Farnham Repair Café receives King's Award for Voluntary Service

FARNHAM, U.K. - Nov. 14, 2024 - PRLog -- Farnham, Surrey, UK – Farnham Repair Café (FRC) has been awarded the King's Award for Voluntary Service. The award celebrates groups that are making a big difference to their local community, where volunteers are in the driving seat and that have the highest standards in everything they do.

Founded in 2015 and gaining charity status in 2017, FRC has grown into a vital resource for Farnham residents seeking to repair broken or faulty items, reducing waste and saving money. It repairs household objects for the local community, including electrical items, like irons and kettles, mechanical items, furniture, laptops, bikes, clocks clothing and textiles.

The café operates monthly at The Spire Church, Farnham, andf has welcomed almost 6,000 product owners and successfully repaired more than 2,600 items. Repairing the products has diverted over seven tonnes of waste from landfill, avoided over sixty-eight tonnes of carbon emissions and saved local residents an estimated £220,000 in replacement costs.

Everything FRC does is done by volunteers, from repairs to running the welcome desk, to marketing, fundraising, strategy and everything in between. Since starting in February 2015 volunteers have contributed their time and expertise, and the current team contributes an estimated 2,220 hours a year. Between them, the repairers have decades of experience in electrical and mechanical engineering, software development, making clothes and furniture and much more.

Professor Martin Charter, Founder and Chair of FRC, commented, "Our volunteers are the heart and soul of this initiative. Their passion for repair not only helps individuals save money but also contributes to the larger goal of reducing CO2 emissions and combating the throwaway culture."

Clive Handy, long-time volunteer said, "I joined FRC shortly after it started and after I had retired as a jet engineer. For me, the best part is when you've fixed a product and you feel the gratitude of the owner and the sense of achievement that something has been saved from landfill. The camaraderie with my 'fellow fixers', many of whom have become friends over the years, is also important to me."

Mike Baker, product owner, saidf, "I enjoy the fantastic community atmosphere of FRC. I always have excellent service from FRC repairers and have had a number of successful repairs completed that included a complicated hi-fi cassette player."

FRC initiated a knowledge-sharing network of over 20 local repair cafés - the Greater Surrey Repair Café Network, - and cted as a model for the Southern Taiwan Repair Café Alliance. More about FRC - https://frc.cfsd.org.uk/