ILMINSTER Share and Repair held its grand opening on Saturday, February 26, marking the start of a new sustainability project in the town.

The project was launched by the Green Ilminster group to encourage people to bring their broken items to the Share and Repair workshop at 18 Silver Street, where they will be fixed in exchange for a donation.

It will also become a space where people can share equipment including gardening tools, camping equipment, children’s party supplies, and school uniforms that are no longer needed to help make the town more sustainable.

The Ilminster Share and Repair grand opening began at 10am, and the facility was open for four hours for people to look inside and for the first items in need of repair to be handed in.

The site was opened by the mayor of Ilminster, councillor Philip Burton, deputy mayor Leanne Taylor, and town crier Andrew Fox.

Sarah Hunt of Green Ilminster said: “It was really busy, and we had some repairs come in. We had lots of people interested in seeing what it was all about.

“We had the mayor, the deputy mayor, and the town crier. They came and cut the ribbon. Then we opened to meet and greet people from there on in.”

The facility will be open on Mondays and Thursdays between 10am and 12pm, and on Saturdays between 10am and 2pm.

Sarah explained: “People can come in with items and we’ll log them into our system and then our volunteers will try and fix them in exchange for a donation.

“We hope people who are well-off will be generous so people who are less well-off don’t have to pay as much.”

She added: “We want to get the ‘share’ side of things up and running as soon as possible.”

Read more: Green Ilminster set to launch Share and Repair project in the new year 

Read more: GALLERY: Ilminster Tree Project volunteers plant first 50 trees of 2022

Ahead of the ribbon-cutting ceremony, cllr Burton said: “It’s a real pleasure to be able to open this with Leanne, and there’s been an awful lot of hard work going into this and a lot of people supporting it.

“So, I think it’s going to be a great success. We all look forward to that.”

Ahead of its launch, Green Ilminster created a JustGiving page and encouraged people to help cover the project's overheads, and the group are still seeking donations.

For more information or to donate, visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ilminstershareandrepair.