International repair day: filled with CAG network celebrations

International Repair Day 2026 was a chance for us at CAG Somerset to celebrate the repair cafés in our network and the volunteers who keep them thriving. As a network working to uplift and support repair cafés, we help groups share skills, learn from one another and celebrate their achievements. On 17 October, the tenth International Repair Day, we joined celebrations at Glastonbury and North Petherton to see that community spirit in action.

At Glastonbury Repair Café, we joined the group’s fifth birthday celebrations and heard how a move to a new venue is creating more space and opportunities to develop. It was a chance to celebrate everything the group has achieved in its community and show our support as it looks ahead to its next chapter.

From an established group celebrating a milestone to one of our newest members finding its feet, both visits showed how repair cafés bring people together. At North Petherton Repair Café, tea, cake and conversation gave us time to chat with volunteer repairers and organisers about their plans for future activities, while visitors brought along a remarkable variety of items for repair.

The repairs ranged from knife sharpening and work on a treasured cuckoo clock to replacing the zip on a teenager’s coat and restoring the music box inside a jewellery case. Each was a reminder of the practical value of repair cafés: keeping much-loved items in use while creating welcoming spaces to share skills and connect.

North Petherton launched in May 2026 after other repair cafés in the CAG network shared their experiences of setting up a group. That exchange is at the heart of what we do at CAG Somerset: connect groups so they can build on one another’s knowledge, feel supported and flourish. Whether we are celebrating a fifth birthday or supporting a new member, our role is to champion the people making repair possible and help strengthen the network around them.