New Malvern repair scheme will help fix faulty kitchen appliances

The support service is due to be launched later this year.

The project - a partnership between Malvern Hills Repair Cafe and the local food bank - will be the first stage of a plan to create a ‘Multibank’, a single hub providing food, clothes, toiletries, bedding, and baby products, as well as a furniture and white goods ‘repair or replace’ service.

Cllr Malcolm Victory is a repair cafe volunteer (Image: Phil Wilkinson-Jones/LDRS)

Malvern Hills Repair Cafe will be offering repair of kitchen appliances to food bank customers as well as a knife sharpening service.

They will also be working alongside local firm DAR to either pay repair costs or replace any larger kitchen items that they identify as beyond economical repair.

The pilot project is set to launch in December and will run for an initial six-month period to gauge local need and uptake.

Green Party district and county councillor Malcolm Victory, who is also a Repair Cafe volunteer, is excited about the project’s launch.

He said: “This new service will join up the existing support offered by both the food bank and Repair Cafe, and will offer much-needed help to local residents who may be unable to afford expensive replacement items, while also reducing waste and promoting community cohesion through the sharing of skills.”

Malvern’s Repair Cafe was founded in December 2012 and opens every third Saturday in the month from 10am to 1pm at Malvern Cube.

People are invited to bring along broken items and will be matched with a volunteer repairer, who will see whether the item can be fixed.

There are also successful repair cafes running in Worcester, Evesham, Ledbury and Tewkesbury.

Malvern Hills Foodbank has been running since 2013 and currently operates from three locations - Unit 4, Spring Court in Spring Lane South, The Lyttelton Well in Church Street and at Upton upon Severn Baptist Church.

Valid foodbank vouchers are required if you need to collect an emergency food parcel.