Monday 2 February 2015

Restart Parties - more steps forward

Yesterday (Sunday 1st February) found me chatting to the lovely Michelle Dawes of BBC Radio WM on her Sunday Breakfast programme. The topic under discussion was Tamworth's soon to be appearing 'Restart Party' (http://therestartproject.org).

The reason it came to people's notice was this article in the Tamworth Herald:


Get electrical items repaired free of charge thanks to Tamworth vicar's unique idea*
By Tamworth Herald  |  Posted: January 10, 2015   By Helen Machin


Rev Vic Van Den Bergh is to launch 'Restart' in Tamworth, repairing electrical items for free. Vic is pictured with his oscilloscope.

A TAMWORTH vicar is to launch a project which will see a team of experts repairing electrical items completely free of charge. Rev Vic Van Den Bergh, vicar of St Francis Church, Leyfields and acting vicar of Tamworth, plans to hold the first 'Restart Party' at Easter.
He has recruited a host of engineers to help with fixing broken televisions, phones, laptops and other similar appliances which members of the public will be invited to take along.
Vic, who is a qualified electronics engineer with a keen interest in the subject, hopes that the scheme will help people save cash and will be good for the environment.
He said: "Restart parties are held in other areas and I thought it would be good to start the scheme in Tamworth.

"Basically, if you have an electrical item which is broken, bring it along and we will fix it. It will be completely free of charge.

"People will throw away a two-year-old TV which is broken and buy a new one, when the old one could be repaired with just a capacitor costing a few pence. People will throw away their broken phones and get into debt buying new ones – they can be repaired.

"This scheme will save people money and, of course, it's green, it will mean people are throwing fewer things away."

Vic, also the driving force behind Tamworth's hugely successful Street Angels project, is hoping to set up several Restart groups across the town if the project proves successful, and is also hoping to repair larger items such as tumble dryers and washing machines.
Anyone who has the skills to repair electrical items and who would be willing to offer their services free of charge can contact Vic at tamworthrestart@btinternet.com

This article let to the BBC contacting me and here's the broadcast:


Hopefully more people will get passionate about being the difference in our town and volunteer their skills (and others to learn to fix stuff too) - You don't need to be a Christian to get onboard, you just need to care (and the rest, we can hopefully add)

Pax




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+ Should have added that whilst we provide the tools and the skills - the cost of the parts will need to be met (but hopefully we can find some source of funding for that as we progress too!)

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