Lover Repair Café raises over £10,000 for Salisbury District Hospital Stars Appeal

Lover Repair Café has raised over £10,000 for Salisbury District Hospital Stars Appeal to help hospital staff.

The Repair Café, based in the Wiltshire village of Lover have been supporting the charity since May 2020.

Based at the Village Hall, the Lover Repair Cafe is part of the Global Repair Café organisation and consists of a group of retired volunteers who carry out repairs for members of the local community.

Since opening in March 2019, the Café’s volunteers have carried out nearly 3,000 repairs including electrical appliances, computers, furniture, ceramics, clocks, bikes, brass-work, lawnmowers, metal-work and toys - stopping them from ending up in landfill.

People bringing items in for repair are asked for an optional donation, which, after the running costs of the Café have been met, are donated to charity.

The first donation of £500 to the Stars Appeal was made in May 2020 and regular donations have been made ever since.

At a special event held on Friday (11th February) organisers celebrated having raised over £10,000 to date by presenting Salisbury Hospital Intensive Care Unit Consultant and Stars Appeal Ambassador Dr Duncan Murray with a ceremonial cheque for £10,600 and asking him to cut a specially made cake.

At the request of the Repair Café organisers, all of the money raised has been donated to the Stars Appeal Staff Fund, to support the work the charity does for benefitting thousands of Salisbury Hospital staff. This includes counselling sessions and chaplaincy support, morale-boosting care packages and hot meals, outdoor spaces where staff can relax, free Wi-Fi and providing specialist education and simulation training.

Dr Duncan Murray said, “We are hugely grateful to the Lover Repair Café and all their volunteers and customers for their committed ongoing support. From my experience on the Intensive Care Unit, I can tell you first-hand that the extras the Stars Appeal provides make a huge difference for staff working extremely hard in very challenging circumstances. To know we have the support of our local community means a huge amount to each and every one of us.”

Maurice Caustick, Chairman of the Lover Repair Café said, “We’ve chosen to support the Stars Appeal because it shows our connection with the Hospital and confirms our commitment to the hospital staff. We’re very proud to have completed 2855 jobs and raised over £10,000 for the Hospital’s Stars Appeal and it's all down to our wonderful volunteers.”