THE WHIR of a sewing machine, household machines being dismantled, and happy customers reunited with their once obsolete items.

This was the scene at the Scout Hall on Saturday for Cowbridge's first ever Repair Café, where broken items are brought back to life by skilled volunteers.

After a meeting at the end of November to scope interest, the first session offered textile and electrical repairs, as well as PAT testing.

Repair Café Wales asset manager Tim Bunce was part of the group that set up the Llantwit Major branch two years ago, and organised the session this weekend.

"We started the group through church," said Tim.

"We wanted to do something useful and serve the community with an outreach project.

"Since it began, we've served around 250 customers. We had more fixers than people coming with things to fix, which was one of the reasons for starting up in Cowbridge," he said.

Tim has electrical qualifications, but also gained experience in IT over the last 15 years. During the morning, he worked on a coffee machine, vacuum cleaner head and a child's sleep toy.

"My Dad used to sit out on the drive and wait for people to walk by and offered to fix things. That was just what he did," said Tim.

"I suppose that's a bit like what we're doing here."

Jenny Evans manned the front desk, directing people to sign in for contact tracing, before filling out a form to indicate what the issue is with their item.

They can either wait for their item to be fixed, or collect it later. Once restrictions lift, there are plans to have an area for coffee and chatting, fulfilling the 'café' aspect of the event.

"It should be about community, having a bit of company. Things are a bit hopeless at the moment, so it's needed" said Jenny.

Textile artist Caroline, who was there to fix clothing, also stressed the community aspect of the Repair Café.

"I've sewn my whole life, but people don't necessarily have the skills or equipment to do it themselves," said Caroline.

"In some cases, they might not have the funds. Eventually we could run workshops and actually show people some simple fixes."

One not so simple fix was brought in by Allison Killick, who heard about Cowbridge Repair Café through Facebook.

"I've been clearing out my study during lockdown, and found these lamps that needed fixing," said Allison.

"When I saw the Repair Café event, I thought I'd bring them along.

"The house is from my mother, and the other one I bought in the 1980s from Cowbridge Electrical, when it was open."

While volunteers were able to fix the miniature house lamp, unfortunately it was the end of the road for Allison's other light.

A broken switch and plug putting out the wrong voltage meant it could not be repaired. Allison left happy though, with the more sentimental of the two being repaired.

In a time when conglomerates like Amazon dominate the online shopping market, perhaps it's time to rethink what we do with our broken items before clicking 'checkout' on a replacement.

The new Repair Café not only reduces waste but also serves as a valuable hub for community activity in Cowbridge.