Waverley Council’s first ever Repair Café

Waverley Council’s first ever Repair Café will be held on Saturday 20 July 2024!

Come along to St Catherine’s School, Jane Barker Hall from 10am on Saturday 20 July and meet some of our volunteers that will be hard at work repairing and restoring a range of everyday household items. By keeping common items in use for longer we can reduce landfill and move towards a circular economy.

Bookings are not required, as the café operates on a first come – first served basis.

• WHEN : Saturday 20 July
• TIME : 10am to 2pm 
• WHERE : St Catherine’s School Waverley, 26 Albion Street, Waverley

Bike Maintenance Workshop

We’ll also be running a Bike Maintenance Workshop on the day from 9.30 – 11.30 with Bikewise. Bring your bike and learn how to care for your chain, change a tyre and keep your wheels safe and ready for cruising.

To find our more and register for the Bike Workshop, you will need to book a spot for this free session here.

If you can’t make the 2 hour maintenance workshop, we will also be offering bike tune ups at the repair Café.

How will the Repair Café work?

• The Café will operate on a first come, first served basis. We won’t be able to take bookings for a repair prior to the event.
• On arrival you’ll be greeted by a volunteer who will ask you to complete a form.
• A volunteer will then provide you with a time slot to see the repair station appropriate for your item.
  • Your allocated time slot might be later in the day. You might choose to wait or come back later at your allocated time. If we can see you sooner, we’ll contact you to let you know.
• At your allocated time, the repairer will examine your item and start working on the repair.
• If we can’t repair your item, we’ll do our best to give you advice on what you can do, and we’ll give your item back to you to take home.
• We hope to be able to repair all items that present at the Repair Café, so please be patient whilst we try.

The repair café is a free service for our community, provided by volunteers, donations are welcome to help to keep the café operating.

We encourage you to come along and bring something you’d like repaired, or just drop in and say hello and support this great community initiative!!

What will we accept as a repair item?

The café will only accept items for assessment that can be carried to the café by one person. This means we won’t accept white goods or large bulky items.

What happens if you can’t repair my item?

Whilst our Volunteer Repairers will do their best to repair everything that is brought to them, they may not have the skills, materials available to complete all repairs. If we can’t fix your item you’ll need to take it away with you. You can’t donate or leave items at the Repair Café.

I’m not sure if you will be able to repair my electrical item?

If an item can be opened up then there’s a good chance the repairers will be able to determine what is wrong with it and assess if it can be repaired.  It is usually easy to determine yourself if an item can be opened, if you can see the item has screws or other fasteners visible on the outside that can be undone.

Some electrical items are manufactured in a way which is designed so that they cannot be opened after manufacturing, which means our volunteers may not be able to open them for assessment.  In these situations it’s likely your item will not be able to be repaired. We do not encourage the opening of electrical items yourself, unless you are qualified to do so. If you are not sure if your item can be repaired, bring it in for assessment and we’ll let you know.

Find out more 

To learn more about Waverley’s Repair Café contact connected@waverley.nsw.gov.au or call 02 9083 8916

To sign up as a volunteer repairer or to help in another way complete the volunteer application form and choose “Repair Cafe”. Or to find out more about how this service can help a community, click this link to watch a short YouTube video.

Thank you to St Catherine’s School Sydney for their generous help in hosting the Repair Café.