London’s first ‘repair cafe’ held at Goodlife Centre

The repair cafe concept originates from Holland and encourages people to repair, reuse and recycle their possessions to reduce waste and reverse the rise of a disposable culture.

With access to tools and expert advice, participants are able to repair their own household goods.

Visitors to Sunday's event came from all over London: Victoria was visiting from Italy and brought along a wallet to be fixed, Georgie's bike had suffered a puncture and was quickly made good, Sue can entertain a full house now her dining chair is back in one piece, and young visitors Felix and Frank repaired their much-loved toy box.

Expert tutors Scott, David and Iona were on hand ato advise whilst Joan kept everyone fuelled with tea. A full arsenal of tools were available for use but in the end glues won the day as repair weapon of choice, because they are fast and have so many uses.

"The Goodlife Centre is about learning and sharing practical maintenance skills for life – we're at the hard end of the make-do-and-mend culture," says the centre's founder Alison Winfield-Chislett.

She decided to host a repair cafe at The Goodlife Centre after reading about the concept in the New York Times.

"Repair cafe is about creating a sustainable community where everyone learns from one another other and reduces our long term dependency on consumerism. I think it's a perfect cultural fit for the centre."

• The next repair cafe event will take place at The Goodlife Centre on Saturday 3 November.