\n
“Unfortunately, we have a situation where people don\u2019t feel like they can fix things and instead just chuck them away. I\u2019m volunteering here today to hopefully turn things away from landfill,\u201d Nigel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was brought up on a farm, far from anywhere, and that meant that if you couldn\u2019t fix what was broken you simply couldn\u2019t use it. You could say that fixing things is in my blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Cycle repairs are my forte, but I\u2019ll try my hand at anything to help out.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Image: Nigel hopes to turn items away from landfill<\/strong>. Credit: Joe Hearn <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Caf\u00e9 assistant Karin Gustavsson, 39, moved to Cardiff a year ago and began volunteering to meet people in her community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI heard about the repair caf\u00e9 through litter picking, and thought it would be right up my street,\u201d Ms Gustavsson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI love fixing and mending things at home, and I love any opportunity to meet like-minded people, which can happen at events like these.”<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
Karin Gustavsson, fixing a broken zip, has years of experience working with textiles and upholstery.<\/strong> Credit: Sheila Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nInspired by her mum, she developed a passion for textiles and upholstery and volunteered at the event mending broken and ripped clothing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday I\u2019ve fixed a bobble on a gentleman\u2019s hat who didn\u2019t want to let it go, and I\u2019ve just changed a zip on a pair of trousers, which I haven\u2019t had much experience with, so it was a bit of a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut this is what I was hoping for coming today, helping people out while also learning myself \u2013 and I have a feeling there\u2019s going to be a lot more zips coming my way in the future,\u201d she explains<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Co-founder and chair of the group, councillor Bethan Proctor said: \u201cThere\u2019s six or seven volunteers within the group, and we all have the aim to make the area of Llanishen more friendly and sustainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Councillor Bethan Proctor, pictured right, gives an opening speech at the launch of the repair caf\u00e9.<\/strong> Credit: Joe Hearn. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI saw other areas of Cardiff offering repair caf\u00e9s and thought it was an amazing idea. Over-consumerism is a massive problem, and if there is a way we can fix things that we already have, it goes a long way to helping tackle climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis event is 18 months in the making. We were given a very generous donation from Wales and West Housing which helped pay for the insurance for the venue, the PAT testing kits, refreshments, and help with promotion. Without it, the repair caf\u00e9 wouldn\u2019t have been able to run,” she explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mark Morgan, 60, has been a resident of Llanishen all his life and attended the event after seeing an advertisement in a local shop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve brought down a broken hairdryer, a fan that has just been collecting dust in the corner of my bedroom, and a battery charger that isn\u2019t holding its charge,\u201d Mr Morgan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNormally I\u2019d try and repair them myself, but I don\u2019t have the right tools to do it, so I\u2019m hoping someone here does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got other items at home which are too big to bring here today, but if this is successful, maybe I\u2019ll bring them along next time.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In attendance at the launch of the repair caf\u00e9 were members of the Welsh government, including MS for Cardiff North, Julie Morgan.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
From left to right: Secretary of the Llanishen Eco Group<\/strong> Sheila Smith, Councillor Garry Hunt, Julie Morgan MS, Councillor Bethan Proctor and leader of Cardiff Council Huw Thomas.<\/strong> Credit: Joe Hearn<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\u201cThis event is very much in line from what we want from the Welsh government. Wales is now second in the world for recycling, and we need to move away from our throwaway society,” Ms Morgan said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also in attendance was Anna McMorrin, MP for Cardiff North, who said: \u201cThis is a fantastic initiative that brings the community together. And what\u2019s more amazing, it is completely volunteer-led.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt not only encourages people to have a chat, a cup of tea or a cake, but more importantly, be able to get something mended that is going to be beneficial for their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor these initiatives to work, people need to be invested in the community, which our councillors and volunteers definitely are.”<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
St Isan’s Church was full of residents<\/strong> coming to get their broken items fixed.<\/strong> Credit: Joe Hearn<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nThe Llanishen Eco Group hopes to run more repair cafes in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nIf you would like to get involved, or would like more information email Llanishenecogroup@gmail.com<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A total of 32 items were repaired at its launch event, ranging from a broken hair dryer, a DVD player… and even a new bobble on a hat<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1211,"featured_media":91257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[135,3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[8798],"class_list":["post-90940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-llanishen","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
The new repair caf\u00e9 that's helping to improve our throwaway society one fix at a time - The Cardiffian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The new repair caf\u00e9 that's helping to improve our throwaway society one fix at a time - The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A total of 32 items were repaired at its launch event, ranging from a broken hair dryer, a DVD player... and even a new bobble on a hat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-28T16:03:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-28T16:08:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/01\/Nigel-andbike-new.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1050\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joe Hearn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@js_hearn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joe Hearn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/\",\"name\":\"The new repair caf\u00e9 that's helping to improve our throwaway society one fix at a time - The Cardiffian\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/01\/Nigel-andbike-new.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-28T16:03:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-28T16:08:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/c9924458acd307d9b82e49f3ee4c7332\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/01\/Nigel-andbike-new.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/01\/Nigel-andbike-new.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":1050},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The new repair caf\u00e9 that’s helping to improve our throwaway society one fix at a time\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/\",\"name\":\"The Cardiffian\",\"description\":\"Just another JOMEC Sites Network site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/c9924458acd307d9b82e49f3ee4c7332\",\"name\":\"Joe Hearn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/c3f6598acd3e90c77cd4df3466aaa6a9\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/10\/avatar_user_1211_1728295392-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/10\/avatar_user_1211_1728295392-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Joe Hearn\"},\"description\":\"Trainee Journalist at JOMEC, covering the areas of Heath, Rhiwbina, Llanishen and Birchgrove.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/joe-hearn-a822261bb\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/js_hearn\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/author\/hearnjs\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The new repair caf\u00e9 that's helping to improve our throwaway society one fix at a time - The Cardiffian","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"The new repair caf\u00e9 that's helping to improve our throwaway society one fix at a time - The Cardiffian","og_description":"A total of 32 items were repaired at its launch event, ranging from a broken hair dryer, a DVD player... and even a new bobble on a hat","og_url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/","og_site_name":"The Cardiffian","article_published_time":"2025-01-28T16:03:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-01-28T16:08:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1050,"url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/01\/Nigel-andbike-new.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Joe Hearn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@js_hearn","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joe Hearn","Estimated reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/","url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/","name":"The new repair caf\u00e9 that's helping to improve our throwaway society one fix at a time - The Cardiffian","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/01\/Nigel-andbike-new.jpg","datePublished":"2025-01-28T16:03:47+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-28T16:08:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/c9924458acd307d9b82e49f3ee4c7332"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/01\/Nigel-andbike-new.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/01\/Nigel-andbike-new.jpg","width":1600,"height":1050},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/28\/the-new-repair-cafe-thats-helping-to-improve-our-throwaway-society-one-fix-at-a-time\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The new repair caf\u00e9 that’s helping to improve our throwaway society one fix at a time"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/","name":"The Cardiffian","description":"Just another JOMEC Sites Network site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/c9924458acd307d9b82e49f3ee4c7332","name":"Joe Hearn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/c3f6598acd3e90c77cd4df3466aaa6a9","url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/10\/avatar_user_1211_1728295392-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/10\/avatar_user_1211_1728295392-96x96.jpg","caption":"Joe Hearn"},"description":"Trainee Journalist at JOMEC, covering the areas of Heath, Rhiwbina, Llanishen and Birchgrove.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/joe-hearn-a822261bb\/","https:\/\/x.com\/js_hearn"],"url":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/author\/hearnjs\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90940"}],"version-history":[{"count":56,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91262,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90940\/revisions\/91262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90940"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=90940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/01\/nigel-and-strimmer-3-854x1024.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/01\/Karin-3-1024x768.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/01\/bethan-proctor-2-1024x550.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/01\/group-photo-better-quality-1024x768.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/01\/people-at-event-1-1024x491.jpg\")