27/01/2026
Repair Cafe was lovely and busy on Saturday, and amongst the garments, toys, hand held vacuums, jewellery, lamps and a large mitre saw(!) for repair we really enjoyed being able to bring life back to 2 special items:
Deborah brought along her vintage crochet hook, inherited from her grandmother and the only hook she has ever used for her many crochet projects. Made of bone, the hook had snapped at the thinnest part. Keith was able to carefully carve the shaft to create a new hook for Deborah, slightly shorter but functional once again.
Mandy's gorgeous cuckoo clock had stopped working. A top of the range model, the clock had a chiming and hooting cuckoo and also a music drum which played two different tunes.
Because there were three sets of chains and weights, Andy's first job was to find out which chain operated what. So with the clock laid on its front with the back cover removed he carefully pulled on one of the chains by hand and could see that it operated the cuckoo part. The next chain operated the music drum, which then identified the clock chain. It was very clean inside so it was time to hang the clock with the assistance of Keith & install and swing the pendulum.
After swinging the pendulum it started to tick, but stopped soon afterwards. The pendulum arm was possibly catching on the clock body, so it was gently tweaked clear. After that the clock ran continually, but the cuckoo and music did not operate.
Thoughts turned to whether there was a switch which would allow the clock to run in quiet mode without the cuckoo etc, and Andy found it hidden under the roof eves. Now comes the exciting part…..
The clock was running and moving the fingers round to just before the hour (not recommended with most clocks, but ok with a cuckoo clock) we waited for the clock to strike, it seemed to take ages and Andy's faith in it was starting to wain. Then it struck 12 and the whole thing sprang into life. Andy, Keith and Mandy almost danced around with joy as the clock played the 'Happy Wanderer' tune and the cuckoo did its thing. The excitement created much interest and before long more people came it to see the clock, including a little girl who was overjoyed at the sight of the cuckoo etc.
Do you have an item that needs fixing?
Repair Cafe will be at the Court House in Jury Street on the 4th Saturday of each month (excluding December) 10am to 2pm, with our next date being 28th February.
