Making good

We're fortunate in having a Remakery in our neighbourhood. It's one of a burgeoning network of informal workshops where experts and amateurs pool their time and know-how to repair and rehabilitate broken or worn out items that would otherwise be destined for retirement or the scrapheap. The initiative started 10 years ago in Edinburgh and is spreading around the UK and further afield among people who are fed up with the cost and futility of items that cannot be repaired, the extravagance in terms of global resources of throwing out stuff that has ceased to be functional, and the catastrophic damage done by the  discarded material that clutters up and poisons our planet.

These enterprises aim to reverse that by turning the pre-loved into the re-loved.  In addition, they provide opportunities for skill-sharing and hands-on learning for people of all ages. Anybody can try their hand at mending and find out how it's done from others who have expertise. Retired people can pass on or re-new old skills and others can learn from them, enjoying useful occupation in the company of others. The young couple who run this enterprise will take on almost everything. You can either donate the items for them to make over and sell for funds or you can pay them a modest charge for a repair. They rarely turn anything away as unsuitable for attention. Nothing is without some value.

The  portakabin in which they are based is stuffed to bursting with electronic bits and pieces so they work outside whenever the weather allows. In the photo you can see, R to L, someone re-upholstering a chair,  a sewing machine, a bike (several usually), a rather nice wooden chest and someone cleaning old tools. In the extras is a wider view and a chair re-seated with bicycle inner tube - which I had to have. (I'm not a rubber fetishist but knowing something of the history of rubber I can't bear to see the stuff thrown away.)

If anybody wants to find out more about the Remakery network there's a short article here. It also would be good to hear about similar schemes known to blippers elsewhere, and any other ideas for combating the environmental disaster that is our world.