Wimborne Repair Café is one of 68 organisations to receive funding from Dorset Council’s Community Recovery Grants scheme.

Organisations could apply for one-off grants ranging from £500 to £2,000 and so far a total of over £95,000 has supported local organisations to restart their activities and to recover from the pandemic.

Cllr Laura Miller, Dorset Council portfolio holder for Customer and Community Services, said: “I’m really pleased we were able to give these grants to so many community groups across Dorset, to help their vital work bringing people together once again.

“They have gone a long way to kickstart local activities that often provides a lifeline to so many people across Dorset.”

Charlotte Smith, director at Wimborne Repair Café, said: “The restart grant has made a huge difference. It has secured Wimborne Repair Cafe community sessions at our venue for the foreseeable future. This has enabled us to make future plans to grow and extend the repair services we offer. We’ve also been able to purchase some consumable items to facilitate repairs.”

Stacey Woods, Win on Waste business manager, said: “The grant was used to provide venues for our monthly collection sessions, which would have normally taken place in the library. The funding from Dorset Council meant we were able to help those communities with their hard-to-recycle waste, and pass on what we could to charities that use items such as corks, milk bottle tops, stamps and mobile phones for either their project work or their fundraising.

“So far, we have been able to remove over 250 kilograms of waste from landfill and kerbside recycling collections and have helped nearly 300 households dispose of common household waste in a responsible way.”