Open again: Maidenhead’s growing and successful Repair Café gives people’s broken or worn-out possessions a new lease of life! See people like yourself rebuilding, repairing and recycling things that might otherwise be thrown away. Opening again in our ECO-Action Hub.
Please register here if you wish to bring something for repair to reserve your time-slot: Or feel free to email the Repair Café team on repair.maidenhead@gmail.com.
We open from 10:00 to 15:00. Repair skills available at this next event include: – small electrical items (excludes microwaves and large items) – laptops/computers, phone repairs (except screen repairs) – IT assistance(e.g. anti-virus, software updates) – glass repairs, book binding, fixing picture frames – basic woodwork, small furniture items – sewing and mending, textiles repairs
We aim to fix anything, our volunteers love to solve problems!
We have published our future dates which also include: – Saturday 9th September – Saturday 14th October – Saturday 11th November – Saturday 9th December
DraughtBusters can draught-proof your home and save you money. DraughtBusters are a team of experienced volunteers who want to help people with draughty homes. Here is a project update on their progress so far this year …
FEEDBACK FROM OUR CLIENTS: Across RBWM we have done 90 visits in the last 12 months. We have some great positive feedback from our clients!
November to December 2022
What a fabulous initiative! Your volunteers were very helpful and informative.
Thanks for the visit which went well thanks. They were super nice and helpful.
I just wanted to say a HUGE ‘thank you’ to your volunteers for the insulation they added to my home yesterday. I can really notice a difference and they did a superb and professional job. I am most grateful to them, and you for organizing. Thank you again!
Thanks great, what a great thing you’re doing!
January to March
I wanted to let you know that your volunteers kindly visited today and their suggestions were super helpful. Kindly please let me know how to contribute to say a big thank you for their visit.
Thanks so much for your detailed email and for sharing all these very useful links. I want to thank you again for the useful visit. I also made a little thank you donation today. Will definitely look to tell neighbours about your team!
Thank you and your team for helping with some draught fittings, they were both very thoughtful. I will add a small donation and spread the word.
I am already feeling a big difference after the work you have done in my house. (from someone who is not in good health and does not have central heating.)
We were very pleased with the visit, and happy to find out we didn’t have too much to worry about. We will definitely recommend you to our neighbours. Many thanks once again.
Just to say once more heartfelt thanks for your advice, most of which I’ve been able to implement. I’ve also been singing your praise to friends and neighbours, so you may well hear from them.
Reading DraughtBusters say …
We used to say draughtproofing would save £90 to £120 on average per year, five and ten years ago.We now estimate £300 to £400 per year (10% of heating bill) as draughts account for 15% but the other 5% is tough to realise.
Our DraughtBusters fix (almost always) all draughts around windows, doors and pipes etc. We also advise how residents can use a small cushion pushed up a chimney to stop those draughts.
So, we estimate that we’ve saved each client between £120 and £400 per year in the last 12 months.
The bottom line: In the last 12 months we’ve saved RBWM residents between £10,800 and £36,000. We used grants from RBWM & NHS Frimley to purchase key draughtproofing product so that we could help residents across our key areas – Cookham, Maidenhead and Windsor.
ESTIMATED SAVINGS: The Energy Trust Says …
“Draught-proofing around windows and doors could save you around £50 a year*. If you have an open chimney, draught-proofing your chimney when you’re not using it could save around £70 a year*.
Draught-free homes are comfortable at lower temperatures – so you may be able to turn down your thermostat, saving even more on your energy bills.
* Savings based on a typical gas-fuelled semi-detached property in England, Scotland or Wales. Figures for England, Scotland and Wales are based on fuel prices under the Energy Price Guarantee running from April 2023 to the end of June 2023.”
DraughtBusters can help you: We will fix your draughts and give you advice on how to save money around your home. All free – do not hesitate to get in touch with us, by email rbwmdraughtbusters@gmail.com or phone 07548 594413 and leave a message.
Open again: Maidenhead’s Repair Café gives people’s broken or worn-out possessions a new lease of life! See people like yourself rebuilding, repairing and recycling things that might otherwise be thrown away. Opening again on 12th August, in our ECO Action Hub.
Please register here if you wish to bring something for repair to reserve your time-slot: Or feel free to email the Repair Café team on repair.maidenhead@gmail.com.
We open from 10:00 to 15:00. Repair skills available at this next event include:
small electrical items (excludes microwaves and large items)
Please read our short interview with ECO Action founding volunteer Sam Gibbins, who is running stages 331, 332 and 333 (Cookham to Windsor) on July 8th, and don’t forget to come and cheer her on!
What is the Running Out of Time Relay?
Running Out of Time is a 2,661km relay from Ben Nevis to Big Ben. There are a total of 366 stages, with stages ranging from 2-30km long. The relay runs from sunrise to sunset for 32 days and travels to 30 counties.
What can YOU do to support the runners and the planet?
Select one or more of the planet pledgesfrom the Running Out of Time website! There are over 30 to choose from.
Come and cheer on Sam and other runners / cyclists / walkers on the day!
Sign up as a Batonbearer yourself!
Interview with Samantha Gibbins, who is running in the colours of ECO Action
Why do you personally care about climate change?
When I finally opened my eyes to the real scale and severity of what our world could look like in one generation, especially on our current trajectory to 3oC+ of warming above pre-industrial levels, I was terrified. From an individual point of view I’m scared of how me and my family could be impacted, but I’ve seen that the future I fear is already a reality for millions of people in developing countries. I care about mitigating and adapting for climate change because I’m in a position where I can do something. Every person making a difference counts. Every 0.1oC we can prevent matters.
Of all the issues we’re facing today (climate change, biodiversity loss, air pollution, plastic pollution etc.) which one is most important to you and why?
Categorising these as separate issues is misleading as they are all so intricately connected and dependant on one another! I think that many people feel more comfortable thinking of these separately as it maybe feels easier to approach each issue independently and ‘tick off’ once solved. With this in mind, I think the biggest challenge is to shift people’s mindsets. We need more empathy in the world and appreciation of nuance to help us come together and work together with all of our differences. Because, however clichéd, it is together that we can make the biggest difference.
Which of the 32 pledges are you taking?
I’m “getting to my relay stage greener” with numerous trains, I’m going to “attend a local event for the Great Big Green Week”, and I’m “joining others in my local community to take positive action”!
Who is cheering you on?
The family contingent and some ECO Hub members!
What inspires you?
How many incredible people are working to make our world a better place. There are so many small scale and community initiatives dotted about, and so many people who are passionate about this when you start looking and getting involved. The ECO Hub is a perfect example of this – Climate Emergency Centres are dotted around the country; community energy projects are working to provide renewable energy to local areas (I can think of Maidenhead, Marlow and Reading doing this!); and local people are petitioning for our natural spaces to be protected or even better, rewilded. All of this gives me hope and inspires me to keep working for a better future.
We opened in April and have had over 500 visitors! We’re getting even more active in the ECO Action Hub and in the local community. Now we’re recruiting a Hub Manager to help expand our mission: ‘to inspire local people to do more to address the Climate and Biodiversity Emergency.’
ECO Action Hub Manager
The Hub Manager has a crucial role in this. They will become essential to ensuring the successful establishment and running of this dynamic centre with its very varied activities.
If you are passionate about promoting sustainability and biodiversity, if you have attributes and skills to inspire local people and small businesses to take positive action in the Climate Emergency, we would love to hear from you.
Thinking of volunteering? Coronation messages highlighted the urgent need for us to conserve our Planet. Let’s build on this momentum!
It’s a great time to help support Maidenhead’s Eco Action Hub. Our mission is to inspire everyone to take some additional sustainable steps. Please could you spare some time to volunteer at the Hub – you can make a difference just having conversations with people.
Even if you can only spare a little time, we would love to hear from you and talk over what you’d be able to do to help us promote our sustainability messages at the Hub.
DraughtBusters visit people’s homes to help them cut down draughts and heating costs – it’s a free service offered by volunteers. To find out more, send an email to rbwmdraughtbusters@gmail.com
See you on the 1st of April in the hub! Most of the DraughtBusters will be there and available to talk to.
Do you need to fix your stuff & make things happen, but don’t have the tools? Ever bought something to do a job, used it once and then put it in your cupboard, gathering dust forever? Why not borrow it instead?
Coming SOON to the Hub – the “Library of Things”: Borrow any of our useful Things for your home, projects and adventures: Affordable. Convenient. Kinder to the planet.
Come and see the Eco Action Hub’s “Library of Things” at our opening on 1st April! AND tell us what you need most!
What is the Eco Action Hub and how can it help you?
The Eco Action Hub in Maidenhead (part of ECO Action Windsor and Maidenhead) is a community space that brings together local people and partnerships to take positive action on climate change: Helping people learn about and make small changes in their own lives to combat climate change and biodiversity loss.
We offer a variety of resources such as the Repair Café, a shared Meeting Space and the Library of Things. The Hub “Zones” show simple practical proof points helping you make simple changes for positive climate & biodiversity outcomes in your lives today. There are engaging displays on core eco subjects; Travel, Energy, Family Living & House, and more.
What is a Library of Things and how can it help you?
As well as our “Zones”, the Hub also offers a Library of Things where people can borrow tools and gadgets, from food processors to hard drives to carpet cleaners – all there to help you “get things done” at home which shared “things”
What can you do next?
Come to the Hub on 1st April from 11:00 and talk to us
Meet our team and share your stories
Tell us what you would like to see in the Library of Things
Talk with us on how you would like to borrow from the LoT
The following article has been published in this week’s Maidenhead Advertiser about our upcoming opening. Written by Anaka Nair. Source.
A new environmental action hub will encourage Maidenhead residents to do more than recycle to combat the climate crisis.
The RBWM Climate Community group will unveil its new ECO Action Hub on Saturday 1 April. Former BBC broadcaster and member of Wild Maidenhead, Peter Gibbs, will conduct the formal opening ceremony at 11am.
Dave Scarbrough, a trustee of ECO Action Windsor & Maidenhead, said: “Everybody knows there’s a climate crisis, but so many of us don’t really know what steps we can take to help – that’s why we’re opening the Hub. We thought it was essential to have a physical presence to reach out to residents.”
The former Dorothy Perkins unit in the town centre has been refurbished to host the hub and ECO Action hopes its ‘central’ location will bring in more curious visitors. The opening day will feature talks on the topics that affect Maidenhead residents, such as promoting biodiversity in gardens and how to save money on fuel bills during the energy crisis.
A Repair Cafe, which has operated in Maidenhead Library over the past year, will also feature on the day where people can bring items to be fixed, and will be a permanent fixture in the hub.
Talking about the various displays on eco-living and green travel created by experts for the event, Dave said: “I’m always learning new things.” When delivering talks on behalf of the Climate Community, Dave learned that many attendees actively recycled but very few did anything else. He hopes the hub will encourage environmental enthusiasts who are ‘doing a bit’ to be interested in ‘doing a bit more’.
ECO Action aims to attract young people, who learn about the climate emergency in school, to ‘influence’ and ‘inspire’ their parents.
The Hub will be open to the public from next month and free to visit from 10 am to 4pm.
There was a lot to do from the moment we inherited the former Dorothy Perkins store up until our opening day. Cleaning, painting, finding new homes to everything left behind… Countless volunteer hours put in, furniture upcycled / freecycled, and we are almost ready!
