Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire opens first ever repair cafe in Leighton Buzzard

Volunteers fixed more than 20 items when Leighton Buzzard held its first ever Repair Cafe.

The cafe opened its doors on Saturday, March 25 at the Conservative Club – and had a special visit from Susan Lousada, Bedfordshire's newly appointed HM Lord-Lieutenant, who officially opened the event.

An eclectic variety of household items were either pre-registered or brought in on the day, in hope that the items might be saved for continued use rather than being binned and going to landfill. The items included pressure hoses, kettles, a bedside lamp, a ceramic plaque, secateurs and garden strimmers.

Success stories on the day included the successful repair of "Barcelona Baby", a crying baby doll owned by Darcey aged four, that was originally bought in Barcelona. The repair involved both electrical/mechanical repair and sewing/textile repairers demonstrating a real team effort. Thais, one of the group's sewing repairers, is herself originally from Barcelona and fittingly mended the doll's clothing resulting in two happy visitors. Darcey has told everyone about her visit to the cafe, about her cake and most importantly how they all showed Darcey what they were doing and why!

In all, the amazing Repair Cafe volunteers looked at 34 items. Of these seven were unrepairable, six need more parts and 21 were fixed on the day. The repair cafe says it has resulted in 21 kilograms of waste prevented and diverted from landfill and 270 kilograms of CO2 emissions prevented (which is the equivalent of watching 469 days of TV non-stop!).

Totally Leighton Buzzard, who organised the event, were very honoured to welcome Susan Lousada, Bedfordshire's newly appointed HM Lord-Lieutenant to officially open the first event, which is hoped to be the first of many. As the King's official representative in the county, the Lord-Lieutenant emphasized how delighted she was to attend, especially given the King's personal interest in the environment and in technical skills and apprenticeships.

The HM Lord-Lieutenant was able to see the Repair Cafe in full swing and speak to repairers such as Gary who was successfully able to restore an Acer laptop back to its factory settings for a retired grandmother. She then gave a short speech, paying tribute to everyone involved in volunteering their time for such an important initiative. She also acknowledged the ongoing work of the Bedford Repair Cafe who have been running since 2016.

To top off the launch in style, the HM Lord-Lieutenant cut a special cake made for the occasion by Sarah Miceli of "For Heaven's Cake".

The group plans to run the pop-up cafe on Saturday mornings on the fourth weekend of the month (with exception of August and December). If you want to either volunteer or bring an item to repair for upcoming events please go to the group's website. The event is free to attend. Donations are welcome. Pre-registration is encouraged but items can also be brought in on the day and all attendees a required to sign a disclaimer. The group does not have timed slots given the varied nature of repairs required.

The next event will be on Saturday, April 22, 10.30am to 1.30pm at The Conservative Club, 16-18 High Street, Leighton Buzzard.