Thanks to Julia for sharing this report from the recent Bring and Fix event held in Ventnor. Ed
On 31 May, Ventnor Timebank organised the first ever Bring & Fix Event for Ventnor at the Baptist Church on Pier Street. The event was well supported by timebank volunteers; we had three people with sewing skills, a carpenter, two people with IT expertise and a couple of general handy fixers.
There were home baked cakes and the added bonus of pencil sketch portraits. These are all local people who offered their time to others on a sunny Saturday morning.
Over the course of the morning, there was a zip removed, jeans shortened, a drawer glued back together and the pleasant chatter of Timebank members getting to know each other. Part of the fun of this event is that we didn’t know what items people would bring. The volunteers were happy to fix items for members of the public too and we spoke to a number of passers-by who popped in to find out more.
Bring your items to be fixed
Ventnor Timebank would like to make this a regular event, we have people on board with technical skills to share, like solving simple one off computer issues and those with practical skills like fixing up bikes or help with sewing and baking.
There really is a huge supply of skills on offer but we need the support of local people to join us to make sure that we can offer help where needed, we would welcome ideas from readers on what they would like help with; for example, would you like to sit with a timebank volunteer and solve a problem that bugs you, like how to sew in school name labels for keeps or how find out how to fix a puncture yourself?
The background to Bring and Fix
Bring and Fix was developed by Philippe Grainger of Rushey Green Timebank and is a fair that brings people together of different ages to share their skills and knowledge to help each other out and have fun doing it.
It is about utilising the skills of neighbours, rediscovering manual skills and offering an informal place to practice new skills. It also promotes the prevention of waste and sustainable communities.
Get Timebank working for you
Your Timebank in Ventnor has been set up to bring about positive change by the sharing of skills, there are some really great people on board and would like to meet some more so please get in touch with your ideas to [email protected] or by calling 01983852753 and leaving a message for one of the team to call you back.
