Welcome

We have two Give and Take events planned for this Autumn so far...

• Appleby Give and Take - Sunday 24th September 2017 - 10am - 12 noon
• Kirkby Stephen Freegle Give and Take - Saturday 25th November 2017 - 2pm - 4pm

In addition there are Repair Cafes happening in Penrith, Kirkby Stephen, Alston and Staveley.

Sustainable Brampton have a Give and Take stall at every Brampton Farmers Market, usually held on the last Saturday of every month from 10am to 1pm. Please bring along items to give away free and pick up anything that's available - for nothing! Drop by for a chat - and see what's lurking in your loft, garage or shed.

Freegle groups across the UK have a free community event listing facility. Anyone can add an event which is visible to Freegle users and to the wider public. It's a great way to publicise your event, it's free and it's easy to add them! The local group volunteers must approve each post - they will usually allow anything community related even if there's a charge for the event. Here's how to do it...

In the best traditions of reuse, Freegle volunteer Chris Cant mulls over the successes and occasional hiccups of the Penrith and Eden District Freegle group, which has been running for 10 ⅓ years! Thanks to everyone who has taken part, over 500 tonnes of good stuff has been kept out of the bin and it has helped out our neighbours.

Chris tells us how his first Repair Cafe went: trying to fix electrical items including a TV/DVD player, two toasters, two digital cameras, a light and a vacuum cleaner. It was a useful learning experience, and he's made a list of the tools he brought and might be needed. Who knows what will be brought in next time!

Chris moans about built-in obsolescence in manufactured good and repairs his washing machine - again!

If you need something repaired go to one of the repair cafés sessions happening soon in Eden - or the clothing repair sessions in Ambleside and Keswick run by Patagonia.

Two Repair Cafés are starting up in Eden District soon: in Penrith on Saturday 22nd April 2017 and at Kirkby Stephen on Wednesday 3 May 2017. If you've got a broken toaster, a jumper with a hole in or a bike thatneeds fixing, please bring it along and hopefully get it fixed for free.

If you are handy with a screwdriver, a spanner, a sewing machine, or anything else and want to share your skills then get in touch with Eden Arts or Kirkby Stephen Community Arts.

The lovely weather brought out a great community spirit on Saturday at the Old Fire Station in Penrith where Freegle and PACT (Penrith Action for Community Transition) laid on an event where where visitors could give away unwanted items to each other and swap seeds, plants, trees and tools.

The day got off to a brisk start with Luka and family picking up a free trampoline before the event had officially opened. Loads more Freegle items, big and small, came and went: everything from Sean the sheep to a child's bike to a sofa – we weren't taking furniture but someone wanted it so it went!

Today, we've launched a page to list all the reuse options in Eden District - if you can't repair or upcycle it! You can give and get items on Freegle - or sell them online, have items collected, give to charity shops or recycle them.

How would you get an item repaired - tell us how to get it done locally, so we can add it to the list.

The Freegle Give and Take at Shap went really well on Saturday, with around 120 people visiting and hundreds of free items received and picked up: sack barrow, DIY brackets, toolbox, blinds, brush, bike pump, three bins, washing up rack, electric fan, microwave, TV, shredder, picnic table, hand drills, airer, stool, slow cooker, duvet, pint glass, books, clothes, tools, jigsaws, more glasses, toys, magazines, santa hat, primus, Trangia, camp pans, seed potatoes, wind breaks, curtains, camp chairs, coffee maker, patio chairs, lamps, fish kettle, book stand, hi-fi, vacuum cleaner, greenhouse heater, clothes airer, kettle, video recorder, kitchen chairs, picture, teapot, rugs, another hoover, garden books, another teapot and plates.