Free 50th Repair Café comes to Leafair on Saturday 12 September

Repair & Share Foyle will hold its 50th Repair Café at Leafair Community Association on Saturday 12 September 2026, from 10am to 1pm. The free community workshop is open to local residents, who are invited to bring one household item for repair.

The milestone event will combine the organisation’s usual repair service with a special prize draw. Households whose repairs are registered at the event will be entered, with prizes including membership of Repair & Share Foyle’s Library of Things, vouchers for the Legenderry Colours paint rescue project and other local prizes.

When and where to attend

The Repair Café takes place at Leafair Community Association in the Derry and Strabane area. It runs for three hours on Saturday morning, beginning at 10am and ending at 1pm.

Attendance is free, and the invitation is aimed at residents with an everyday household item that they would like volunteers to examine for possible repair. Each resident is asked to bring one item.

The published event information does not provide a street address for the venue, an advance-booking method, transport guidance or accessibility details. Anyone who needs those details should check the organiser’s or venue’s latest information before travelling.

Repairs, reuse and the milestone prize draw

Repair & Share Foyle has organised regular repair events across the city and district since launching the initiative in 2022. The cafés are intended to help people keep household goods in use instead of replacing or disposing of them.

According to figures published by Derry City and Strabane District Council, volunteers have worked on more than 1,000 items since the first café and successfully repaired almost 700. The organisation estimates that its repair activity has prevented 17,000kg of carbon emissions.

Saturday’s event marks the 50th café and what the organisation describes as five years of repair, reuse and community action. Alongside the practical repair work, registered repair households will have the chance to enter the milestone prize draw.

What residents should bring

Residents should arrive with no more than one household item for repair. The source does not list eligible item types or guarantee that every object can be fixed, so the confirmed offer is an opportunity to present an item to the repair service rather than a promise of a completed repair.

Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council Cllr Grace Uí Niallais congratulated the organisers and volunteers ahead of the event, highlighting their work to promote practical repair skills, reduce waste and encourage community participation.

For those deciding whether to attend, the essential details are straightforward: the 50th Repair Café is free, takes place at Leafair Community Association from 10am to 1pm on Saturday 12 September, and residents may bring one household item for repair.

Source: Derry City and Strabane Council News