A NEW repair café is opening later next month.

Greening Ringwood is organising Ringwood’s first Repair Café event on Saturday, April 27 at the town’s Greyfriars Community Centre.

Starting at 10am (until 12noon), a number of volunteer repair experts will be available to help make all possible repairs free of charge.

Salisbury Journal: Ringwood's new Repair CaféRingwood's new Repair Café (Image: Newsquest)

Tools and materials will also be on hand. People visiting the Repair Café are encouraged to bring along broken items from home.

Toasters, lamps, hair dryers, clothes, bikes, toys, crockery, anything that is broken is welcome, and can more than likely be repaired.

By promoting repairs, Greening Ringwood aims to help reduce mountains of waste.

This is absolutely necessary, according to Lindsay Andrews, Greening Ringwood’s Co-ordinator, who said: "We throw away piles of stuff in the UK. Even things which have practically nothing wrong with them, and yet 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."

Repair Café is also intended to put residents in touch with each other in a new way, and "to discover that a lot of know-how and practical skills can already be found in the local community".

Lindsay added:  "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, Ringwood Repair Café just wants to show how much fun repairing things can be, and how easy it often is.”