11th May Organising Committee Meeting Notes

Attendees:

Middlesbrough Repair Cafe: Emily Treadgold
Northallerton Repair Cafe: Richard Zealey
Saltburn Repair Cafe: Kerry Reay
Stokesley Repair Cafe: Kate Gibbon
RC@FoT Co-ordinator: Simon Gibbon

Repair Cafe @ Festival of Thrift web page: https://casav.uk/fot
Forms for volunteering to help at Repair Cafe @ Festival of Thrift: https://casav.uk/fot-volunteer
Email contact: repaircafe@casav.uk

Purpose of the Meeting & Festival Context

The goal is to plan the logistics and coordinate volunteers for the Repair Cafe at the upcoming Festival of Thrift.

Beyond simply fixing items, the core purpose is to act as a “shop front” for repair, demonstrating repair in action to the public, teaching them how to fix things themselves, encouraging them to start their own repair cafes, and changing the conversation around built-in obsolescence and consumerism.

Action: Provide a computer where visitors can email their MP to sign the UK Repair and Reuse Declaration to enact repair and reuse in UK legislation.

Festival Logistics – What We Know So Far

Dates & Times: The festival is on the 4th and 5th of July, open from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.. The cafe will stop accepting items at 4:00 p.m. to ensure all repairs are finished and cleared out by 5:00 p.m..

Location: The Repair Cafe will take place in the Bothy Gallery, a building inside the walled garden at Kirkleatham.

Layout: Plan for a one-way foot traffic system using five repair tables and two external 3x3m gazebos. One gazebo, near the entrance, will handle reception, triage and PAT testing, the other, near the exit, will handle reuse/engagement.

Waiting: It’s not easy to see how to deal with this, space for waiting is limited.

Action: Detailed waiting procedure in place ahead of 4th July.

Amenities: At least 16 electrical sockets are available on the wall behind the tables.

Action: Check for water supply and sink to prepare hot drinks.

Volunteer & Shift Planning

Current Roster: Currently have 34 volunteers meaning we have 33 slots out of 48 slots filled across the two days.

Recruitment Needs: There is a strong need for more volunteers with core skills, specifically in electrical, mechanical, computers, and PAT testing.

Snapshot from Repair Cafe Scheduler.

Action: All recruit more volunteers.

Shifts & Welfare: A full 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. shift would be too long, so volunteers will need scheduled breaks. Free tea, coffee, cakes, and biscuits will be provided, but volunteers are encouraged to bring a packed lunch.

Transport: The festival encourages volunteers to use active travel or car share where possible, though equipment drop-offs will require vehicles.

Repair Categories & Triage

Categories Provided: The team will focus on ceramics, computers/mobile phones, electrical, jewelry, mechanical, textiles, and woodwork.

Categories Removed: Bike repairs have been removed because Sustrans will already be at the festival, and clock repair is removed due to a lack of specialists.

Triage System: Visitors will sign in at the reception gazebo, fill out repair / liability forms, and undergo PAT testing for electricals / electronics before being assigned to a repairer.

Appointments vs. Walk-ins: The team decided against a strict pre-booking system, as it would be too difficult to manage alongside walk-ins; instead, they will rely on walk-ins and a rough time-estimate queue. If a repair is too complex for the festival setting, they will use triage to direct the visitor to a future local repair cafe.

Engagement: During slow periods, plan to run visible mending, sewing, Linux, or mains plug wiring demonstrations to engage passing crowds.

Signage: Will need signs for entry / exit, other safety related signage, repair station signage.

Action: Simon/? mock up of where signs are required.

Tools, Parts & Waste

Tools: Volunteers are expected to bring their own tools, keeping them tucked away safely behind their tables.

Consumables: The team will pool general consumables like plugs, batteries, and lightbulbs.

Action: All let Simon know what consumables they will bring for general use.

Donations: We will accept cash donations using labeled coffee tins and buckets, and Richard will bring two card machines. Collected donations will first reimburse volunteers for out-of-pocket consumable expenses (not time or travel), the surplus will then be split roughly proportionally to the number of repairers from each repair cafe.

Waste: If an item cannot be fixed, the default approach is to hand it back to the owner with advice on how to properly dispose of it or take it to a Household Waste Recovery center.

Safety & Code of Conduct

Safeguarding: Simon is the designated safeguarding contact; any serious issues involving vulnerable individuals or suspected trafficking will be escalated to 999.

General Safety: All volunteers will be asked to read the overarching risk assessment (covered by Friends of the Earth insurance), which dictates keeping tools stored safely and preventing trip hazards.

Security: While we will rely heavily on the festival’s main security team, volunteers must remain vigilant with their personal equipment and perform visual security sweeps.

Communication & Decision Making

Internal Comms: The core organizers will use a dedicated WhatsApp group to check in asynchronously and share messages intended for volunteers. Simon will also handle the central sign-up form to track all volunteer safety agreements and contact information.

External Comms (Publicity): We will tap into each repair cafes respective local channels (e.g., Talk of the Town in Saltburn, Northallerton Views, D&S/Northern Echo, and local Facebook groups) to advertise the festival. We will also provide QR codes and leaflets detailing each repair cafes future standalone repair cafe dates for festival visitors to take away.

Questions & Missed Issues

List of questions for the Festival of Thrift organizers:

  • Location – Bothy Gallery, Walled Garden – Draft layout for Repari Cafe as per diagram below.
    • Can the Festival of Thrift supply 34 chairs and 10 tables (~2x1m)?  If not how many?
    • The Repair Cafes will supply 2 gazebos that will be placed against the external wall by the entrance and exit doors to the Bothy Gallery.  We are concerned about people waiting. Could we place an additional gazebo between the two doors as a covered waiting area?
    • Does the Bothy Gallery have water and a sink?  If not where can we prepare hot drinks for the volunteers and wash up reusable cups etc.?
    • Will vehicle access close to the Bothy Gallery be available at specific times for set-up / take-down?  When / Where / How to gain access?
  • Security:
    • Our standard approach is to deal with small issues ourselves but call the police for anything more serious.
    • What is the escalation procedure the FoT has in place for any issues regarding theft, disruption, or safeguarding?
    • Do FoT have policies which we need to adhere to?
  • Access:
    • Can we set up on Friday?  Alternatively relatively early access on the Saturday should be fine.
    • What time can we access the Bothy Gallery on Saturday and Sunday mornings?
    • Can we leave equipment in the Bothy Gallery overnight on Friday/Saturday?
    • When must we be completely cleared out on Sunday/Monday?
    • Where is the designated exhibitor parking, and how does the exhibitor access pass system work?
  • Publicity:
    • How do we connect with FoT publicity?
    • Does FoT need more information / media from the Repair Cafe for FoT publicity?
    • Do you have branding guidelines?
    • Are the attached flyers ok?
    • Please could we have a list of the media that FoT is already contacting?
  • Transport:
    • We will minimise our travel footprint as much as possible. Does FoT have any guidance to help us, for example local tips?
    • Will additional transport (beyond normal public transport) be available to get people from local areas to the FoT site?
  • Reuse / Recycling / Waste:
    • Is there a FoT guide on what will be available on the Festival Site?
    • Are there any attendees who will take items for reuse?
    • Do you have any plans for batteries / WEEE?
    • Does the FoT have a list of local reuse / repair / upcycling businesses / locations in the Tees Valley?  Useful to suggest to people if we can’t repair things.

Next Steps & Action Items

Simon: Get answers to the outstanding logistics questions from the Festival of Thrift organisers,.

Simon: Send out a Zoom invite for the next meeting – 24th June.

Emily: Check the local “Share Cycle” inventory for extra gazebos, trolleys, or hot water urns.

All: Let others know who to contact to connect with your repair cafe if you are going to be out of contact.

All: Proactively recruit volunteers with the missing core skills (electrical, computer, mechanical, PAT testing) and get them to register on the central Google form.

All: Initiate PR and local publicity pushes to advertise the event, and print quarterly schedules/QR codes to hand out.

All: Update on progress on WhatsApp Organiser group. 

Simon: Continue to update https://casav.uk/fot and create specific volunteer breifing sheet.

Next Meeting Date: A follow-up check-in meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 24th at 7:00 PM.

Repair Cafe @ Festival of Thrift web page: https://casav.uk/fot

Forms for volunteering to help at Repair Cafe @ Festival of Thrift: https://casav.uk/fot-volunteer

Email contact: repaircafe@casav.uk