This blog comes from a recent experience our CEO, Rob Deeks, had while taking Together As One’s broken urn to the Slough Repair Café. What started as a practical errand turned into a timely reminder of the power of community, learning, and shared purpose.
While getting ready for one of our events with Slough Outreach – supporting people who are homeless or vulnerable – we made a big mistake. In the rush, we forgot to put water in our urn before switching it on. It stopped working completely. Later we found out this is a big no-no for urns and at first, we thought it was beyond saving.
Then someone mentioned the Slough Repair Café. Run by the Slough Anti-Litter Society, it’s a monthly event where volunteers help fix broken household items – for free! It’s all about cutting down waste, keeping things out of landfill, and helping people learn how to fix things rather than throw them away.
At the Repair Café, volunteers – known as “repair coaches” – don’t just repair things for you. They show you how to do it, so you pick up a few skills along the way. People bring in all sorts of items: small electricals (not microwaves or big appliances), clothes that need mending (but not alterations or zip fixes), bikes needing safety checks, picture frames, basic wooden items, and small bits of furniture. If you’re not sure if your item can be fixed, you can email them with a photo to ask.
The event runs on the last Saturday of each month from 11am to 2pm in the Queensmere Shopping Centre. It’s free, though donations are welcome to keep it going. You can book a timeslot online or just turn up on the day – though there might be a bit of a wait. They ask people to bring only one item each to make sure everyone gets a chance.
Back to our urn. As it turned out, it wasn’t dead after all. There’s a small emergency reset switch underneath, which we didn’t know about. The volunteers showed us where it was and how to use it in case it happens again. Problem solved!
While we were there, we saw people having everything from lamps to laptops fixed. What really stood out was the mix of people – different backgrounds, different ages – coming together to share skills and support one another. It wasn’t just about repairs. It was about people connecting.
We’ve never subscribed to the view that our community is broken and in need of fixing. But there’s a real sense that this project is making it much stronger.
A huge thank you to Tirza and her team at Slough Anti-Litter Society for introducing such a brilliant initiative to the town – and additional thanks from us for giving us the means to make industrial quantities of tea again!