A café where Altonians can get a lot more than a caffeine fix has celebrated its fifth anniversary.

Birthday cake was on the menu when the Alton Repair Café marked five years of service to the town.

The repair and admin team celebrated the milestone by launching new aprons at their fifth repair café of the year.

Their 20 repairers and five admin staff have given a helping hand to 180 visitors over the last year with everything from kettles to vacuum getting a new lease of life.

“One of the lovely things about our café is that repairers held each other with advice, or parts, or just general support,” said Sue Hubbard, coordinator.

The café falls under the umbrella of Alton Climate Alliance Network (ACAN) which provides it with support and financial help.

Their repairs are free of charge, but the group does rely on donations to cover venue and publicity costs while the likes of EHDC and Microsoft have recently helped with rebranding and charitable support, respectively.

They are staunch advocates of reusing, recycling and avoiding rubbish, with 3,081.6kg being saved from landfill thanks to their efforts this year.

“We have encouraged at least 180 members of the public to try to repair items for themselves next time and avoid just replacing them without trying to fix them” added Sue.

The group enjoyed another milestone early this autumn as the 15th anniversary of the International Repair Café was celebrated in The Netherlands.

Repair cafes from 40 countries across the world submitted a celebratory pennant to mark the occasion, with Alton’s contribution being made by repairer, Jackie Epps.

The next Alton Repair Café will take place from 10.30am to 12.30pm in the community centre on Saturday, December 14.

Further information from [email protected] or https://altonclimatenetwork.org.uk/