17th June Volunteers Update Meeting Notes

Below are notes from the meeting and the slides used are here.

We were still awaiting the final information from the Festival of Thrift which should be available in the next few days.

I will keep on updating https://casav.uk/fot as the plans move forward and I will be in touch to confirm the details of your individual roles on the days.

Best wishes, Simon

  • Welcome & The Big Picture
    • Introductions / The Scale of the Event / Pitch Update: The joint Repair Cafe at the Festival of Thrift in the Kirkleatham Estate is on July 4th and 5th, 2026. The festival operates from 11 am to 5 pm, but the Repair Cafe will run from 11 am to 4 pm to ensure enough time to finish repairs. Besides repairing, the main goals are to showcase repair in action to an expected crowd of 40,000 attendees, promote reuse and repurposing, and encourage the public to use their local repair cafes.
  • The Volunteer Rota & Continuity
    • The Schedule / The “Core Team” Anchors / Role Assignments: The schedule is divided into morning (11 am – 2 pm) and afternoon (2 pm – 5 pm) shifts. Currently, there are significant gaps in the rota for Saturday and Sunday afternoons, particularly a shortage of volunteers with electrical, mechanical, and PAT testing skills. The rota is available online and is still a “work in progress”, with volunteers encouraged to be flexible—for instance, those assigned as “communicators” or “meters and greeters” may need to shift roles to cover gaps.
  • The “Festival Style” Triage Process
    • No Knife Sharpening / The “Quick Win” Strategy / The “No Drop-Offs” Rule: Following festival rules, attendees are strictly prohibited from bringing blades, so no knife sharpening will be offered. Volunteers will employ a “Quick Win” strategy, prioritizing minor fixes and referring more complex, time-consuming repairs back to the attendees’ local repair cafes. Additionally, a strict “No Drop-Offs” rule will be enforced; owners must wait with their items, as the massive crowd makes it impossible to locate them later.
  • Health, Safety & Insurance
  • Site Logistics: Arrival & “Thrift Rules”
    • Getting There / The Eco-Rules / The Donation Bucket: The event will be based in the Bothy Gallery within the Walled Garden, which provides tables, chairs, power sockets, and access to water in an adjacent office. Access is a major challenge; vehicles can drop equipment at the Walled Garden car park before 10 am but must then park in the main showground, resulting in an 800m walk. The festival operates under strict “Thrift Rules” meaning volunteers are encouraged to use public transport and must bring reusable drink containers to eliminate single-use plastics. Donations will be accepted to cover event costs and consumable parts, with any surplus distributed proportionately among the participating repair cafes.
  • Enhancements, Q&A and Next Steps
    • Actions from Committee Meeting
      • Emily: Check the local “Share Cycle” inventory for extra gazebos, trolleys, or hot water urns.
      • All: Initiate PR and local publicity pushes to advertise the event, and print quarterly schedules/QR codes to hand out.
      • Simon: Continue to update https://casav.uk/fot and create a specific volunteer briefing sheet.
    • Actions from Tonight
      • Publicity
        • FoT: The event will be included in the broader Festival of Thrift advertising.
        • Own: Volunteers should promote the event through their own repair cafe networks.
        • Printouts: Bring promotional leaflets from your own cafes – organising committee will discuss.
        • QR codes 100s?: Use QR codes pointing to a central web page to cut down on physical handouts.
        • Take a printer: It was suggested a printer could be brought to print paper slips on demand rather than pre-printing thousands.
      • Displays: Kate will compile a map and list of all local repair cafes for display. Individual repair cafe banners could also be brought along.
      • Walled garden parking
        • limited number!!!: Simon will approach the festival organizers to request one or two dedicated parking spots to allow drop-off / pick-up of tools.
        • Blue badge parking: Suggested utilizing a volunteer with a blue badge to act as a shuttle driver to navigate around parking limitations.
      • Cakes and cups: Volunteers are responsible for bringing their own reusable cups for drinks. Members are also encouraged to bring cakes for volunteer welfare, though they cannot be sold to the public.
      • Security: The festival handles site security. In case of minor issues, the festival team is contacted; for imminent threats, volunteers should call 999.
      • WiFi: There will be no site-wide Wi-Fi, but the festival plans to install temporary cellular towers to boost mobile signals.
      • First Aid
        • Local first aid kit – plasters? / – Ask FoT / In bothy Gallery?: Simon will clarify the wider festival first aid protocols and check if the Bothy Gallery has its own small first aid kit for minor injuries.
      • Refer on list of repair cafes
        • QR / Web address: A master webpage (e.g., stokesley.repair/caf) will feature links to all local repair cafes.
      • Opportunities to speak
        • – FoT check for opportunities: Simon will investigate if there is an opportunity to publicly speak at the festival regarding the repair cafe movement.
      • Toilets
        • Is there one in the Bothy Office?: Volunteers will likely use the nearby Walled Garden cafe toilets. Simon will investigate if staff toilets are accessible in the adjacent Bothy Office.
      • Uniform
        • Aprons / t-shirts: Volunteers are encouraged to wear the uniform (t-shirts or aprons) from their own specific repair cafe. This highlights the unity of the different groups coming together.
        • Name Badges / Simon supply name on bit of paper lanyard: Simon will supply universal badges (on repurposed lanyards) to give a cohesive look, alongside any personal badges volunteers choose to bring.
      • WhatsApp: Simon will establish a WhatsApp community. This will allow volunteers with similar skills (e.g., textiles) to coordinate bringing shared equipment like sewing machines.
      • Schedule: Another quick check-in meeting will be held prior to the festival date to finalize details – TBC Wednesday 1st July 7pm by Zoom.
      • FOT Brochure: Awaiting to see how the provided logos and photographs have been incorporated into the festival’s official programme.