Ursula has been a much-valued member of our catering team for over three years.  To ensure the smooth running of our Repair Cafe it's important to keep our repair team happy and healthy and that means regularly supplying them with delicious cake and mugs of tea and coffee!   This is the task that Ursula most enjoys as it also gives her the opportunity to chat to everyone.

Cafe and refreshments

As a teenager Alex had an inquisitive nature repairing clocks and watches and heating elements in appliances.  This led to a long career as a mechanical engineer.  He joined us in 2014 and visitors to the Malvern Flea Market know that if they bring their broken, quirky purchases to Alex, he will meticulously get them working again.  He is always willing to take clocks home to complete the repair in his workshop and has been known to take away six clocks in one month!

Repairer

Andy quietly provides a valued and much appreciated sharpening service, a facility that is no longer available on our high streets.   He owns a small engineering company and generously takes time out from his busy Saturday schedule, arriving on his well-tuned motorbike to save time and ensure that he can make a quick getaway at the end of each session.  He has refused offers to replace the ancient grinder - a donation by a member of the public - with a new one as its quality surpasses the models available nowadays.  

Tool sharpener and grinder

Since joining our team in February 2013, Caroline has rarely missed a monthly session.  The warmth of our welcome, particularly to those visiting for the first time, contributes to the continuing popularity of our community service.  Caroline enjoys the social side of the Repair Cafe, the 'meet and greet' of new and returning customers.

Front-of-house

Colin first heard about MHRC from a couple of friends who already volunteered. He thought it might be fun - and it was. He was unable to think of a good excuse when, in 2016, he was asked to chair a management team to look after the operation of MHRC as the founders were moving on. Colin’s approach is to create and maintain reproducible processes, so that the operation of MHRC is not dependant on the contribution of specific individuals and best practices can be shared with other Repair Cafés in the future.

Lead Co-ordinator

Our competent sewing team has gained a reputation for patience and ability and Hilary has been a stalwart for several years.  An experienced and skilful needlewoman, like all our volunteers she enjoys an unusual challenge and is always surprised at the variety of sewing repairs that land on her sewing machine!   

Sewing Team

One of our original repair team, John loves working with wood and repairing furniture but can, and does, tackle whatever comes through the door!  He takes delight in saying, "If you can take something apart you're a scientist; if you can put it back together, you're an engineer".  He's a STEM Ambassador and is coaching young people on the Bloodhound project.  His secret passion - making violins!

Repairer

Although a solicitor for 35 years, John was always an inveterate 'fixer' and he realised that ambition when he joined MHRC in 2015 and was able to put his self-taught experience in metal-working and repairing mechanical and electrical items to good use.   He enjoys the challenge of repairing things and recognises how the diverse ability and skills of his fellow repairers have ensured that RCMH is a very valuable resource to the local community.  He is more than pleased to be a part of that.

Repairer

MaggieJo was nicknamed 'squirrel' as a child because she collected items out of the family wastepaper baskets, saying: "they might be useful". She has hated waste ever since so the ethos of Repair Cafes resonates with her and she enjoys the company of everyone who comes along.

Front-of-house

Mac has also been with us since day one.  Aged 15, he was desperate for a Lambretta, bought one in bits for £10 and his dad told him to put it back together.  He did and it worked.  He likes to 'think outside the box' and apply alternative strategies to fix problems that defy normal logic and techniques. He's an inventor - his latest invention the Rotaire Dryline was hated by the Dragon's Den team but the resulting publicity was great. 

Repairer

Matt moved to Malvern in 2017 after retiring from 30 years in the Met (where he specialised in road death investigation). Now working as a handyman, he learned most of his skills from property developing in London, Brighton and Buckinghamshire. Willing to problem-solve and tackle any repair, he particularly enjoys seeing the pleasure on a customer's face when he has succeeded in repairing a family heirloom that has significant sentimental value.

Repairer

Nick joined RCMH at the first session and has been a regular volunteer ever since. He has a background in Physics and Electronics, but turns his hand to repairing almost anything! He likes the challenge of working out how to resolve the wide variety of tasks that are brought to the Repair Cafe. Nick enjoys helping other people and being in the company of like-minded repairers. He has something of a reputation for ‘making things last’ and is pleased to be able to contribute in some small way to reducing the waste that is so prevalent in our modern society.

Repairer

Roger has always had an interest in taking things apart to see how they
work and eventually learned to put them back together again. A freelance
Sound Engineer, he strongly supports repairing and recycling everything
possible and gets great satisfaction from fixing the wide variety of
items that are brought to the Repair Cafe. His interests include
restoring and maintaining classic motorcycles, cars and aeroplanes.

Repairer

Roman is a retired electronics engineer and has been a regular volunteer at Repair Cafe Malvern Hills since our third session in March 2013. He thoroughly enjoys a challenge and dealing with those repairs that present a 'bit of a puzzle', that require some extra mental agility to work out the failure points and the correct repair strategy.  

Repairer

Ruth joined RCMH a couple of years ago and is an invaluable team member because she is so flexible and willing to help out wherever she is needed most on the day  - front-of-house, the cafe or registration.  Her usual role is as interface between reception and the repair zone, directing customers to an available repairer.  She enjoys meeting and helping people and often arrives early to help set up but is also happy to stay late to help with clearing up - which always seems to take much longer!

Volunteer

Simon joined the Repair Cafe after reading an article on the first session in the Malvern Gazette. He turned up to volunteer at the next session and found there was that positive atmosphere you get when people come together willingly to do something creative.  He enjoys working with a group of like-minded people, who between them have an enormous wealth of knowledge and practical experience.  Most of all though it is the sense of satisfaction he gets from mending something which was broken, combined with the pleasure you can give to someone when an, often cherished, item is brought back to life.

Repairer