Think Lend Not Spend this November
November is National Buy Nothing Month and Umbrella Sussex is ready to help with practical alternatives to buying new, writes SHELLEY FELDMAN
Umbrella Sussex is a community group whose volunteers run Hastings Library of Things and Make and Mend Bexhill and Beyond, co-aligned projects that promote Lending and Mending.
Hastings Library of Things is a subscription library for stuff: for a small annual fee members can borrow over 100 things for free, including power tools, camping equipment, even a trombone! Make and Mend fights against built in obsolescence with weekly Fixing Fridays.
Founder and fixer-in-chief Christine says: “We might not put money into peoples’ pockets, but we definitely help keep it there. We have mended toasters, printers, even a seriously clogged up vacuum cleaner, all things otherwise headed for landfill.” Make and Mend is a skills share project and will try to get you involved in your repair, especially if it’s a sewing-based fix!
Kerry, Hastings born and bred, has been involved in several grassroots projects over the years and with Hastings Library of Things for just over two and is now the group’s Delivery Service coordinator. “You may have seen our e-cargo bike around town, carrying all kinds of unlikely loads, including gazebos and a wheelchair,” she says. The bike is also used to deliver the Hastings Independent on alternate Thursdays and is itself available for hire.
The team is based in HEART’s Community Info Hub at the old Town Hall, opposite Priory Meadow Shopping Centre. They’re open 12pm-4pm Fridays for borrowing and fixing, and 10am-1pm Saturdays for borrowing.
As a grand finale to Buy Nothing New Month, Umbrella Sussex are hosting a Festive Free Shop. Happening on Friday 29 November (Black Friday), this is our sixth Free Shop and the first in its new home at the Town Hall. We look forward to welcoming old and new free shoppers alike.
Shoppers are asked to bring things they don’t want that are of gift giving quality and take whatever they can use or re-gift. There is a maximum donation of one bag per person, but people are welcome whether or not they have anything to bring. Alongside the Free Shop there is a small Free Cafe with hot drinks for tired shoppers.
Full details of Festive Free Shop and other information can be found on our website at umbrellasussex.org.uk.freeshop.
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