Your local Repair Café is firmly on the national and international maps! As a member of Repair Café International and a supporter of the Restart Project, we are able to add our voice to bigger campaigns nationally and internationally.
The Right to Reuse and Repair declaration was recently signed by our Derbyshire Dales MP, John Whitby. The declaration demands that manufacturers design repairability into consumer products to lengthen their lives and thus lighten the impact on family finances and cut waste going to landfill.
John Whitby MP, at the invitation of Tideswell & District Environment Group, brought a clock to be repaired at our 18 October event. He was given the full Repair Café welcome, explanation of how it all worked and his clock was checked in. Happily, TPot, one of our highly capable repairer team, was able to identify and rectify the problem, fitting the clock with new hands.
John stayed to enjoy a cuppa and homemade refreshments from the café and heard more about the importance of Repair Cafés nationally as well as agreeing to our requests of him:
• Ask a question in the House to strengthen regulations for repair and reuse and help reduce household costs through incentives to repair such as zero VAT rating on repairs
• Lobby the Secretary of State for Business and Trade for right to repair regulations to cover all consumer products
• Lobby the Secretary of State for DEFRA to expand Ecodesign regulations to more product categories, along with product design improvements, to help bring more repairable products onto the market.
Also, members of the TDEG team told John about other initiatives, including the Library of Things being developed for launch in 2026. He was also given an update on our campaign to improve water quality through monitoring the water quality in Tideswell Brook and working with Severn Trent towards an upgrade to the water treatment works.
He also met with representatives from the Peak District Nappy Library and our Seed Swap, and heard about the early work to establish a Community Land Trust to develop much needed affordable housing in the area.
John Whitby MP left with his mended clock and a very positive impression of Tideswell and its environs and all the voluntary work going into making the area a better place for residents and nature. “Great to see the community making a difference to people’s lives and my clock!”, he wrote; “Many thanks to all the volunteers who give up their time.”
Remember the Repair Café takes place on the 3rd Saturday of the month, except August and December. Items taken from 10am until 12:30pm.
Thank you to everyone who has supported the Repair Café over the past three years by bringing their valued items along.
You can find out more about our Repair Cafe here – Tideswell & District Repair Café – Tideswell & District Environment Group
