Press Release – For immediate Release
We have been awarded Town Council grant funding to establish a community workshop located in Todmorden Community College.
Image of the first Repair Cafe at the new Todmorden Makery workshop
Following the success of the pre-covid monthly Repair Café held in Todmorden Masonic Hall, Mick Chesterman decided more could be done to create a long-term space for people to make, create and repair, as well as provide a home for like-minded community focused projects.
Mick said “Todmorden Makery is a community workshop for repairing and making all manner of things located in Todmorden Community College. One of the leading contributions to climate gas emissions are the textile and electronics industries. This project encourages repairing objects, sharing tools and spreading knowledge of repairing.
This is a project that is good for the environment as well as being great for people. One of the key elements is as a home to a monthly repair cafe and additional workshops to help people repair their own clothes, electronics, bikes and household items.”
Steering group member Martin Ross said: “As well as reducing waste and saving people money, the aim is to help local people gain transferable skills that will help build confidence, connections and in finding jobs and starting their own businesses. The workshop will be a resource for making all sorts of objects with a range of specialist equipment including an industrial sewing machine, 3D printer and digital media and software development tools.
The Makery is the home of a new, free to use tool library which will allow the community to borrow high quality tools from week to week. It is a home for Techtastic which aims to bridge the digital divide by refurbishing donated laptops and distributing them to people with no access to a computer.”
You can sign up to get involved or to just get updates here – http://todmordenmakery.org.uk
Todmorden Town Council support the launch of Makery Project with grant
Todmorden Town Council have supported the launch of Makery Project with a grant of £3,000. One of the strong elements of the grant application was the way it supported the climate emergency policies of Calderdale council.
They were also particularly interested in our plans for a tool library and the way we hope to become sustainable through a membership scheme and microdonations.
Thank you to everyone involved so far and the support of the people of Todmorden
So far the Makery has been a real team effort. Local community groups have come together to make this project happen. Incredible Edible have co-ordinated a volunteer day to clean and get the space ready for painting and local science educators Scavenger Labs have taken on the administration tasks for the first year.
The volunteer sign up rate and participation has also been impressive. Since launching the idea this spring hundreds of people have signed up as potential members of the project.
The Makery is located in Todmorden Community College which has recently come under community ownership via the group Todmorden Learning Centre. TLC have been very supportive allowing the project to rent the workshop part time as we get started and supplying us with paint and worksurfaces.
Steering group member Mary Clear from Incredible Edible said: “It’s great to feel the support of the college and the people and council Todmorden behind the project. The grant awarded by the Town Council is a fantastic endorsement.
The planet is groaning under the weight of stuff , stuff we chuck out and stuff we feel we need. lets help each other Grow skills , reuse and repurpose the zillions of tons of good things discarded. The joy of making and fixing is incredible!”
How can people get involved?
To build a strong member-run organisation. We are looking for people to get involved in the following ways.
- Running workshops for their friends, family and other members of the space
- Coming to the repair cafes to repair their old gadgets and clothes thus saving them from landfill.
- Running partnership sessions at the workshop for specialist groups
We are inviting the community to get in touch with ideas or just sign up for updates at the project website and social media.
todmordenmakery@gmail.com
What’s next?
We will have a launch event soon once renovations and preparations are complete. From September we will have several weekly drop in sessions running at different times of the day and the tool library open on Saturday mornings.
