The preparation meeting ahead of the first Middlesbrough Repair Cafe (MRC) will be at the Friends Meeting House, 131 Cambridge Road, Middlesbrough, TS5 5HL on Wednesday 8th May 6.30pm volunteers with electrical equipment for testing and then 7pm all volunteers for Repair Cafe run through.
it would be helpful it you bring everything you plan to bring for the first Repair Cafe, this lets others see what we have for each area and makes the run through real.
Please remind yourself of the repair cafe model https://casav.uk/mrc and read the safety documents linked from https://casav.uk/mrcprocesses.
This meeting is for volunteers who have already filled out either the paper or electronic (https://casav.uk/mrcvol) application form. Please contact mrc@casva.uk if you have not done so.
Any updates will be sent by email and also on the Boro Repair Cafe WhatsApp group (link to join – https://chat.whatsapp.com/Hr72pEKAaQb1hCk8a9MMPl).
We will be setting up the Meeting House from 5.30pm, so please come along if you would like to help or if you just want to me up earlier then by 6pm we should be set up.
Agenda – 8th May 7pm Preparation Meeting – 6.30pm PAT testing
- 6.30pm – 7pm PAT Testing: Electrical safety testing of volunteers’ mains electrical equipment
- 7pm Introduction: Welcome, thanks for coming, then brief introduction to the Middlesbrough Repair Cafe
- 7.10 Run Through: Walk / talk everybody through the repair process, i.e. come through the main door, fill out a form, triage the repair, take the repair to a repair station, leave repair form at repair station, take feedback form, look at donation process.
- 7.30 Repair Group: Split volunteers up into their repair group – electrical, textiles, mending, front of house, etc. to get to know each other and share their skills.
- 7.50 Questions: What else do you need for Saturday?
- 8pm Finish
Some help would be appreciated afterward tidying up the Meeting House.
We will be setting up the Meeting House from 5.45pm, so come and say hello or come along and help.
Background
MRC and its processes are modelled on the International Repair Cafe Organisations repair cafe process which is very simple:
- a visitor have something broken;
- they bring it to a repair cafe, give some details of the item and accept MRC’s terms and conditions (repair form);
- repair work is provided for free while the owner watches/helps;
- with the same expectation that they have when a knowledgeable friend / neighbour offers to help you.
- towards have some refreshments and make a donation (towards Repair Cafe costs, and to help supporting organisations).
There are 1000s of repair cafes around the world that work because volunteers like you give their time for free and visitors make voluntary donations which cover costs (insurance, consumables, specialist tools, room hire, etc..). As it is a cafe there is also free refreshments covered by the donations. If you want to know more than you can read the International Repair Cafe Organisations Handbook and the UK specific suggestions that Malvern Hills Repair Cafe have produced, or look at the local Stokesley and Villages Repair Cafe, which has been running for 2 years and completed over 1,000 repairs or look at global examples via the Repair Cafe International Organisation.
MRC is being run as an activity of Friends of the Earth Middlesbrough, Stockton and Redcar, Rob Tucker (FoE Coordinator) initiated the Middlesbrough Repair Cafe and FoE are providing our insurance.
MRC are very grateful to the Middlesbrough Quakers who are allowing MRC to use the Middlesbrough Meeting House for free.
MRC is a new venture so we are still looking for people to help in running the repair cafe behind the scenes (coordination group) and your views/comments on everything it does will be really useful to shape how it evolves (mrc@casav.uk).
MRC is only possible because you have volunteered your time, thank you. So aside from travel costs you should not be out of pocket for volunteering, we will try to arrange lift sharing to make it as easy as possible for people to attend and will reimburse consumable costs.
MRC also relies on most volunteers bringing their own tools and consumables necessary to carry out the repairs. MRC will reimburse consumable costs. In due course MRC will acquire some specialist tools for example a portable electrical equipment tester, but does not plan to duplicate tools people already have. However, to make volunteering accessible to all, we encourage all to share tools at the Repair Cafe and if necessary will look into borrowing tools from other organisations to allow everybody to volunteer.
MRC will reimburse you for the cost of consumables you use, as this is generally more effective than buying for example glues which will go off before finished if solely used at repair cafes.
Please contact MRC@casav.uk if you have any suggestions / questions.
MRC Volunteers
Our team as of 5th May 2024, name in bold are available for first repair cafe, SaVRC are members of Stokesley and Villages Repair Cafe who are helping MRC at the first repair cafe.
| Name | Area |
| Debbie Wilson | Ceramics / glass |
| Heather Tucker | Ceramics |
| Amy Muldowney | Computers / laptops |
| Luke Manning | Computers / laptops |
| Matthew Wright | Computers / laptops |
| Des Smith (SaVRC) | Electrical |
| John Walters | Electrical |
| Jon Treadgold | Electrical |
| Mathew Brown (SaVRC) | Electrical |
| Paul Conlin | Electrical |
| Rob Tucker | FoE |
| Francie | Front of House |
| Gillian Sullivan | Front of House |
| Gina Hall | Front of House |
| Kate Gibbon (SaVRC) | Front of House |
| Lynsey Harrison | Front of House |
| Mary Conway | Front of House |
| Rosie | Front of House |
| Laurissa Papprill | Front of House |
| Mike Foster (SaVRC) | Mending |
| Terry Andrews (SaVRC) | Mending |
| Simon Gibbon (SaVRC) | Mentor |
| Kyle Prothero | PAT |
| Candice Eyden | Textiles |
| Jan Lewis | Textiles |
| Jane Mercer (SaVRC) | Textiles |
| Jemma Joy | Textiles |
| Lesley Harrison | Textiles |
| Kinga Czarocka | Textiles |
| Debbie Turnbull | Textiles |
| Jane Nicholls | Textiles |
| Rae Turnbull | Textiles |
| Sarah Turnbull | Textiles |
| Amin Gheisari | Woodwork |
If you know people who would like to volunteer please ask them to complete the volunteer application form https://casav.uk/mrcvol or contact mrc@casav.uk.
MRC Coordination Group
In order to run MRC a coordination group has been established, like the rest of MRC this group is evolving so keen to have other people involved.
| Name | Role |
| Rob Tucker | Coordinator (FoE) |
| Simon Gibbon (SaVRC) | Cafe Mentor |
| Jane Nicholls | Quakers |
| Gillian Sullivan | Project Manager |
| Mary Conway | Secretary |
| Jon Treadgold | Financial coordinator |
| Kate Gibbon (SaVRC) | Publicity Mentor |
| Candice Eyden | Publicity Social Media |
| Laurissa Papprill | Publicity Media |
Please talk to one of the coordination group if you would like to help run MRC or email mrc@casav.uk.
Climate Action Stokesley and Villages 