Repair Café: Centre for Computing Hsitory
Saturday, 9 August 2025
14:00 – 17:00
14:00 – 17:00
The Centre for Computing History is proud to host its first-ever Repair Café as part of our environmental project, 'Broken Tech, Broken Earth'. We hope to create a local space in Cambridge to celebrate sustainability, community, and the joy of fixing things! Our aim is simple: to reduce waste, share knowledge, and empower people to repair rather than replace.
🗓 Date: 09/08/2025
🕖 Time: 2pm-5pm
📍 Location: Centre for Computing History, Cambridge
🎟 Tickets: Free entry, just book a repair slot first!
https://forms.gle/J5epmpiSwXXkagys7
Expect one-on-one help from experienced repairers, repair stations for electronics and well as free tea, coffee, and lots of cake!
Enjoy our museum collection completely for free during our Broken Tech, Broken Earth repair cafe event as you wait for your stuff to get repaired! We hope to encourage a more circular economy at the museum and hopefully to also have many more repair cafes for the future here too!
Types of items accepted for repair:
Electronic Devices, Home and Gardening Appliances, Clothing, Bikes
Please note that if the items brought to the repair cafe are unable to get fixed we have two alternative ideas on what to do with the item. Firstly, you can put them in our e-waste bin provided by the Cambridge Shared Waste for the event or you can donate the item to us so that we can use the materials to form part of our e-waste art workshops which will take place in October 2025.
Booking details will be updated on our website by the 2nd of July. Drop-in appointments will be available on the day if you have brought something to fix with you, however availability may be subject to availability.
All repairs are free and donations are welcome.
We have free car parking at the museum and bike racks available on site. Access information including mobility scooter and blue badge parking availability can be accommodated if you contact nadirah@computinghistory.org.uk
Refreshments will include a variety of cakes, tea and coffee which can be provided for free for visitors.
This event is insured by Saffron Insurance in line with the Cambridgeshire Repair Cafe Network insurance recommendations.
== Hosted by Centre for Computing History ==
The Centre for Computing History rightly celebrates the incredible evolution of computing technology. However, with tech now embedded in all our lives, and the UK predicted to generate over 30,000 tons of electronic waste a week by the end of this year, the museum has a responsibility to recognise the ecological impact of the rise of technology.
While many museums are grappling with how to tell the stories of objects from cultures that were affected by colonialism, this is the Centre for Computing History’s equivalent ‘skeleton in the closet’. We have not yet told these stories.
We received funding from the Esmee Fairbairn Collections Fund, run by the Museums Association, to begin exploring the topic of the environmental impact of technology. We have called our new two year long project, 'Broken Tech, Broken Earth'.
This funding aims to encourage participatory practice in museums. Participatory practice involves visitors and communities in the creation and interpretation of museum exhibitions, programs, and events content – asking for stories about objects in the collection, rather than assuming we know what the most important stories are. This approach is inclusive, encourages visitors to feel ownership and helps museums discover untold stories about their collections.
Our museum has a unique platform to raise awareness of e-waste and create change. At the end of this two year grant, we will have worked with local communities and co-designed a tried and tested approach to telling the story of tech’s impact on the environment through our collection, and getting people to take action. One of the eight events that we are planning will focus on the circular economy by hosting the museum's first ever repair cafe! Other events include e-waste art classes, new sustainability themed schools workshops, new additions to our collection that explore the topic of the environment... We are excited to say that Broken Tech, Broken Earth is open to be shaped by the local community and we are excited to find volunteers to support the development of this project. Please contact BTBE@computinghistory.org.uk if you are interested in supporting the project!
https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/
Learn more about Repair Cafés and how to start one at: https://therestartproject.org/
🗓 Date: 09/08/2025
🕖 Time: 2pm-5pm
📍 Location: Centre for Computing History, Cambridge
🎟 Tickets: Free entry, just book a repair slot first!
https://forms.gle/J5epmpiSwXXkagys7
Expect one-on-one help from experienced repairers, repair stations for electronics and well as free tea, coffee, and lots of cake!
Enjoy our museum collection completely for free during our Broken Tech, Broken Earth repair cafe event as you wait for your stuff to get repaired! We hope to encourage a more circular economy at the museum and hopefully to also have many more repair cafes for the future here too!
Types of items accepted for repair:
Electronic Devices, Home and Gardening Appliances, Clothing, Bikes
Please note that if the items brought to the repair cafe are unable to get fixed we have two alternative ideas on what to do with the item. Firstly, you can put them in our e-waste bin provided by the Cambridge Shared Waste for the event or you can donate the item to us so that we can use the materials to form part of our e-waste art workshops which will take place in October 2025.
Booking details will be updated on our website by the 2nd of July. Drop-in appointments will be available on the day if you have brought something to fix with you, however availability may be subject to availability.
All repairs are free and donations are welcome.
We have free car parking at the museum and bike racks available on site. Access information including mobility scooter and blue badge parking availability can be accommodated if you contact nadirah@computinghistory.org.uk
Refreshments will include a variety of cakes, tea and coffee which can be provided for free for visitors.
This event is insured by Saffron Insurance in line with the Cambridgeshire Repair Cafe Network insurance recommendations.
== Hosted by Centre for Computing History ==
The Centre for Computing History rightly celebrates the incredible evolution of computing technology. However, with tech now embedded in all our lives, and the UK predicted to generate over 30,000 tons of electronic waste a week by the end of this year, the museum has a responsibility to recognise the ecological impact of the rise of technology.
While many museums are grappling with how to tell the stories of objects from cultures that were affected by colonialism, this is the Centre for Computing History’s equivalent ‘skeleton in the closet’. We have not yet told these stories.
We received funding from the Esmee Fairbairn Collections Fund, run by the Museums Association, to begin exploring the topic of the environmental impact of technology. We have called our new two year long project, 'Broken Tech, Broken Earth'.
This funding aims to encourage participatory practice in museums. Participatory practice involves visitors and communities in the creation and interpretation of museum exhibitions, programs, and events content – asking for stories about objects in the collection, rather than assuming we know what the most important stories are. This approach is inclusive, encourages visitors to feel ownership and helps museums discover untold stories about their collections.
Our museum has a unique platform to raise awareness of e-waste and create change. At the end of this two year grant, we will have worked with local communities and co-designed a tried and tested approach to telling the story of tech’s impact on the environment through our collection, and getting people to take action. One of the eight events that we are planning will focus on the circular economy by hosting the museum's first ever repair cafe! Other events include e-waste art classes, new sustainability themed schools workshops, new additions to our collection that explore the topic of the environment... We are excited to say that Broken Tech, Broken Earth is open to be shaped by the local community and we are excited to find volunteers to support the development of this project. Please contact BTBE@computinghistory.org.uk if you are interested in supporting the project!
https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/
Learn more about Repair Cafés and how to start one at: https://therestartproject.org/
