

Cllr Wiltshire said: "The idea is simple, people learn to become 'handy' again and instead of throwing things away and replacing them with new, they look into mending, altering and fixing, or find someone who can, learning new skills and refreshing old ones, along the way. They share their skills to teach others, and to help stop stuff going into the bin. It's a very generous thing to do and the Repair Cafe would welcome local handy people getting in touch to share their expertise.'

"Experts and helpers give their time freely to make this happen, no one makes any money out of the Repair Cafe, but experts are provided with their costs and a lunch and refreshments.

"They share their skills to teach others, and to help stop stuff going into the bin. It's a very generous thing to do and the Repair Cafe would welcome local handy people getting in touch to share their expertise.'

"It's also a fabulous social event where, for example at Holbrook, local bakers and makers contribute cakes and bread for sale in the cafe and local residents come by to meet up and have a chat as well as learn how to recycle and reuse their old stuff.'

Councillor Roberts, Chair of the Climate Change and Environment subcommittee, who last year began progressing the idea with Cllr Gale Pryor and Holbrook Repair Cafe's Volunteer Organiser, Milly, said: "It took us a while to get from the original idea to this, but it's great to see it finally come to fruition. Cllrs Angela Wiltshire, Gale Pryor and I did the initial exploratory work but I have to say it was the council staff - town clerk Wendy Brame and assistant clerk Marta Morrell - who then took it on and made it happen.

"It is gratifying to see something you pushed for actually happen, and I thank the council staff team for all the work they did behind the scenes and in front. Running the Repair Café was a bit of a gamble but it's paid off thanks to them and everyone else involved from the Climate Change and Environment subcommittee. It was also good to see the mayor come along to lend support."

Cllr Angela Wiltshire said: "As a nation we are in danger of throwing far too much away at the first sign of failure and replacing things with cheap, short life products which don't last very long themselves. Our parents' generation were far keener and more able to tackle small repairs to items which seemed far better built to last.

"My father was a serial mender of things. With the cost of living rocketing, it would be good to feel that the Council may have contributed in this way to people having a bit more money in their pockets and learning how to tackle repairs safely."

The Repair Café had several different repairers on offer including electrical repair, sewing, bicycle repair, and even an art restorer. Tea and cakes were available. The event was was such a success that the council is planning another one in April – details available from the town clerk.