IT is a phenomenon that started in the Netherlands and has now been embraced by the UK in our environmentally conscious era.

Welcome to the Repair Cafe where everything from woolly jumpers full of holes to broken toasters can be brought along to be mended or fixed – for free – while you have a cuppa and a cake.

Fairfield and Howley Neighbourhood Project at The Old School in Fairfield Street is launching the initiative on Saturday from 10am to 12pm.

It will then run on the first Saturday of each month where a team of volunteer repair experts will be on hand to help with the likes of lamps, hair dryers, clothes, bikes, toys and crockery.

Emma Brown, who is leading the project, said: “Tools and materials will also be on hand.

“Anything that is broken is welcome and can more than likely be repaired.

“The Repair Café specialists almost always have the know-how.”

Warrington Guardian:

By promoting repairs, The Old School team want to help reduce waste going to landfill and minimise CO2 emissions while helping people save money and resources.

Emma added: “We throw away piles of stuff in the UK. Even things which practically have nothing wrong with them, and which could easily be used again after a simple repair.

“Unfortunately, many people have forgotten that they can have things repaired. Repair Café wants to change all that.”

The Repair Café also aims to put the former primary school’s neighbours as well as the wider community in touch with each other in a new way.

Emma said: “If you repair a bike, a CD player or a pair of trousers together with a previously unfamiliar neighbour, you look at that person in a different light the next time you run into them on the street.

“Jointly making repairs can lead to pleasant contacts in the neighbourhood.

“But above all, Repair Café just wants to show how much fun repairing things can be, and how easy it often is.”

The Repair Café concept arose in the Netherlands, in 2009, and was spearheaded by Martine Postma, who at the time was an Amsterdam-based journalist and publicist.

In 2010, she started the Repair Café Foundation to provide support for groups around the world wishing to start their own Repair Cafés.

The first Repair Cafe at The Old School in Fairfield Street is this Saturday from 10am to 12pm. For more information call Emma on 418633 or visit facebook.com/fhrepaircafe