Hundreds of people celebrated Repair Café’s 15th anniversary in The Hague on Friday 18 October. At culture house Amare, a Repair Café XL was held that afternoon, with a hundred repairers from Repair Cafés all over the Netherlands – from Delfzijl in the north to Maastricht in the very south of the country. They collectively carried out over two hundred repairs, on electrical appliances, clothes, jewellery, furniture, bicycles, knives and scissors and other items. Watch the video impression of the day (you can activate English subtitles via settings).
Anniversary documentary on global impact of Repair Café
The afternoon started with the first screening of an anniversary documentary on 15 years of Repair Café (this documentary will soon be available with subtitles in English). After the launch of this film, presenter Andrea van Pol continued the conversation with numerous guests about the topics covered in the video.
Like repairing with children. TV producer Harro van Staverden talked about the second season of the children’s series Saïd & Anna, which is all about repair and second chances. He said that over the past year, almost half a million primary school pupils have already worked with the teaching material that accompanies this series.
TV producer Harro van Staverden talked about the children’s series Saïd & Anna, which is all about repairing
Rodin Bruinsma, product architect at Versuni (the former coffee and vacuum cleaner division of Philips) was also a guest on the talk show. He told how his team incorporates the new European reparability requirements into the design of new products.
Opening of Repair Café XL by mayor Jan van Zanen
Last guest in the talk show was the mayor of The Hague, mr. Jan van Zanen. He spoke highly of both the environmental and social aspects of Repair Café and urged those present to continue for a very long time. He then opened Repair Café XL by tying the bunting flag of Repair Café The Hague to the international bunting line that Repair Café volunteers from all over the world had made for the occasion.
Together with Martine Postma, mayor Van Zanen tied the bunting flag of Repair Café The Hague to the international bunting line. On the right, presenter Andrea van Pol
The mayor had also brought a repair himself: a pair of socks with a hole in them. The textile repairers immediately set to work on it.
First repair of Repair Café XL: the socks of mayor Jan van Zanen
Between 2 and 5 pm, a lot more was repaired. Hundreds of people had reserved a time slot with one of the hundred repairers in advance. On the table were vacuum cleaners, coffee machines, clocks, irons, toasters, torches, trousers, bags and much more. Many of the repairs were successful, as usual at the Repair Café.
Member of Parliament Geert Gabriëls learns to tie a button
Member of Parliament Geert Gabriëls (GroenLinks-PvdA) visited textile repairers of Repair Café The Hague, where he learned how to put a loose button back on his shirt. He also met Repair Café volunteers from his hometown Weert.
‘A vacuum cleaner filter needs to be replaced in time.’ Repairers from Weert inform MP Geert Gabriëls (left) on important aspects of maintenance and repair
Besides repairing, there was more to do in the afternoon. At the information market, visitors could learn how a multimeter works. Repair Café volunteers from Utrecht and Amsterdam had prepared all kinds of practice materials, and students from TU Eindhoven presented their ‘giant multimeter’ project, giving a step-by-step explanation of how this device works.
Information market with (from top left clockwise) among others WD-40, iFixit, TU Eindhoven students with their ‘giant multimeter’ and Bison
Various Repair Café International partners also presented themselves at the information market: iFixit, WD-40, Bison and FixPart provided information and handed out free products. Duurzaam Den Haag and Magazine Genoeg were also at the market. At Den Haag Street Art, visitors could pimp a (repaired) object. There was a festive cake for everyone.
A photo with your repaired object
After the repair, every visitor received a small gift: a bag of citric acid, including a manual on how to use it to descale your coffee machine or kettle. People could also have their photo taken with their repaired item.
Photos: Martin Waalboer / Repair Café International
Best wishes from Switzerland, I have been running our local Repair Café for 6 years and can say that the idea has been very well received here from the very beginning. Not only do we repair lots of things, but we also bring people together and always have a good time.
That’s good to hear, Marco. Thanks for your comment!
Greetings and many congratulations from Chailey Repair Cafe here in East Sussex, UK! We were with you in spirit on your celebratory day and hopefully you will have displayed our pennant!
We are now in our 7th year with 40 volunteers and an average repair rate of 80 repairs in 3 hours with well over 100 visitors each time we open.
Martine – do come and visit us when you are the UK; it would be a pleasure to show you what your inspiration and determinations all those years ago has done for the local community here!!
With all good wishes,
Bryan McAlley and the Chailey Repair Cafe team,.
Thanks, Bryan and team! Lovely to hear from you 🙂
I have volunteered at Chorley Repair Cafe for 5 years now so we had a double celebration in October. Sir Lindsay Hoyle, speaker at The House of Commons, visited us on the day along with the Mayor and his wife. We had a fantastic session celebrating the 5 year anniversary of our Repair Cafe and 15 years of the International Repair Cafe. We had 47 items brought in, 21 were fixed, 3 partially fixed and 6 taken away for repair. Items included a coat, pocket watch, vacuum cleaner, RC car, paper shredder, steam iron, lamp, scooter, bicycle, power tools, clocks and teddies. There is always a sense of everyone being there for a shared purpose, to save items going g to landfill, saving money, and learning new skills. I love it.
Mandy
Thanks for your comment, Mandy. Great to hear that so many people are so enthusiastic about Repair Café 🙂