Recreate; a successful swap, repair and mend meet

Ady Shannon pops out to Bromley to see what happens at a Recreate swap and mend meet.

It is Thursday afternoon, school has been out for an hour and the playground in the park outside the Bromley Community Centre is packed with toddlers and tamariki sliding, swinging and climbing on the colourful play equipment. In the carpark, a volunteer sits in front of a large skip, offering preloved toys, trikes and other treasures to people passing. Inside the community centre, adults, rangatahi and tamariki  are engaged in a range of activities.

Some have come for the free kai – a trestle table is laden with boxes of bananas and bags of new potatoes. Others sort through clothes on racks, in boxes and in suitcases lining the walls of the main hall. Wide doors open to another generous meeting room where three sewing stations have been set up. On one side of each table a ‘sewist’ discusses mend and repair strategies with people who have come with clothes and accessories that need mending. It is a hive of activity. The sound of sewing machines and overlockers in full flight competes with the lively banter of people gathered as they wait patiently to bring their tee-shirts, pants, skirts and shirts to the attention of the skilled trio operating the sewing equipment.

This event has been curated and organised by the Christchurch Methodist Mission Community-Led Development team. Team lead Fionna Chapman and her colleagues Elizabeth and Tracey operate from a base at the New Brighton Union Church, just a few kilometres from Bromley and today they are overseeing the fifth in a series of six community events. The first iteration of Recreate was held as part of the Christchurch City Councils’ Youth Week celebration in May 2023. Combining grass-roots social research with local resources, Recreate has evolved to deliver an additional five events tailored for the needs of the local communities, .

Promoted via social media, Facebook and word of mouth, the events have attracted growing interest as people of all ages are drawn by the congeniality, services, clothing and goods provided.

“We realised that youth wanted something to do. They were keen on grabbing clothes and rejigging them,” Fionna says. “Other Recreate events have grown from there.  Rather than reinventing the wheel, we partner closely with our local communities and work in with what already exists to meet the need.”

“After our first Youth event, through our social media campaigns, members of the community were asking if we were going to hold another event for adults.  After our first adult event, people were saying they were unable to attend that and could we please hold another one at a different time and day, so we really have been guided by our community.”

More than Mending

The collaborations result in shared skills, resources and personal. Justine Balcar works for a community collective in Belfast and has come to Bromley event - along with her sewing  machine and assorted accessories - to help with sewist duties. Replacing Velcro on a sun visor is proving difficult as the glue on the Velcro is needle resistant.

Aunty Tui, the owner of the green pōtae that is breaking needles and thread is not bothered that her visor might be beyond resurrection. Swapping ideas and chatting about plans for her own community ventures is equally as important as getting her visor repaired. She is keen to start a kaumātua coffee club in conjunction with the central city  Ōtautahi Sports Association she has long supported. Sharing ideas on where to source food and financial donations is helping to make her concept a reality.

Hemming trousers and skirts, shortening sleeves, sewing on buttons, patching holes and repairing rips  accounts for the bulk of the mending work. Due to time constraints and the popularity of the mending stations, replacing zips is a no-go. “Too time consuming getting them out and having to use different footers on the machines makes it too complicated,” Elizabeth says.

Beyond the Recreate events, Fionna and her team run the CMM Blanket Bank. Already this year between the months of April to July, they have re-distributed close to 600 blankets in response to requests for clean, warm bedding.

Donations come from many sources and bedding that does not meet a high enough standard to redistribute to whānau, is  donated to the SPCA, Dogwatch and other animal shelters. Preventing items going to the landfill is top of mind for the CMM Community-Led team. 

Looking Ahead

A plus-size upcycling clothing swap and mend event at their New Brighton Union Church base in October will conclude the Recreate programme. Fionna and her team will evaluate the series before deciding whether they will repeat the programme. Whatever the outcome, the local community can be assured their voices and needs will determine all future event  initiatives supported by the CMM team.