Slough Repair Café is opening our own unit in Queensmere!

But first, what happened in April?

Hello there,

Last month it was time for my favourite litter pick of the year. First of all, it is in my local area and second it involved several of our local pubs! On Sunday 7 April, we had a fantastic time at our litter picking Pub Crawl, it was a bit windy but the sun was out and we collected a whopping 53 bags + blankets, mattress and other items from the streets of Slough.

We met at The Red Cow, picking up litter on our way to The Wheatsheaf for a well earned refreshment break. We then continued our anti-litter mission, litterpicking to The Alpha Arms for another quick pitstop.

Finally, we made our way back to The Red Cow for a final drink and some delicious Sunday roasts for whose who fancied it.

It was a great way to enjoy some pub fun while giving back to our town! Special shout out to Katie who received her own picker and hoop and did ANOTHER litterpick by herself the next day, proudly sporting the SALS high-vis vest!

Community Led Research Project

I’m excited to share an update on our Community Led Research Project with the University of Reading on littering in Slough. We had a fantastic turnout at our April 21st meeting.

We kicked things off with a recap of our previous activities, and then everyone had a chance to share their valuable insights. I’ve documented all of your feedback, and we’ll be discussing it in-depth with the researchers at our next meeting.

Researchers Keiichi and Rosa then presented their work on behaviour change strategies. While some of the concept might have been a little academical, this research will form the basis of an (hopefully) effective plan to make a real difference in Slough!

What’s next? We’re working closely with the researchers to create a detailed roadmap for tackling the littering problem in Slough. I’ll keep you updated on our progress, and there will be more opportunities for the community to get involved soon!

Finally, a huge thank you to Moxy for generously providing us with meeting space, coffee, tea, and pastries. Their support for our community work is very much appreciated.

Slough Repair Café

Our final Repair Cafe at Bath Road venue was a success!

While bookings were a bit light, walk-ins kept our volunteers busy throughout the day.

Some of the items that got a new lease on life:

Phil and Keith took a steamer completely apart to diagnose the issue. Luckily, it’s repairable, just some extra parts are needed.

David fixed a toaster where the handle wouldn’t stay down. Turns out, it just needed a good cleaning – crumbs were preventing the electromagnet from working properly!

Claire patched up a hole in some leggings and diagnosed a sewing machine that wasn’t stitching correctly.

Robert tackled a wobbly shopping trolley and he also looked at a Sony CD player (which was sadly end of life).

In addition to these, we also fixed a grass trimmer, various cables, and look at a PainSolv device (although sadly, this one reached the end of its lifespan).

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But now we get to May and our next events!

19th May Litterpicking in Stoke Road

Join us for a community litter pick on Sunday, May 19th from 11am to 1pm at St. Paul’s Church (SL2 5AS). Lets meet up at 10:50 for an 11am start. This event is family-friendly and refreshments will be provided.

Don’t forget to wear appropriate clothing and footwear and bring your own gloves! Litter pickers and bags will be provided.

For any questions, please contact Cllr Ejaz Ahmed at 07817256280 or [email protected].

The event is sponsored by Azha, Slough Borough Council, the Slough Anti-Litter Society, and IDUK

Repair Café is leaving the unit on Bath Road per mid May.

The next Repair Café is happening on Saturday, May 25th between 11:00- 14:00. We’re happy to announce we secured a unit in the Queensmere Shopping Centre near where we were based before.

Finding us is easy:

• Enter the Queensmere from the High Street through the entrance next to the One Below store.
• Look for us on the right-hand side. Our neighbours are a barber shop and a phone shop (Ernest Jones was there as well but has recently moved out).

Another location, another reason for a party! But we will keep that for next time. I hope to see you soon at our events this month.

On behalf of the team,

Thank you for your support and we will see you soon!

Tirza