What can you bring to the Hassocks Repair Café?

By Juliet Merrifield

What a year 2023 was! Over 400 items were brought in for repair last year, double the number in our first year. In January we moved to our new location at Age Concern, linked with the Hassocks Village Market on the fourth Saturday of the month. We were blown away by the numbers of people bringing items for repair, and apologies to the people who had to queue a long time.

Our talented volunteer repairers managed to repair 75% of the repairs attempted. That’s a lot of items given life extensions and kept out of the landfill. Based on the Repair Café Carbon Calculator (using averaged data), these successful repairs will result in emission savings equivalent to more than 9000kg of CO2, equivalent to flying 60,000 miles (that’s three times round the world). Hats off to the team!

What can we work on? The answer is a very wide array of household items.

• mechanical and electrical items, such as vacuum cleaners, toasters, kettles, coffee makers, air fryers, radios, CD players, keyboards, lamps, clocks
• we can also PAT test electrical items to be sure they are safe to use
• wooden items, such as picture frames, chairs or tables with wobbly legs, knife handles
• garden tools ¬- we replace handles for forks or spades, secateurs, repair cords for hedge trimmers and lawnmowers
• treasured objects that need to be delicately glued like statues, toys
• textiles - repair or replace zips, sew up seams, replace buttons, stitch up little holes and tears
• sharpening knives, scissors, garden tools
• There are only a few things we don’t work on: microwaves, bicycles, pressure cookers, child’s car seats. If you’re not sure about something, just get in touch, as we may be able to help or refer you to a professional.
• items must be clean
• it must be something you can carry in
• if a part is needed, you need to purchase it (or refund us if we supply it) • you bring items for repair at your own risk, we can offer no guarantee for repairs
• repairers are entitled to refuse to repair items

The Repair Café Hassocks team are all volunteers, and we welcome new people to join our friendly group. It’s a free service and we are able to cover our costs like rent of the space, public liability insurance, special equipment and publicity costs through small donations.

You can bring items to the repair café at the Age Concern centre on Dale Avenue on the fourth Saturday of every month, except August and December. No booking needed, just bring items between 9.30 and 11.30 am. Small repairs can usually be done on the day. If parts or special tools are required, our repairers may agree to take an item home to work on and arrange collection later.

Contact us by email repaircafe@hkdtransition. org.uk, phone 01273 040110, or visit us onFacebook www.facebook.com/repaircafehassocks

The Hassocks Village Market moves to Age Concern's car park from Jan 2023

From January 2023, Hassocks Village Market will be at a new site.

For twenty years, the market has been a familiar sight every month on the forecourt of National Tyres Centre, but now it is moving! Market Manager, Catriona Hawksley says: “A big thank you to the National Tyres Centre for hosting us. We’ve had lots of different managers and staff, and they’ve always been very supportive.” Catriona explains: “For a while, there’s been a lot of uncertainty about the market’s site because it might be developed at some point, so we’ve been on the look-out for somewhere new.”
She continues: “We’ve had lots of friendly talks with local charity, Age Concern, and we’re really excited to be moving the market to the Age Concern car park.”

The new site will have more space which will enable the market to include more stalls. But that’s not the only advantage! Catriona says: “The new site will be less noisy because it’s away from the road, making it a more pleasant and sociable shopping experience, more conducive to people meeting and chatting with friends.” All the usual stalls will be there: look out for fresh vegetables, meat, a bakery, cheese, beer, cakes, chocolate, plants, chutneys and jams, Middle-Eastern inspired foods and salads, Rushfield’s pies and sausage rolls, homemade soaps and natural cosmetics.

“We are hoping there will be more craft stalls too, such as jewellery and homemade candles,” adds Catriona. This is very much a local market. “Many of our stallholders live or produce their goods in Hassocks, while others are from nearby villages or towns.”

Local charity, Age Concern, will have their shop open and they will have their own stall. Market visitors will also be able to purchase hot drinks and light refreshments from their café.

The first Hassocks Village Market at the new site will be on 28th January from 9am to 12.30pm and thereafter on the 4th Saturday of the month, as usual. Why not go along and show your support?

Market welcomes new stallholders

A new feature at the market this month will be the Great British Charcuterie Company from the Marina in Brighton. They will be filling a hole which was left when the Spanish charcuterie stall moved on last year and will be very welcome. Also new will be Yorwarth’s Fresh Fish from Seaford. They will be bringing the village fresh fish from the Channel , giving Hassocks residents access to fresh fish that could only be satisfied otherwise by driving to another town, so you’ll be doing your bit for the environment when you take a stroll into the high street to buy your fish at the Village Market. Other new stalls are on the way, while many of the regular stallholders will be at the market. You can look forward to purchasing breads, local cheeses, fresh vegetables, locally grown plants, vegan cakes and more. The Village Market is also a great place for local businesses to try out their products on us all; look out for a Hassocks resident offering home-made soaps this month. There is also always a stand set aside for local good causes, so do get in touch if you’d like to join us. The market organisers have already implemented safety measures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Visitors will be asked to follow a one-way system through the Village Market, entering it on the Keymer Road side, and exiting on to the corner of Dale Avenue. This is kindly being marshalled by the Hassocks and Keymer Volunteers Covid-19. Opening hours at the Village Market are 9am to 12.30pm on the 4th Saturday of the month (next one is 22nd August). It is held in the National Tyres car park, smack bang in the middle of the village, so you have no excuse to miss it. It also gives you a great opportunity to visit some of the top-quality shops we have stretching up from Orion Parade to Station Parade. The Village Market is managed by Catriona Hawksley, under the auspices of the Hassocks Community Organisation. If you would like to take up a stall there simply email Catriona on hassocksvillagemarket1@gmail.com.

Published in August’s Hassocks Life Magazine

Hassocks Village Market seeks local support

Hassocks Village Market

Hassocks Village Market is seeking local businesses and causes to take up stalls, and aiming to help the local economy grow and develop new directions.

On the fourth Saturday of every month, apart from December when it’s the third, the centre of Hassocks is transformed into a village market, which features local businesses and also offers a showcase to local charities and good causes. The Market is based outside National Tyres, on the corner of the High Street’s junction with Dale Avenue.

The market has an array of longstanding stallholders, offering goods ranging through breads, cakes, local cheeses, fresh fish, fresh farm vegetables, pies, fresh meat and hand-made chocolate. These are well known in the village and many stalls have their regulars who look forward to the fourth Saturday just so they can replenish supplies.

And those regulars are encouraged to keep coming back not just by the quality of what’s on offer but also by a loyalty scheme, where customers can complete a card full of stamps and enter into a quarterly draw where the winners get a free hamper provided and stocked by the stallholders.

Opening at 9am and running through to 12.30pm, the market also offers local causes a great opportunity to show themselves off to villagers, by offering one pitch in every market free to local charities and causes. This could be anything local, from small fundraisers to organisations like the local hospices, and is worth doing to raise a profile.

In addition, a stall is reserved for local pursuits such as arts and crafts: for example, recently the Made in Hassocks stall was manned by a group selling knitwear, while it could just as easily be Hassocks artists offering their masterpieces. Taking this stall could not only give opportunities to sell local products but could also bring in new enthusiasts who hadn’t been aware their main interest is covered in the village.

The Village Market is managed by Catriona Hawksley, under the auspices of Hassocks Community Organisation. If you would like to take up a stall there simply email Catriona on: hassocksvillagemarket1@ gmail.com, it’ll be worth it.

The next market is on Saturday 24th August 2019.