Fixing Factories September Update
International Repair Day is this Saturday October 15. Whether you’re an experienced repairer or still building up the courage to open your laptop, you can get involved, by trying a fix, joining an event or posting a photo of a repair in an unusual place. Whatever you do, take a photo on Repair Day and post it to social media with #RepairDay #RepairEverywhere, and inspire others to do the same. Find some suggestions at repairday.org.
To celebrate Repair Day, The Restart Project wanted to show that repair is everywhere. Whether by a camp fire in Germany, up a tree in New Zealand, or on a pier in Copenhagen, our community is fixing all across the globe! Video here.
What’s been happening at Fixing Factory Brent?
We saved a whopping 33 devices from becoming-waste this month. That’s 14kg of waste and 1073kg of CO2 equivalent diverted! After 6 months, we’ve saved around 230 devices from becoming e-waste. And we’re using the laptops that we can’t refurbish for spare parts.
A huge shout out to the Fixing Factory and Google volunteers who have given us 70 hours of their time this month refurbishing devices at Brent. They have been absolutely brilliant - learning some basic laptop diagnosis and repair techniques and bringing skills of their own to improve and streamline our work. Interested in volunteering either as an individual or part of a workplace team? See ‘how to get involved’ further down the page.
Events
At the August and September Dr.Laptop events, we treated 23 devices: 10 were fixed on the spot and 11 were repairable, just needing a spare part or advice about finding a local repair shop. You can find reliable repair businesses in London which have been reviewed by The Restart Project team here.
As part of Great Big Green week the team ran a Laptop Maintenance Workshop in partnership with Sustain-IT. The attendees were taught useful tips and tricks for keeping their devices running including the benefits of Linux. If you would like to learn more about Linux check out The Restart Project’s Wiki page on all things Linux!
Stories of donations: our work isn't just about avoiding e-waste, the laptops we donate are improving people's lives
Right image: PK is currently without fixed accommodation and requires a laptop to check his emails and fill out forms. He would like to show his 4 year old son BBC bitesize and other educational platforms to help him with his education and homework and to use the device to connect with his family back in Ghana.
Left image: JH has Fibromyalgia and suffers from chronic pain that makes it difficult to use a phone to apply for jobs or join video calls for education courses. She needed a device on which she could use voice dictation to type. The team helped her set up the device she was given and download all the apps needed to support her.
“The laptop will help because I don't need to use my phone for zoom anymore. Because of my disability the dictation feature will really help me in with my further education courses and help me write poems and cards because I'm a keen writer and can't hold a pen or type without pain’”, Quote from JH, Fixing Factory laptop recipient
How’s Camden fixed right now?
We’ve been quietly working away in West Kentish Town setting up what we’re now renaming Queen’s Crescent Fixing Factory - at the moment we have very limited opening hours and are focused on developing a hyper-local fixing community, repairing things with and for anyone living within walking distance of Queens Crescent. If that’s you and you have something broken, from a toaster to an electric toothbrush - then come and see us during one of our #DontThrowItThursday community repair sessions, Thursday mornings from 11 till 1pm as part of Queen’s Crescent Market.
Our new look
The young artists from HVH arts did us proud with their spray can skills - and turned our shabby shop front shutters into a striking bit of streetscape! What a difference a spray makes!
Guled, Muna and Dermot had a fun day at Kentish Town City Farm as part of the Camden Repair, Reuse and Upcycling event on a lovely sunny mid-September day. We chatted about all things fixing, went through phone and laptop teardowns….and demonstrated the inner workings of a toaster…plus we added a ‘Rescue Toaster’ to the collection…the poor thing was abandoned on a local street
Do you have repair skills, or an interest in fixing regularly? Then why not volunteer? As well as Thursday morning sessions we’ll be running regular events over the coming months and have started up a Tuesday evening Repair Club - drop us a line if you’re interested in attending.
Fix the date
Note: other events are being planned with local partners - check our website and social media for updates
Saturday 15th October- As part of international Repair Day 2022 we're doing some al-fresco fixing to coincide with the regular Saturday market
This event is specifically intended for local people in the Gospel Oak/West Kentish Town area to attend on foot - however all are welcome!
Saturday 5th November - Dr Laptop session at Willesden Green - our popular advice and repair sessions are now an established fixture, running on the first Saturday of the month - Come down to the Brent Fixing Factory to receive a FREE diagnostics check and repair advice on your laptop or tablet from our expert volunteers - you’ll will need to book, tickets here
Ways to support the Fixing Factories
Volunteer: if you or your team are interested in volunteering at Brent or Camden Fixing Factories or our pop up events in any capacity then drop us a line at hello@fixingfactory.org or fill in our contact sheet
Donations: If you’d like to donate laptops or tablets, see here. Once Camden Fixing Factory is up and running we’ll be accepting donations of consumer electronics and electronic test and repair equipment
We’ll be back soon with more updates and ways you can get involved.
Thanks,
The Restart Project team (on behalf of all Fixing Factory partners)