• Horsham Repair Cafe

’Refill, Renew, Refresh and Repair’

Horsham Repair Café re-opens! 

We will be opening again on Saturday 7th November

In line with the latest Covid rules, we are offering a strictly by appointment only service at the Unitarian Church Hall, Worthing Road, Horsham, RH12 1SL

We are offering repairs for:

– Electrical/household goods

– Clothing/textiles

We are also offering appointments for energy advice consultations, though these can be done as easily online if you prefer. 

Household cleaning product and personal hygiene bottle refills will also be taking place at the Quaker Meeting House, Worthing Road, Horsham, RH12 1SL

We hope we will then be able to continue this service on the first Saturday of every month going forward.

Booking is essential
To book your repair consultation or appointment please use our  online booking form here
Also use this form for booking your energy switching appointment.

Please note we are NOT taking drop-in repairs – if you don’t have a booking, you will be turned away.

In some cases, prior to the repair café appointment, we may want to talk to you either by phone or Zoom so our repairers can make an assessment to see if they think they can fix your item or if you need to buy any parts/materials to bring with you. Occasionally the repairer may need to buy the parts on your behalf. You will need to pay them back on the day, so please confirm with them that you are happy for them to get the parts before your appointment.

On the day of the repair café
For your safety, the following rules must be adhered to:
– If you have a temperature and/or feel unwell on the day, please do not attend.
If you can let us know via email beforehand, that would be really helpful

– Please turn up at the appointed time – if you are late, you may not be allowed in

– Face masks are required for everyone – no exceptions.
If you are unable to wear a face mask, we won’t be able to let you in. Perhaps you can send someone else instead

– We ask you to stay in the porch or outside until your appointment time

– Everyone must use the hand sanitiser which we will provide at the entrance  

– Only one person per repair will be allowed in the building (so please don’t bring your children with you)

– Sadly, because of Covid restrictions we will not be able to supply you with our usual delicious home-made cakes and biscuits or provide tea and coffee 

We will also be taking the following additional precautions for your safety:

– The repair tables will be at least 2m apart

– We will have a one-way system in place – you will leave via the rear door

– In between repairs we will be cleaning surfaces with sanitising wipes

For the refill service
You do not need to book an appointment for the bottle refill service, but please bear with volunteers as a queuing system with masks and social distancing will be in place and we will only be allowing one person into the church at any one time.

Unfortunately, we are currently unable to offer any food refill services.

Donations

We provide this service free of charge and we totally rely on our volunteers who give their time for free to carry out repairs. 

In order to help us keep this service going, we rely on donations from our ‘customers’.

Donations are left to your discretion but as a guide, the average donation is £5.00 for a straightforward repair whilst £10 is appropriate for a more complicated repair.

Donations can be made by cash or credit card at the Unitarian Church Hall or via this PayPal donation page.


Computer and I.T. repairs 

These will be carried out by Cliff Jackson from Easyline Comms.

Often computer repairs involve parts and can be quite time consuming. If it is estimated it will take longer than half an hour and or involves parts, Cliff will provide a quote to you, and on acceptance of the costs he will carry out the work.

On collection of the repaired item, he will raise an invoice for any parts and his agreed time which you will need to pay direct to Easyline Comms.

For these situations, you may also wish to give a voluntary donation to the Horsham Repair Café using the online donation link above.

We don’t just do repairs, we offer much more…

REPAIRS: The Horsham Repair Cafe offers a fantastic free monthly repair service for your broken and worn out items. Come and join us to learn how to repair and mend, save money and be part of a community sharing crafts, knowledge and creative skills.

The Repair Cafe celebrated its 1st birthday in October 2018 and we’ve been so successful, we’ve extended our services. Clothes repairs now take place in the afternoon when some of our textile volunteers will be demonstrating and teaching people how to carry out creative upcycling.

It’s highly recommended that you book your repair in advance – you can book here

Please read our Repair rules here before you book.

If you’d like to know whether it’s worth bringing an item to be repaired, perhaps our handy guide might help – please read it here.

Donations are welcome for any repairs undertaken and refreshments. They help us to be able to keep running this free and valuable service.

ENERGY SERVICE: Between 10 am-1 pm (*afternoon by arrangement) we offer an energy cost comparison and switching to 100% clean and renewable energy. You will need to bring a recent electricity bill (and gas bill if you use it) with you. Everyone we have switched has saved money! The process only takes about 5 minutes! Or you can carry out the comparison and switch from the comfort of your armchair here. We also offer advice and support on ways to deal with fuel debt, reduce energy consumption and energy costs by cutting unnecessary energy use and energy loss from their properties.

REDUCE YOUR PLASTICS: Between 10 am – 1 pm we offer a household and personal cleaning product bottle refill service, learn more here. In partnership with Earthkind you can also buy plastic-free organic pantry items like pasta, rice, pulses, dried fruit, seeds, chocolate chips and olive oil. Please bring containers, or we can supply a recycled paper bag (for the dried goods). Taking advantage of these refill services will reduce the number of plastic bottles which need to be made, recycled, reduce single-use plastics, helping the planet and saving you money.

REFRESHMENTS AND BOOKING: We have cakes and tea available, so do come along for a cuppa and a chat – also great for when you’re waiting for your repairs (don’t forget to book them in).

Children welcome too!

HELPERS: We are always looking for volunteers for the Horsham Repair Cafe and Sussex Green Living’s environmental awareness and education work. Please contact us if you can spare some regular time. We are looking for general helpers, refreshments, technical repair, craft skills, website design, data management and any other areas you think could help us. Your support will be gratefully welcomed.

Learn more about our action you can take to build a more sustainable world and download the Sussex Green Living Pledges to the Planet action plan here.

BOOK YOUR REPAIR NOW

Come and have fun upcycling, refilling, renewing, refreshing and repairing!

Run by Sussex Green Living and Horsham Quakers

HORSHAM REPAIR CAFÉ (HRC) – HOUSE RULES & DISCLAIMER FOR VISITORS

Before your repair:

1. You must complete the top section of the Registration Form for HRC records before any repairs can be considered. All information is treated with the utmost confidence. If you choose to leave an email address, this will be added to our mailing list and you will automatically be reminded of future Repair Café events.

2. Sharp tools and dangerous equipment are present and sometimes used in repairs. You must exercise control over, and be responsible for, the behaviour of children in your care whilst attending the HRC. Children will not be admitted unless accompanied by an adult.

3. The advice and repair service is conducted by experienced volunteers. Although there is no charge for their time, skill or advice, you are invited to make a voluntary donation to cover our costs which include the purchase of tools and equipment, and building lighting, heating and maintenance.

4. Normally, a maximum of ONE item per visitor will be examined per visit. However, should time allow, extra items  may be considered for examination and repair.

5. All repairs carried out at the HRC are performed at your own risk. Neither the organisers of HRC nor the repairers in personal capacities or otherwise are liable for any accidental damage or loss that may occur to either your goods (including vehicles) or your personal effects during your time at the HRC.

During your repair:

6. After making an initial assessment of your item, our repairers will discuss the repair with you. Sometimes our repairers may be unable to effect a repair for various reasons. You will be told these reasons, but our repairers are fully entitled to use their discretion and refuse to repair an item should they so decide.

7. You may be given advice, e.g. tips on how to prevent a future failure.

8. Normally you are responsible for providing any consumables such as leads, plugs, fuses, zips, etc. that may be needed to fully complete a repair. As our repairers cannot carry a comprehensive stock of parts, a second visit to HRC may be required to complete your repair.

9. You should remain with the repairer while the repair is being carried out in order to see how the repair is being done and to pick up new skills. Items must not be left with the repairer and collected at a later time. There may be occasions when a  repairer offers to take the item home in order to better diagnose the fault or effect a repair. Neither the repairer nor HRC assume any responsibility for safe keeping.

10. Volunteers and visitors are expected to treat each other with mutual respect.

After your repair:

11. You are responsible for the removal of all items brought into the HRC. There are no facilities at the HRC for the disposal of your items.

12. Where applicable, electrical equipment will be subject to a Portable Appliance Test prior to leaving the HRC. Our repairer will either deem the appliance safe to use, or not safe to use. HRC takes no responsibility in any form whatsoever for any item, repaired or otherwise, once it has left the HRC.

13. HRC do not provide any warranty or guarantee on any repairs carried out and are not liable in any way should an item subsequently not work properly or fail again or cause any consequential loss or damage.

14. Neither the organisers of HRC nor the repairers in personal capacities or otherwise are liable for any loss or injury whatsoever that may result from any repair carried out or for any advice or instructions given and used at a later date.