Thank you to everyone who came to the Share and Repair Gathering in Stirling on 27th February 2025.

Over 80 people from the Share and Repair Community across Scotland, along with guest speakers and facilitators, came together for a day of networking, inspiration and shared learning. Download a copy of the programme here.

The day was an opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the growth of the network over the last 3 years and thank the hard work and dedication of all those involved in launching and sustaining projects over that time.  More details about the growth of the Share and Repair Network are available in our impact report.

This short video gives a sense of the energy and enthusiasm of all who came along.

 

 

Below is a summary of the event with links throughout to resources and further information.

Alan Stevenson, CEO Volunteer Scotland

Alan presented an overview of the volunteering landscape in Scotland today and the work of Volunteer Scotland including details of Scotland’s Volunteering Action Plan. Download Alan’s slides here.

Fiona Dear, Co Director, The Restart Project

Fiona presented a summary of the campaigning work of the Restart Project, focusing on the Right to Repair and the Repair and Reuse Declaration.  See here to find out more about contacting your MP to build support for reuse and repair. Download Fiona’s slides here.

Petra Nemeckova, Community Climate Action Officer, Directorate for Energy and Climate Change, Scottish Government

Petra presented an overview of the Scottish Government Climate Hubs and examples of how some have been working in partnership with the Share and Repair Network. Download Petra’s slides here.

Member Spotlight

Two member organisations gave short presentations about their work  – the challenges and successes involved in the journey they have each been on to establish their projects.

Thanks to Mindy Grewar and Ben Blundell from Dairsie Repair Cafe and Trish Salt and John Grocott from Inverness Tool Library for your inspiring contributions.

Download Dairsie slides here and ITL slides here.

World Cafe

The world cafe session provided an opportunity for intense fast-paced discussion on a choice of 6 topics – each with a set of questions. Participants shared ideas and solutions.

  • Marketing What do you do to engage & reach people other than by using social media? What has been your most successful post or campaign on social media? Download notes here.
  • Volunteers Describe the background of some of your existing volunteers. How did they come to you? What else would you like to try to reach new volunteers? Download notes here.
  • Finance. Expenditure What do you get for free or at a discounted rate?  How did that happen? Income What are your non-grant funded sources of income?  Do they just cover costs or do they provide a contribution towards core costs? Download notes here.
  • Measuring Impact How do you gather data about carbon and social impact? How have you overcome any obstacles to gathering data? Download notes here.
  • Repair Projects What have been your practical challenges (big or small) in running a repair project and how have you overcome them? Download notes here.
  • Sharing projects What have been your big (or small) practical challenges in running a repair project and how have you overcome them? Download notes here.

Repair Room – lunch time session

During the lunch break we welcomed Kirill Obolensky of the Stirling Repair Shop who invited participants to have a go at taking electrical items apart and reassembling them. Patrick Dalgety, Freelance Production Manager (Events industry) and trainer in electrical safety was on hand to provide expert advice about PA Testing.

Afternoon breakouts

  • Sewing Machine Repairs & Maintenance Led by Tracy Purdie, Sewing Machine Mechanic, Stitch the Gap. Download slides here. Download sewing machine fault finding checklist here.
  • How to run a repair project as a non-repairer Facilitated by Sue Briggs, Director, The General Store Selkirk and Lindsey Campbell, Circular Economy Projects Manager, Linlithgow Community Development Trust.  Download slides here.
  • Demonstrating Impact – stories and statistics. facilitated by Naomi Johnson, Chair of Circular Communities Scotland and Freelance Consultant with Donna Wood, CEO, Good Green Futures.  Download slides here.
  • Reaching new communities Facilitated by Chris Sanderson, Circular Communities Scotland in conversation with James Bajgar of Music Broth, Mary Morton of Edinburgh Street Stitchers, Chris Hellawell of Edinburgh Tool Library and Asrar Qazi of the Edinburgh Remakery.

Feedback

In a short exercise at the end of the programme we asked attendees to write 3 words about how they felt about the day.

Funders

Thanks to our funders Zero Waste Scotland for making the day possible.