Hello again! May I just apologise for my absence – I got a bit distracted. I was scrolling through my Instagram account when I was recommended an account to follow called “Illumination Repairs”. They are a Community Interest Company and their mandate is to repair electrical items that have broken and would otherwise go to landfill or less likely, be recycled. It is a cause that is close to my heart, they are based in the area where I live and there was an opportunity for me to join them as a repairer. It would give me an opportunity to fiddle with electric and electronic devices and gain further knowledge and experience in that area. They wanted volunteers so I contacted them and arranged to meet James, the company founder. I went to meet him and walked away with five things to repair.

They currently have an arrangement with a local village market where broken items are dropped off, taken away and repaired if possible. The items can be donated and repaired items are sold to raise funds, or they are returned a month later at the same market – we then invite the clients to make a donation when they are happy with the repair. To give some idea of the sort of items that we expect….

It is not an exhaustive list; we will generally consider many things under 25 kg, electrical/electronic items if we think that they can be repaired.

You might ask “where does the sales of repaired items money and donations go?” It will go to support helping people into work through sharing skills and making people more employable through learning how to repair electricals by “sitting at Nellie’s knee” – working alongside more experienced repairers. It also goes towards buying spare parts, liability insurance and tools.

This was the bit that attracted me. I thought “That’s me!” I have put in more than a few hours each month since joining in November 2021.

I will be writing about the some of the things that I have repaired since joining, new things that I have learned, my latest app which is related to this venture – and why it won’t see the light of day but how many of the features that I have learned creating it will be used in other apps in the future.

Illumination Repairs website:-

https://www.illuminationrepairs.org.uk/about

https://www.facebook.com/IlluminationRepairs

See you tomorrow…