THE founders of the successful Malvern Hills Repair Cafe will be taking their make-and-mend philosophy further afield, thanks to a grant of more than £9,000 from the National Lottery.

The repair cafe was founded by Jan and Chris Dyer in December 2012, and since then has carried out repairs for hundreds of satisfied customers.

Now they have received an grant of £9,305 to expand the idea across Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Mr Dyer said that the money will be used over the next 12 months to support the opening of two new repair cafes, developing a training package to ensure that the new cafes are successful and sustainable, and working with schools and colleges to encourage young people to think in terms of repairing and reusing items, instead of throwing them away.

He said: “This is an extremely exciting project and public recognition from a major grant body that the repair cafe concept is a worthwhile community enterprise. After almost three years of operating in Malvern, we now have the resources to develop and expand the concept and we are hugely grateful to the Big Lottery Fund for supporting us.”

More than 1,500 people have visited the main repair cafe, held monthly in Malvern, and the outreach repair cafes held in Hanley Swan, Malvern Vale and at the University of Worcester, since its foundation.

Mr Dyer said: "We have more than 50 people coming on average to each repair cafe, which isn't bad for four hours, and I understand from talking to other people in the repair cafe network that this makes us one of the most successful in the country.

"It's with this in mind that we're thinking of expansion, and we're looking at setting up repair cafes in Ledbury and Worcester. We know people there who would be interested in getting involved."

The Malvern Hills Repair Cafe has fixed almost 2,000 items, ranging from electrical appliances, clothed and furniture to more exotic items such as a doll's house.

The next repair café at Malvern Cube, Albert Road North, takes place tomorrow from 10 am to 2pm. For further information please contact 01684 438539 or themalvernhillsrepaircafe@gmail.com.