VALE of Clwyd fixperts could be all set to become YouTube stars!

Ruthin Repair Café's September event at the Naylor Leyland Centre had a surprise visit earlier this month.

Repair café representatives were visited by a team from the London office of Friends of the Earth, who were interviewing and filming for a new YouTube video.

Rachel Berkoff, from the central FoE team, said: “This video will start as an instructional 'how to video': how to repair common things that break or get ripped in clothing, like zips and a pair of socks.

"It will then go into more detail about the broader social enterprise that is Repair Café Wales, and how it repairs and teaches people how to repair things themselves.

"We’ll focus on the fact that Friends of the Earth local group volunteers are running the repair cafes, and what to do if you want to set one up yourself.

"Then also more broadly it will speak about how this relates to the global impact, i.e. how we need to shift to a circular economy where we are repairing, reusing, recycling.”

READ MORE: Talented Ruthin 'fixperts' repair their 250th item

Rachel went on to explain that the aims of the video are to show the incredible work that Repair Café Wales does; to demonstrate the relationship between Friends of the Earth local groups such as this one in Ruthin and the national and global effects of climate change; and to encourage people to find a group near them and sign up and volunteer for opportunities like this.

The video will be available on the Friends of the Earth YouTube channel soon.

At the September repair café, 40 items were taken in by the public, with a 95 per cent success rate in fixing or advice.

There were 21 volunteers, including the 10 resident fixperts.

Highlights included a curious German cuckoo clock, which had been bought at auction in Ewloe 10 years ago by William Poland from Llanbedr.

Its moving parts include two dancing couples in colourful Bavarian costumes and a man who bowed and turned while playing a horn-like wooden wind instrument.

The clock was fixed by John Miller, who joked: “It was nice to finally hear the cuckoo so late in the season!”

The wide range of objects repaired was illustrated by a leaky metal watering can from the 1970s, carefully repaired using a special resin, and an electrical hover mower otherwise destined for the tip.

The Ruthin Repair Café is held from 10.45am to 1.30pm on the first Saturday of each month at the Naylor Leyland Centre, with the next event scheduled for October 1.

The next day, Ruthin Friends of the Earth is also sponsoring an innovative environmental poetry workshop to celebrate national Great Big Green Week.

The workshop will be hosted by local poet Diana Sanders on Sunday, October 2 from 1pm at the Naylor Leyland Centre.

Diana said: “The workshop will use a Japanese poetry form called Renga, which is a long single poem created by a team of multiple poets.

"We will use our positive experiences of wildlife and the environment as inspiration.”

Tickets for the free event and you can register via Eventbrite.