A POPULAR community service offering free repairs to domestic appliances and family heirlooms has reached its first year anniversary with demand continuing to rise.

From beloved teddies and clocks, to the bizarre horse-massager and the mundane toaster, Neil Wylie and his team of volunteers are constantly in demand at the Horrabridge Repair Cafe.

Neil, a retired engineer, is backed up by his gang of skilled engineers, varied craftsmen and seamstresss as they beaver away in the village hall once a month meeting the demands of fellow villagers.

Neil helped found the cafe, inspired by the success of others throughout the country and by the BBC’s Repair Shop.

He said: ‘When I retired I did look for something constructive and helpful to do in the village which used my skills as an engineer. The Repair Shop on telly was suddenly very popular and people seemed to be valuing reusing and, effectively, recycling things at home.

‘Also, there seemed to be some pandemic influence, with people suddenly realising the value of household items or long-forgotten family possessions they’d forgotten about until they’d spent a lot of time at home under lockdown.

‘It’s certainly taken off and the more we do the more word of mouth spreads and more and more people ask us to help mend their toasters, or mowers or bicycles. It’s not all electrical or mechanical repairs, which appeals to the largely male members of our cafe, we also have a group of mainly women who breathe new life into clothes, sometimes they bring piles of them.’

He said the most unusual items were a hovver board and a large horse massage tool: ‘We were totally thrown by the horse tool. It didn’t look like anything we’d ever seen. The hoverboard was also a puzzle because we couldn’t work out how to repair it. Eventually, by trial and error we worked out it was a battery. We have mended a bicycle which brought such joy to a young girl.’

His worker bees also include working professionals who, not content with mending items during the working day, also do so in their spare time for fellow villagers.

Ali Mansfield, Methodist community worker, gives the cafe pastoral support: ‘The Repair Shop on TV is very emotional and deliberately generates that. In a smaller way we do have some emotive tasks and most of them are well-loved teddies, with one aged 70, who need face and bodylifts.’

She added: ‘The repair cafe is more than mending things, it’s now a place for people to meet their neighbours for the first timeand socialise and get out the house, to reduce isolation. I help people where I can.’