'We must break the stigma of second-hand clothes'

With rising living costs and growing environmental concerns, more people are trying to bring products back to life instead of throwing them away. But what about if you don't know how to fix them? A band of volunteers in Suffolk is on hand to help.

Walk into the village hall in Holbrook, near Ipswich, on the last Saturday of each month and you will be met with a hive of activity.

Sewing machines whirring away, the sound of garden tools being sharpened and the air filled with the smell of fresh coffee and cakes.

Volunteers offer their time to repair clothing, fix watches, bring hi-fi systems back to life, mend jewellery and prolong the use of kitchen knives.

All in return for donations to keep the project running - as well as for some individual charities.

Milly Sandoval helped set up the Holbrook Repair Cafe with Marji Holdsworth in June.

They put out an appeal on social media to find helpers to undertake the repairs and found local people willing to sew, weld, fix and mend.

"It was a team effort," says Ms Sandoval.

"The first repair cafe we thought we were going to get 20 people but we got 42 families. Then it grew to about 60, then 80 and, in November, it was 92."

Other similar projects in Suffolk take place in Martlesham, Woodbridge and Waldringfield.

At the Holbrook Repair Cafe, people can also drop off items such as milk bottle tops and cartons to be recycled, donate books and DVDs and refill their washing up bottles.

"I'm 42 years old and I didn't learn to mend stuff like my grandparents did," says Ms Sandoval.

"I think for the new generation, for the planet, we need to repair and we need to break this stigma of wearing second-hand clothes, of wearing something that is a bit tatty and with the children, we don't have to keep up with the Joneses. It's OK to have a patch."

Jenny Cunnew was visiting the Holbrook Repair Cafe for the first time after recently moving to nearby Shotley Gate.

She says she found out about it on the local website and brought some gardening tools to be sharpened.

"It's a very good idea, otherwise I would go out and buy a new pair and I don't want to do that really," she says.

She says she would be keen to visit again, adding: "It's much better to recycle and upcycle."

Also at the repair cafe for the first time was Gavin Hamilton.

The 72-year-old from Kesgrave, near Ipswich, was one of the volunteers, replacing batteries in watches and key fobs, and movements in battery clocks.

He has also been invited to go to the Martlesham Repair Hub, which runs on the second Saturday of the month at St Michael's Church.

In addition to raising funds for the repair cafe, he also raises funds for help dogs in kill shelters in Romania.

He says he thinks the project is "really brilliant".

"It's helping the planet by recycling stuff rather than chucking it away and also, in today's price-war where things are so expensive, the community benefits by not having to replace stuff with new stuff, it's a win-win," he says.

"It all helps and it's nice to try to revive some form of community spirit."

A regular face at the Holbrook Repair Cafe is seamstress Pat Pincard, from East Bergholt.

She says the sewing team "thoroughly enjoy it" and "there's always plenty to do".

Fellow seamstress Elaine Fleming, from Shotley, says the reward is seeing the "joy" on people's faces when their item has been repaired and they can use it again.

"It's nice to do it with other people who sew and it's a lovely atmosphere here, and it's good that people are now actually reusing things," she says.

"It's all about recycling, renewing and it's good for the planet."

Making good use of the seamstresses' handiwork was Cynthia Anderson.

The 83-year-old from Holbrook says she usually takes something to be mended "because I do not sew".

"When I was a child at school, I was always sent back to unpick and do it again because I couldn't make it tidy," she says.

"So this week I brought a very good quality woollen jumper that belonged to my daughter who died, which I would like to give to somebody homeless but it has a moth hole in it.

"The lady is going to take it home and see if she can find the wool to match it and darn it."

She says she comes each month, and says she always has a coffee and a piece of cake, and a chat with others there.

"I bring my milk bottle foil tops, I bring my blister packs from medication, so we are always clearing the house of things that could be recycled but wouldn't be otherwise.

"We think it's a wonderful facility and it also brings the village together which is lovely," she adds.

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