Like hundreds of children across the country, football-mad Tyler Rees will be going home from school in another pair of trousers that have been torn at the knee. It’s the third time it’s happened this year, but instead of his school uniform ending up among the millions of items destined for the bin this summer, the 11-year-old is pulling out a needle and thread and fixing them himself. What’s more, it’s not just his own uniform he’s repairing.
.. Tyler has joined a band of primary school pupils who have teamed up with a group of pensioners to be taught age-old skills of how to make do and mend.
As a result, he and his friends are now diligently - and proudly - repairing their own clothes and those of their classmates, then passing on their new skills as part of the process. And, rather than seeing their new pensioner pals as fussy old fogeys, they are revelling in their newfound skill-set, seeing the results as “super-cool”. Tyler says: “I feel really proud to be able to fix things myself and to help other people, too.
” Tyler is in Year 6 at Gwaun Cae Gurwen Primary School in Ammanford, South Wales, which now hosts regular 'repair shop'-style events. He and his mates help mend fellow pupils' fraying uniforms, school coats and even teddy bears, thanks to a very special relationship with volunteers from their local repair cafe. And not only are they helping the planet, but they are saving their parents money, with their headteacher reckoning they have saved fam.
