Category: Repair

A Call Out for Repairers

Community, Culture, Recycling, Repair Leave a comment

Members of HGN are currently working with the Kindle Centre in Hereford to put together a Mid-Winter Make Do & Mend event for the 9th December. As part of this event we are hosting a Repair Cafe.

We are hoping that we will be able to establish a regular Repair Cafe at the Kindle Centre over coming months, and would really value some additional HGN support to get it started. Liz and Phil Hughes – who have long experience of running a very successful Repair Cafe in Southampton – have very kindly said that they are keen to help. So this is also an opportunity if you would like to find out more about how a Repair Cafe is run in order to try it out in your own community.

If any of you have volunteered in h.Energy or other Repair Cafes in the past, or if you have repair skills you would be happy to share and you would be interested to get involved in this event – please contact kate@hgnetwork.org. 

Thank you!

 

h.ENERGY AT DE KOFFIE POT

Built environment, Climate change, Community, Culture, Energy, Environment, Events, Food, Local Groups, Recycling, Repair Leave a comment

Because the next 2 weeks really are all about h.Energy, here is the listing for De Koffie Pot again – so you can make your plans…

h.Energy @ De Koffie Pot: Stalls, talks, films, music, craft & fun for all the family 

 

In the DKP Courtyard: The h.Energy Market. Saturday & Sunday, 10am – 4pm

including ….

The KLEEN Energy Bikes – come and feel what its like to generate your own electricity, light up bulbs of different types, pump water, and try to fry and egg!

Marches Energy Agency – providing info to help reduce your homes energy costs

Super Nourished – delicious handmade raw chocolate

Growing Local – sales of gorgeous local veg grown by children at the Tillington educational garden

The Woodee –  handcrafted fire pits and artisan tools

Size of Herefordshire – come & join Herefordshire’s battle to save the rainforests

The Nappy Service – information and advice about reusable nappies, continence and menstrual wear.

New Leaf Design – beautiful handmade herbal bodycare.

Electric Cars …? – come and have a look for yourself…

Browse the stalls or join a Foraging Walk led by Tim Kaye (Clan CIC) along the river banks. Setting off from DKP at 12:45pm (on Saturday only).

Also in the Courtyard, New Leaf presents Treasure Trees, a Heritage Lottery Funded interactive touch screen dark tent on the Women’s Land Army.

 

In Gwynn House: Make Do & Mend. Saturday & Sunday, 11am – 4pm

Join local creative artists, repairers and craft makers just off the DKP Courtyard.

With felting from FfolkyFfelt, textile upcycling & fun with GinnsCreative, “Nozbug” scrap metal workshops with Tinkan Designs, and more to be confirmed soon.

 

Upstairs at DKP:

h.Energy talks, shows & craftivism

 

Puppet show: “The Selfish Giant” Saturday only, 10.30am & 7pm

An eerie & beautiful retelling of Oscar Wilde’s tale from the brilliant Sealegs Puppet Theatre. Suitable for ages 4 and upwards.

 

Craftivism in the Gallery. Saturday & Sunday, 11am onwards

Come and join in with some craftivism creation in the DKP Gallery. Curated by New Leaf & Salt Road. Suitable for all ages.

 

Upstairs at DKP: The h.Energy Talks, 12 noon – 5pm

Saturday Talks Timetable

The theme for the first part of today is creating a more comfortable home that has impact on the environment

12 noon – Um – but where do I begin? So you want to make your home more comfortable and energy-efficient. But how to get started? Jackie Jones

12.15pm – A pioneering passive solar house. Local energy consultant David Olivier introduces his own home

12.45pm – What works? – your chance to quiz a panel of people who have upgraded their own homes about what’s worked for them

1.15pm – B-R-E-A-K

2.15pm – Struggling with a cold house? How to get some help. Sometimes a cold house is not just uncomfortable, but has a huge impact on finances and health. Davina Allen of Marches Energy Agency/Keep Herefordshire Warm is here to help

3pm – Why home solar makes real sense Solar PV feed-in tariffs are not what they were – but nor are costs. Gordon Yole of local installer Solar Kinetics will be answering questions on the pros and cons of solar PV right now. You might be pleasantly surprised!

Renewables and the bigger picture…

3.45pm – Herefordshire’s clean energy strategy Our county is making truly impressive progress on producing clean energy and dramatically cutting use and expenditure. Ben Boswell (Herefordshire Council Energy and Active Travel Manager) explains

4.15pm – How about community energy? How it works, how to get involved  Local community energy groups

4.30pm – We need to talk about K… limate  Enough of Kevin for now, There’s another big subject we need to discuss. Gordon Coppock brings us up to date on climate science, and how effectively we are reducing carbon emissions

 

Upstairs After Dark at DKP: Wierdshire Earth Lore, Saturday 7pm onwards 

Stories, folklore & film exploring our connections to the land. With music, performance and puppetry from local artists and folklorists.

Opening the evening at 7pm today’s second performance of The Selfish Giant from Sealegs Puppet Theatre.

Followed by music and folk tale with Sproatly Smith, Bill Laws, Libertine Spragg & Mark Stevenson.

And from 10:15pm Mash Cinema and Salt road present Treeline a range of audio visual works including New Leaf commissioned artists from the Art Council. With music from Jus Jay DJ.

 

The h.Energy Talks, Sunday, 12 noon – 4.30pm

Sunday Talks Timetable             

We need our trains and buses and bikes – but let’s take a look at where we are going with CARS

12 noon – River Simple hydrogen car Hugo Spowers of River Simple explains his thinking on fuelling vehicles with hydrogen – and introduces his revolutionary vehicle. Is it time for us to H2Go?

12.45pm – Confessions of a former petrol head – why electric cars make sense right now  Gordon Coppock

1.15pm – What works? Your chance to quiz a panel of people who drive electric cars or vans locally about how it works for them

B-R-E-A-K

Personal, local and global …

2.30pm – Creating a sustainable livelihood and career Dave Prescott explores opportunities to make your passion into your work, and explains his own professional path

3.15pm – How about community energy? How it works, how to get involved  Local community energy groups

3.30pm – The Solar Age: Global Energy Futures Local energy expert Richard Priestley explains the massive global uptake of clean, renewable energy and looks at where we are going next….

 

 

Check the other blog posts below to see whats happening at Queenswood & around the county…

Repair Cafe Culture?

Community, Economics, Energy, Events, Repair Leave a comment

There are a few messages and thoughts about Repair Cafe opportunities below, partly prompted by enthusiasm from a number of you about Repair Cafes at our last HGN Gathering.

First – a message from The Centre for Sustainable Design:

With the growing interest in repair linked to circular economy discussions, the below are a series of links to a number of resources

In Herefordshire we have 2 successful Repair Cafes: Malvern Hills Repair Cafe to the east of the county, and Kington Repair Cafe over to the west. Both are always keen to receive interest from volunteers with time or skills to share.

Over the past year in Herefordshire New Leaf and Big Skill also worked on a series of ‘Make Do & Mend Cafes’ from community centres around the county. The project was made possible by funding from Awards for All, and offered hands on information about sustainable lifestyle skills, including opportunities for local people to try traditional household crafts and learn basic repair skills.

Although a follow-up to that project might be possible with further funding, the local Repair Cafe scene – especially in the middle of the county – is essentially waiting for someone to rejuvenate it.

So! If anyone out there has a passion to see another Repair Cafe happening in or around Hereford / Leominster / Ross or Bromyard, please get in touch! There are a few venues that we know would be interested to support this happening – all we really need are a couple of keen volunteers to take up the challenge and get things moving …

 

We’ve also received an invitation from Cambridge Carbon Footprint (CCF) and the Cambridgeshire Repair Cafe Network (CRCN):

On Saturday November 11th CRCN are planning to run the World’s Biggest Repair Cafe as part of the Circular Cambridge Festival. The Festival is the flagship event of Circular Cambridge, a CCF project which promotes solutions to waste and over consumption. In order to run the largest Repair Cafe they’ll need to have 300+ people attending and bringing items for repair. They’re hoping the event will draw attention to and engage people in a discussion in the issues around waste, consumerism, climate change and solutions, and of course make hundreds of people happy by fixing their stuff! From small household appliances and electrical items, computers, mobile phones, bicycles, clothes, jewellery to general bits and bobs. 

If you’re a keen repairer who can fix these sorts of items they’d love your help! Repairers will work in four hour shifts starting at different times throughout the day. They’ll receive the gratitude of those getting their items fixed and lots of free tea, coffee and cake. The group are also able to offer accommodation for repairers who have had to travel a long way.

If you could volunteer as a repairer please get in touch with them at hello@circularcambridge.org or phone 01223 301842 for more information.

 

 

Maybe this experience would be of interest to anyone considering setting up a Repair Cafe in Herefordshire?!

There is more general background about Repair Cafes here.

And a short BBC film about our local Repair Cafe in Malvern here.

… Hoping to hear from you 🙂