BRAG held its first Restart Party on 25th November. The Friends of Cathja charity shop kindly provided a room for us to use for repairing electric and electronic items. Rishi from the shop and Jo from the Restart Project were our fixers.  

West London Waste lent us some basic equipment, Jo brought his own repair kit and there were some tools available in the shop.

During the afternoon five people brought a total of seven items to be looked at. Two of these were judged to be beyond/not worth mending, four were checked and any necessary repairs carried out, and Jo took one to repair at home as he didn’t have the right equipment with him.

 

Not all our visitors brought devices: someone dropped in to ask for advice on mending a bicycle pannier, and Ruk was able to offer suggestions.  Several people came to find out more about what we were doing, and were very interested to watch Jo and Rishi at work. One of them, who had some experience with repairs, even ended up by volunteering to help in the shop. Jo showed Virginia how to do a portable appliance test (PAT).

Some of the customers offered donations, which were passed on to the shop as a thank you for providing the venue.

The afternoon was a success, and we’ll do it again next year, probably in the spring.  Meanwhile, if you have any waste electric/electronic equipment (WEEE) that you need to get rid of, West London Waste has a recycling event at the end of January at Hounslow Library.